Happy Birthday, Steve!

In honor of Steve's birthday today, I want to show a bit of wifely appreciation. These past few months have provided us a real crash course in RV ownership, and we've definitely had to take the good with the bad. Not everything can be rosy when you're taking on a new car-sized loan, dealing with mechanical glitches and trying to figure out the best way to maneuver a 26-foot trailer through a narrow, construction-ridden highway. Fortunately for us though, Steve keeps his head on straight.

He's a pretty happy guy

So I'm going to take a walk down memory lane (thank God I blogged about most of these things so the remembering part isn't too hard) and catalog the top six (started with five and came up with six) most impressive RV-related achievements Steve can lay claim to:
1) Figuring out how to rig up a standalone air conditioner in our hot-as-hell trailer when we discovered the central air wasn't working the first day of our Holly Shores vacation
2) Safely getting us through the Beltway in both directions, even though the lanes were narrow, there was ongoing construction everywhere and we ended up in a high-capacity carpool lane that sent us into downtown DC
3) Becoming a complete pro at hooking up...now it officially takes me longer to unpack our clothing/necessities than it does for Steve to get all hitched up. Not so long ago, I had to stand by and yell out directions while Steve put the car into reverse and tried to edge the car into the perfect hitch position. Now, my services are no longer needed, as apparently my inability to tell left from right was more of a hindrance than anything.
4) Always being game to dump the tanks and alert me to almost-full gray water tanks. Thank God Steve knows his way around those pipes, and the dump station is a breeze.
5) Installing the Hensley hitch entirely by himself (I handed him parts and read out instructions) after our RV shop mechanics expressed reluctance at carrying out the job. Only took about five or so hours on a blustery March day, and yeah, afterwards we set off for the hour-and-a-half-long journey home without having the slightest idea whether we'd done it correctly. But we're still alive, so clearly he did something right.
6) Learning how to back into campsites, haul a 26-footer up and down steep hills, and generally drive that thing like it's no big deal. Sometimes, I forget we're even pulling it.

It's been a great year, and I have my awesome husband to thank. Happy birthday Steve, I love you!