I left Rochester with a couple of concerns. The first was the truck.  The local dealer suspected a bad flywheel and I got a few dire warnings on the internet about immediate repairs. It didn’t seem that bad to me so I pressed on, while researching transmission shops along the way. The second concern dealt with an intermediate stop in Trent SD. The campground sits next to the Big Sioux River and they had some flooding. My preferred route was closed due to high water on the road. The day before leaving I got a call from the campground owner that a decent route had just reopened.

So, off I went and arrived at the campground after just a minor detour through town. The water gradually receded and by the time I left I was able to drive directly to the interstate. Enter the second concern.

On my way north the truck seemed to be driving normally. A couple of times I heard sounds that could’ve been rocks hitting the under carriage. Shortly after the second noise, my speed started dropping off while the tachometer was rising. Of course, this all happened on a Saturday afternoon. Crap!!

I pulled onto the shoulder (about 35 miles south of Fargo) and quickly determined that the truck would not be moving again under its own power without repairs. Called GEICO for my roadside assistance. After some initial confusion, they dispatched 2 tow trucks. I already had an appointment at a transmission shop in Fargo so that’s where they towed the truck. An OTR tractor arrived to hitch up to the 5th wheel and take me to my campground.

I got setup in the campground without problems. Talked to the transmission shop on Monday. They dropped the transmission and confirmed that I would need a new clutch assembly and flywheel but the price quoted was about $2k less than the dealer in Rochester. I can live with that. And the truck will be ready well before the sugar beet harvest starts.

Overall, the trip could have been better, but it also could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.

I had my departure from TN all planned out. I was going to leave on a Sunday afternoon, heading north on I-65, so I could get through Nashville without fighting construction or traffic. Then boondock just over the state line in KY, before heading to my next campground in IN. Great plan, right?

Well, as I was buttoning up the 5er to leave, the kitchen slide would only come in about 4 inches. The motor was working OK. It just couldn’t make it up the bump. I tried tilting the 5th wheel to each side hoping to help it that way, but still no dice. I finally walked across the road to another workamping couple and asked for their assistance. While she pushed the button inside, her husband and I pushed on the outside of the slide. After several loud grunts, it finally retracted all the way. I thanked them profusely for their help, hitched up and hit the road before anything else could go wrong.

Since I wasn’t rushing to the next campground, I was able to think about my problems that evening. Since I was driving to NW Indiana anyway, I looked for Open Range dealers on the route. Close enough. I found one in NE Indiana, very close to the RV capitol of the world. I left them a voice mail before going to sleep, with a promise to call them back the next morning.

Somewhere in southern Indiana, I had enough of a signal to call them and started my roller coaster ride. They wouldn’t take a walk-in. But they knew of a place fairly close that had more technicians who might be able to fit me in. I called Shipshewana RV Service Center next. Bingo! They also operated an RV park right next to the service center. They sounded very encouraging. I skipped lunch and shortened a couple of fuel stops to get there before closing time. They gave me a nice pull thru spot for the night and highly recommended that I come back the next morning about 8:15 to talk to a service rep. That night I left the kitchen slide in, but did a full setup otherwise.

The next morning, the service rep sounded very familiar with my problem and said he would come to my site shortly to verify the problem.  After checking the slide, he thought a cable adjustment would correct the problem, although he didn’t think very highly of the design of this particular slide. He promised to return later in the day with another tech. I extended my stay by one night and settled in to wait. Shortly after lunch, they showed up and about an hour later all 3 of my slides had their cables adjusted.

I even had enough time to check out a little of the local area before leaving the next morning. I saw more horse drawn buggies in a few hours than I’d seen in my entire life. I checked out a Chinese buffet just over the state line in MI (not good enough to even give a review) and bought some Amish butter for my future toast.

The next morning I was on the road bright and early to spend a few days visiting family, before heading to my next job in Rochester MN.

As a refresher for those of you who don’t commit by blog entries to memory, my August 2018 accident repairs were only partially completed on the Olympic Peninsula. The RV dealer I originally contacted to do the repairs did not receive the correct parts, whether due to an error on their part or Carefree of Colorado. At the time I really didn’t care who was at fault. I only knew that my slide topper would get a free ride across the country to TN.

I took stock (and pix) of the parts I had on hand and contacted Carefree of Colorado directly. They determined the additional parts I would need and shipped them to me. After receiving them and making sure I knew what went where, it was just a matter of waiting for a good day to attach the topper. That day finally arrived. The process was a little more difficult than necessary since the slideout would need to be retracted. That’s the slideout with the drop down deck attached so that had to get stowed first.

I was pleasantly surprised that my game plan worked out so well. I did need an extra set of hands to raise the deck. Either I was very tired or it had a little extra water weight from the recent rains. The slide topper was able to rest on the main awning while I slid the fabric end into the gimp rail. A few screws later and all the hardware was secured. The topper worked without a problem when extending the slide. I was so happy about that I forgot to bring the slide back in to test that it rolled up OK. Oh well, that will come in a few weeks. I’m just glad to write ‘finito’ to the accident repairs.

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.