I’ll admit that I’ve never given this much thought….until today. A few days ago (on a Friday afternoon) one of the fuel lines in my truck sprang a leak. I was fairly sure what happened, and even which fuel line, since it happened once before – on an interstate highway in Idaho. This time the truck made it back to the campground without pouring smoke through the vents. But after I shut down the engine it wouldn’t restart so I was stuck.

In my former life, this would not have been a major problem. I might have had a second car to use, or family/friends/coworkers to catch rides with, knowledge of the local mechanics and parts stores, and a garage full of tools. Now picture yourself in a campground without that support system and your options are limited.

So, not having the proper tools to do the job, my choices were 1) have it towed to a repair shop or 2) find a mobile mechanic. I was still pondering possible options, maybe even trying the repair myself, on Saturday so the whole weekend was shot. I did try calling one local mechanic on Saturday but didn’t get any warm fuzzies about a place that didn’t have an answering machine. I did find a place on Sunday that had an answering machine. Left a message but they still haven’t called back as of Monday afternoon. That left the roadside assistance mechanic. I called them Sunday, explained the situation and they suggested I call back Monday morning to talk with someone more experienced. OK, I could do that.

Monday morning comes. I call them around 8 AM and they tell me they already have a truck on the way. They arrive, remove the defective part, get on the phone to find a replacement part. Tell me they need to go to the dealer for the part and should be back in less than 1 hour. When they get back, it takes about 10 minutes to get the new part in and tested. Then comes the real scary part – the bill.

It was a little higher than I expected. Part of that was the part cost from the dealer instead of a parts store. The other part was driving for the part. But after looking at the bill, I couldn’t find anything to argue about. What I paid for was a lot of convenience for me. I never had to have the truck towed anywhere (another expense). I never had to find a ride to a parts store and hope to get the right part. Someone with a lot more experience than me came right to my RV and fixed my truck quickly and efficiently.