Birthday, broken jack and clogged toilet...(August 7-9)

We have successfully celebrated our first August birthday in the family.  Graham and I are later this month.  We celebrated by going out to eat at Red Rock Canyon Grill.  It was mostly good.  We also decided that due to the heat and John's sanity we would stay put for an extra night.  It was 100F on Saturday so we went to a water park for the day.  We also were able to FaceTime with my mom and sister.  Brad and Steven were there too but they didn't say much.  I hope we can do that more.  It is nice to see familiar faces.  

Birthday pancakes and water park fun.

Now let's talk about the issues...first, the heat.  Yes we do have air in the camper, but our one unit keeps blowing the 30amp breakers and really only cools about 20 degrees below the outside temp.  Now that we are back into the normal humidity (97%), it is harder to keep cool.  

Next, the electric jack stopped working.  I would say it broke, but read on.  We arrived in Wichita safely I was almost totally set up.  Upon adjusting the jack do that we can achieve the perfectly level camper, the jack did nothing.  No sound or anything.  I saw the inline fuse was unplugged so I inspected that.  It looked normal, but didn't fix the issue.  I still called 4 stores to see if they had one, no luck.  The last person I spoke to at an RV dealership was willing to sell me a new jack but not install it.  Sure I can install a trailer jack...haha...I have talents but that is not one of them.  At this point I'm thinking we are stuck in Kansas forever!!  John reminds me that there is a way to manually raise and lower the jack.  After calling the RV dealer we bought the rig from, we are now able to escape...manually.  No worries...after our swimming fun we stopped at Home Depot and found the tools to fashion our drill with jack lowering powers.  Back at the camper that night I took a look at what I was going to need to do the next day.  It involved removing the leveling bubble to access the bolt, which I didn't even know could be removed the day before.  In the process I found a loose wire...I plugged it back in and just like that the problem was solved.  Ugh!  A long story for a really simple fix.

Last issue, last night we are going about our usual business and our "business" is blurping and bubbling before it goes down the toilet drain.  So, we think it is full and we drain it.  This is the first time the black tank has been full and after 2 nights that seems unusual.  We didn't put a lot of thought into it until the next day at a state park when it happens again.  Like any normal person my reaction is...google it!  The consensus is...there is a blockage probably near where the toilet meets the tank.  I did flush the tank this morning, so I agreed this was probably the issue.  Right about then John pulls up on his bike, done for the day and ready to unclog a camper toilet!  With a stick and some hot water...it is solved.  For now.

BTW, John biked 80 miles in the rain today!!  Way to go!