What's Beeping?

In the 70s and 80s I was a service and parts director for an RV dealer in Houston. The owner of my company had friends from Rockport, TX who had bought a Blue Bird Wanderlodge from us, and I had become good friends with them through servicing their coach. Jim and Elsie were in their 60s but very active and full of life.

On one of my visits to the Wanderlodge plant in Ft. Valley, GA, Jim and Elsie were there staying in the customer campground. Jim saw me and hollered for me to come in his coach. I went in and he said to sit on the sofa. We just sat there until I started to say something and Jim went "SSSSSHHHH, listen." After a bit I heard a beep. "Did you hear that?" I knew I had heard that beep before but just couldn't place it. So we sat there and waited for it to beep again — Jim said we'd have to wait 5 minutes.

We waited and waited and sure enough, in 5 minutes there it was again. We had been doing this for probably a half an hour when I noticed that their kitchen smoke detector was gone off the wall. I asked Jim where it was. He hollered at Elsie, who was real quiet for a couple of minutes, then said "in the drawer under the sofa" — and started laughing. I pulled the drawer open, retrieved the detector from among blankets and pillows, and sat it on the table beside him. After a bit, it went "Beep" — of course it was telling us the battery was low!

Jim told me they had been there at the plant for 5 days getting work done and the techs had looked for that beep every day.

I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned from this, but I'm darned if I know what it is. I just thought it was a funny story.

— Mike Martinkus, Motorhomes of Texas