I picked up Miranda today and made a call to another nearby repair place. He told me that not only are they not equipped to stretch a frame, they are booked for the rest of the summer and that I should expect the same from any other RV repair place at this point. He was not surprised by how I was treated by They Who Shall Not Be Named Again.

He also told me that the major repair to be done is the frame, so I should start by calling Ford and finding a place to get that done; the rest would cascade from there. He told me to introduce myself as having an E450 chassis with a 32′ motorhome on it, not that I have a 32′ motorhome on an E450 chassis.

If I get lucky, I will be able to find a Ford place that will subcontract out the hitch and fiberglass work and give me a total price for the job, or I might end up having to find a hitch place and then a fiberglass place.

My adjuster at Aviva is away, so I called her replacement who was MUCH nicer. She said that she wished she could write out a cheque for all the repairs I want to have done because of what I’ve been through. A gal can dream. *wry grin* Anyway, I was told that, yes, I should wait for approval before going ahead with work, but that I can present the existing estimate and if the shop says they can work with those numbers, then approval is just a formality.

I am understandably feeling overwhelmed and discouraged at this point. I am going to make calls in the morning but I suspect that I might as well move back home because this won’t get resolved until September. 🙁

The good news is that yesterday I started paid training in a field that I dabble in but would never have expected to actually work in (it involves graphic design and programming). I love what I am doing so far; it’s creative and requires brain work. I’m really excited about doing this work, but the learning curve is really steep and I’m pretty sure I had smoke coming out of my ears tonight! 🙂

What’s awesome about this work is that I’m still an independent contractor. So I don’t have guaranteed work with this new client who will supplement, not replace, the transcription. This means that instead of earning, say, 90% of my income from transcription and 10% from writing and related activities, the 90% might become 75%, which will add a bit of much needed variety to my schedule.

Transcription is slow this month, so it’s the perfect time to start on the training since I don’t have to spread my attention span too far. Between Miranda and the training, I have enough on my plate.