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Rodent Nightmares

No gory pictures but a concatenation of encounters.

Number one was while boondocking near Virgin Utah and hearing the obvious scratching of what sounded like one or more mice. Not having any weapons, traps, we persevered the night knowing he was in our home, everywhere. Morning came and we were down at ACE hardware buying a bunch of traps. Loaded four of them as we went to bed and I lay there waiting for one to go “SNAP” as it captured its prey. I fell asleep and awoke to Rose digging me in the side saying: “Andre, it’s in there!”  Sure enough the one under the sink had neatly executed its prey. I disposed of the poor bugger and we had a peaceful night thereafter.

Number two was while in the campground at Snow Canyon near St. George. Early evening and we’re sitting inside with the screen door closed. Rose screams:  “Andre, there’s a mouse in here”. What! Sure enough as I saw him disappear behind some cabinetry. How did he get in? as we scrutinized the screen door perimeter. Set the three remaining traps and this time it took a while for one to trigger, but it did and from now on the door remained closed especially after sunset.

Next stop was Valley of Fire outside Las Vegas and everything was fine till we left. Our Mercedes diesel warned us that our DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) was low. Funny I thought as we had topped it up a short while ago. Henderson was the next town and into Walmart for a 2.5 gallon supply and half of it went into the DEF reservoir. Dammit, the warning was still there. I did not want to get on the road without this being resolved as Mercedes machines can be fickle if all is not hunky dory. The is a MB dealer two miles away and I surcome to their clutches. Tech takes a look and after a while comes back wanting to show me something on his phone. “I’m sorry Sir but we have some rodent damage” and shows me a picture of a dead mouse next to some famed wiring in the engine compartment. Yes, he had chosen the DEF wiring harness and I was going to pay dearly for it.

Now we sit in their opulent lounge using their WiFi to pen this missive while we wait for it to be repaired and shell out hundreds of dollars in the process.

Why this trip? How did they all get in? Why us Lord? We might never know but we are certainly on edge as far as future road trips go.

I might add a picture here if the tech will send me the one he took.