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We were on I-85 when we heard an odd noise. Looked in the mirrors and saw our fender torn and hanging off, while chucks of tire were flapping about. Something on the road must have hit the tire. Got the rest of the fender off without damaging the rig more… but boy, oh boy, do we have a mess to buff out from that rubber! Anyway… traffic was going over 80 mph and it was unsafe to be in the rig. So we waited alongside the highway in 96 degree temps until the road service could come out.
Even though states have laws regarding getting over for disabled vehicles, not one vehicle did for us! I can’t believe how thoughtless people are on the roadways these days. Kudos to Eddie the repair guy for braving that speeding traffic while working under our rig. He even guided us in to the local Goodyear dealer so we could replace the spare with a new tire. Fortunately we are safe… buffing and ordering a new fender is not a problem. Easy fixes compared to our safety.
For those who follow TMN, you probably recall our May Day blow-outs on I-35 and I-30 several years ago and know we are experienced at replacing tires and fenders. We just wished Cedar Creek would discount the fenders since we buy them annually. HAHA 😉
Well, it’s been several weeks since I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and post. The holiday season was a little more eventful than we had originally planned!
It started with having to move to a different RV park (that story is worthy of its own posting later on) in the middle of the season… and it continued as our rig needing some attention…
It started with the need for a new door handle. We went to do some holiday shopping and locked the door. Only the door didn’t really want to lock. So the holiday shopping got postponed and we headed for Camping World for a replacement kit.
Then there was the truck… the computer was alerting us that the trailer brakes needed serviced. So we scheduled an appointment with the closest Chevy dealer. Fortunately they got us in quickly and repaired the part which wasn’t “communicating” between the truck and fifth-wheel.
And what is a new year without a new tire? We were in the middle of Austin when we had a very large screw puncture our back inside dual-tire. Luckily we had a safe place to pull over and put on the spare tire. Although I will admit, we aren’t pit crew material when it comes to changing tires. I think it took us twenty minutes. Yet that speed will probably increase since now there is an impact wrench on board!
But no rest for these nomads… we found our lights flickering and although we replaced both RV batteries… well, it was another trip to Camping World for a new converter.
Oh, and you would think that the “it comes in threes” principle would at least kick in on the sixth thing… yet it didn’t.
There was a problem with the radio in the truck… and some hungry little critter chewed through a handful of wires! So those had to be replaced and sprayed so the toothy critter wouldn’t return. Thankfully this wasn’t more of a problem!
And… that doesn’t include the email and login issues…. So if you have emailed at the previous address and didn’t receive a reply, I apologize as they were lost. Please note there is a new contact address.
With all that aside, now it’s time to start planning for the next long haul… what other adventures await us in 2012? 😉
A few days ago we got up in the dark AM hours to hit the road… 8 hours later… we found ourselves setting up at another RV park.
Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was rumbling in the distance and we had to set up as quickly as we could before the rain came pouring down.
Imagine our surprise on the following day when we realized our 50 amp electrical cord was damaged… but closer inspection revealed this wasn’t our electric cord! This cord appears to have been clamped at one time as well as being extremely faded on the RV plug (female) end.
Now at the previous campground we took the truck and did some all-day sight-seeing one day. The day before (at this same campground), a man came around to our site to install an electric meter at the pole. Our first thought was perhaps the maintenance man removed our cord and somehow damaged it. But again, at closer inspection we realized it wasn’t ours at all.
Even if the maintenance man somehow damaged the cord and tried to fix it with a clamp, then removed the clamp… the impression dug so deep into the cord and the fading of the plug at the RV (female) end could not have happened overnight.
Although at this point it didn’t matter, we needed to have a safe electrical cord. Of course, when you need a RV part, there are no dealers around! Fortunately we found a mobile home repair supplier with a selection of RV parts about 50 minutes away. They did not have a replacement cord, but had a new 50 amp (male) plug for us to fix this one. It will have to make do until we can get to a RV dealer or supplier and replace the entire cord.
We have heard crazy stories and experienced equally crazy things during our RVing years, but this… well, we are still amp’d up over this.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Fortunately the forecast is for clear skies… 😉
You might recall our May Day blow-out (https://hscooper.wordpress.com/articles/may-day-blow-outs/) last year. On the open road and in need of RV tires is not a situation I’d wish upon anyone.
After we got settled in Virginia last summer, we decided to have all our RV tires replaced. In June we made a trip to the Camping World store in Roanoke. At the time we found a helpful staff member who went over the price, labor costs and taxes with us, as well as tire availability and appointment scheduling.
We told him we would rather wait until November when we were going to be putting serious mileage on again. He said it would be no problem for us to call ahead and we would be in-and-out in no time.
A week before we were planning on leaving Virginia, we decided to return to Camping World in Roanoke and schedule our tire appointment, as well as make a few purchases.
What a difference time makes!
Now the helpful staff were gone… no one would wait on us or several other customers.
Finally, after some grumbling, staff emerged.
When it was our turn, we learned that the company no longer made those tires. We questioned this so the staff member waved another employee over. Number 2 said he wasn’t even sure those tires were even made at all – ever!
Huh?
We pulled out our CW quote sheet printed out in June showing they indeed had the tires at that time and that we were told this was pretty common for Camping World. So after getting the attention of yet another employee, we learned that apparently their Camping World rarely had sets of tires (that matched) in stock.
What?!
Number 3 said he could go look and see what they had in stock and took off.
A fourth employee arrived and suggested we order them from a RV dealer somewhere.
Okay…
So we took our money and headed out the door in search of a Goodyear dealer. We found a dealer, pulled in the parking lot, and told them what we needed and they said, “No problem”.
They said they could put them on for us when we left, however we weren’t crazy about the idea of driving our rig into downtown traffic at the start of our journey. It was decided that we would take the tires with us and they loaded them into our truck.
When we returned the campground we asked around and found a local garage that would be open early hours the morning we left. We went down and made an appointment and they said it would be no problem putting on our new tires.
That morning we didn’t even have to pull into the garage – the gentlemen did it right from the parking lot in a matter of minutes!
Our initial quote for tires at Camping World was over $1200, plus we had an additional $300 of items we were going to purchase during our trip. Camping World – the “Walmart of RVers” – lost our business that day.
If we need anything now, our first thoughts go to supporting small, local businesses. They know their stock and they know how to treat their customers. There is a World of difference in customer service at a small business.