The RV Is Finally Back Home

What’s different about this shot – the RV is sitting in the driveway for the first time since May 1.  

Those of you have been readers for a while know we have been RVers for a few years and have had our fair share of coach issues, a few of our own doing but most not.

On May 1, we left Almost Heaven South for the Charleston, SC area where we took in the local area and hosted the Tennessee Travelers rally.  We had a great time and on the way home, we were about 10 miles from our campground in Flat Rock, NC at 4pm when an alarm sounded and the trouble light said no oil pressure, stop engine.  We were once again dead on the side of the road (4^th time) but found someone to tow us off the road to their shop, spent the night in a motel, and explored our options.  With all of the stuff in the fridge/freezer, our clothes, and other needed items, we decided we’d rather have the coach in Knoxville (45 minutes from home) than go in the other direction to the nearest Cummins engine shop in Spartanburg, SC (about a four hour drive from home).  Since the tow truck charges $300/hr both ways, we paid a substantial fee for the extra towing distance, even after Good Sam's helped out.

The coach had been at the Knoxville Cummins dealer since May 23 and we finally picked it up on Jul 2 – money making semi tractors seem to have priority over RV’s.  The issue was a failure of the oil pump in a way that they had never before seen and as always it would happen to us – the third fluky issue between our two coaches.  If I were to make a list of the issues I expected to have with the RV, the Cummins engine would have been the last item.  To repair, they had to lift the coach, drop out the engine and transmission, replace the engine block with a new one, reassemble, and reinstall.  The silver linings are that is has been garaged for over a month and it is 100% under warranty – the bill was $21,000.

We had to cancel our two planned June trips and will now just take a couple of short, local ones this summer while we decide if we are destined to be RVers or are we snake bit and it’s too much aggravation.  The supervisor at the Cummins shop advised that RV stands for Ruined Vacation and I’m about to become a believer.  Okay, enough whining, I have a trip or two to plan.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/23 – 7/2/14 event dates