Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Lost Week

I have not been blogging because – there hasn't been much to blog about - at least not the kind of stuff I usually write about. We left Monte's Mom's house on Wednesday, May 16. Our destination was Somerset, PA which was to be our home base for 2 days while we toured Johnstown, PA to learn more about the great flood of 1899 and the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA. Last year we planned on doing these 2 things but the weather was so terrible that we decided to delay it for a year.

About 50 miles from the campground we stopped to fuel the RV and upon leaving Monte had to try twice to start the motorhome. We just wrote it off to him not turning the key far enough or something like that. We get to the campground and after I checked us in it was time to drive up a steep curvy road to our assigned site – except for the RV would not start. After 4 or 5 tries – the engine turned over and started. On up the hill. We get to the top of the hill, turn off the engine so we can unhook the car and figure out exactly where we are supposed to park. Back in the RV – no start. Why the hell did we turn it off?? Nothing, engine does not turn over – not even a click. The only thing racing at this point was my heart and I probably could have blown up a blood pressure cuff. At least the last motorhome lasted 7 months before it quit on us – this one is only 2 months old!!

While I am on the phone with Ford Motorhome Assistance, Monte jiggles a bunch of stuff under the hood and it starts again. We get the rig turned around where if we have to be towed a tow truck can get to us however, the road up was so steep and winding that I was already having mental images of another RV with a wrecked front end with damage done by a tow truck – I think I'm going to be sick. Ford Motorhome Assistance was not very helpful. After about 30 minutes they called me back and said they finally located a Ford dealer who would look at the RV. So I call them and am told that we can bring the RV there, 70 miles away, but they don't set appointments for motorhomes and they could not tell me how many days we might have to wait just to get a first look. (Can you say Deja Vu?)

Our next stop after Somerset was to be in Decatur, Indiana at the Fleetwood plant where we had an appointment to have a few minor items fixed in the house part of the RV the following Tuesday, May 22. Since that was the plan I called Fleetwood, explained the situation, and they made an appointment for us at the Ford dealer in Decatur. Once again we had to fore-go Johnstown and Shanksville and the next morning with fingers crossed we turned the key and the rig started and it did not get turned off until we arrived in Decatur. Of course it has started every time since and the service department at the dealer could find nothing wrong with it. Now we were faced with a minimum of 5 days in glorious Decatur Indiana. Talk about a town with nothing to do! We drove through a lot of farm land, miles and miles and miles of it, we drove 85 miles south to Anderson one day to support the local economy by throwing away a few $$ at Hoosier Park Casino, and one morning we spent on a tour of the Fleetwood manufacturing plant – no photos allowed. If you are ever in Decatur (I pity you if you are) we highly recommend this tour. Probably the best most thorough plant tour we have ever been on – and we have been on many.

Our only other interesting activity was spending a couple of hours in the local hospital ER while Monte got checked out for shortness of breath. We were concerned that he might be having a recurrence of embolisms in his lungs. Thankfully everything checked out okay and he had a breathing treatment and they let him go. As far as emergency room visits go – this one was really good. Doctor, nurses, everyone was top-notch and very caring.

Fleetwood got all of our repairs, except one, done in a timely and professional manner - they actually took our RV in a day early to start work.  The one repair that did not get done was due to waiting on a part and they will ship the part to us so that we can get the repair done at a later date.

All in all we spent 7 days in Decatur – only about 6 days too long.

Time to head on to greener tourist pastures.

Considering that we have not been doing anything – this is certainly a long winded blog.




3 comments:

~Cheryl said...

Unbelievable!

~Cheryl said...

Unbelievable and Egads!

Maureen said...

Ugh...hopefully the rest of the trip will be more relaxed!