Well, we got the Allegiance out of the garage and popped it up in the
driveway earlier this week.  Thus far, we had only camped in it once, and
regular readers will recall the problems we (and Jim Redelfs) found in our
brand new "little house", and how glad we were we had purchased from the
dealership we had, given Fleetwood's response.

The new section of canvas came in a couple of months ago.  Before accepting
delivery, the dealership had found a small leak (more of a seep) in the
tip-out, and had already ordered a new section before we came to get it.
It took four months to get here, but only a couple of hours for them to put
it in, and we had not had it out of the garage since.

Now, the bad news.  When I took it to the dealership I hooked the battery up
so the brakes would have power in event of a break-away.  I know, maybe
over kill for towing 10 miles, but it was there, why not?  When I brought
it back home, I reverted into the mind set of being a Taos owner, and never
thought of unhooking the battery.  I didn't have to with the Taos, as it
when popped down, the only thing that could tap the battery was the porch
light, and that was easy to see if on.

The Allegiance of course is equipped with a propane detector, and ran the
brand spanking new battery down to almost nothing. (sigh)  You could see,
if you looked closely, the filament glow in a light bulb.

OK, it's got a smart charger/converter, just plug it in, right?  Great!
Where the &^#@ is the adapter for the extension cord?  Went through all the
cupboards and storage areas, couldn't find it.  Ran down to Ace hardware,
bought a new one, and on the way home thought I should have checked in the
cubby in the back of the TV.  Yup, got it home, but now have a spare
adapter.

Plug in the camper, and hear what I think is the charger running.  Angela
and I talk for a bit, then come to think that this sound is *not* the
charger.  Check it out, and sure enough, somehow, either we, or the dealer
when they worked on it had flipped the rocker switch on that turns on the
water pump.  (second sigh)  Thinking of installing a guard on the switch
now.

The pump had only run for a matter of a few minutes, and had not made any
untoward sounds before discovery and being turned off so we don't believe
(or maybe hope is a better word) that there was no damage.  I guess this is
a drawback to how the dealership remounted our water pump last fall.  If it
had still been installed as it was originally, there would have been *no*
doubt that it was the pump running - it had been that loud.

Other than just an airing out, Angela's main goal of getting the camper
popped up was doing a little inventory and actually weighing all of what we
had in it.  She had a bathroom scale out, and had now weighed every thing
we have in the camper (except the contents of one last cabinet) before
loading up bedding, clothes and perishables.

I think she is more concerned about weight distribution than I am.  :)  She
was also wondering how close to the load limit we were - again, with it's
specs, something I wasn't concerned about at all.  There were T'storms
forecast the next day, so we got it in before she got completely done - one
cupboard left to weigh.  Our having company slowed down her progress.

She now want me to take the camper to a set of scales next time we get it
out, and see what the total weight is.  This is something we intended to do
when we got it, but were anxious to camp, and then the problems with the
pump/gas line were discovered, so it was something we didn't get to last
fall.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the weight we had in there.  Given
she loves to cook when we camp, there is considerably more cooking "stuff"
than I would have in if I were to do this solo, including cast iron frying
pan, and two cast iron dutch ovens.  I am *not* complaining here at all!
We eat as well, or better camping than we do at home!  

Total weight of "stock" items in our camper?  225lbs.

We plan/hope to camp next month at least once, twice if we can.  Once
locally to do our annual "shakedown", and then to go visit kids/grandkids
in Illinois.