granddaughter coraline

granddaughter coraline

grandson mason

grandson mason

grandson jaxson

grandson jaxson

Saturday, October 12, 2019

07-10OCT19 - Various: PA, TN, AL, & MS

Monday AM, 07OCT, on the road to Houma, LA; plan is to drive hard on interstates for birth of son Joe’s & Bethany’s first baby.  Getting thru CT while passing north of NYC not fun.  Some fog & light rain until Harrisburg, PA, where we had heavy rain.  Finally find a Walmart for the night Chambersburg, PA; 411 miles driven.
Tuesday AM we wake-up way too early & decide to hit the road before sunrise; but our headlights not up to the task, so we pull over & wait for sunrise.  We start in PA, & travel thru MD, WV & VA, ending at a KOA in Bristol, TN; 405 miles driven.  I-81 southbound had an unbelievable number of semis & trailers parked all along the road & no room in rest areas (not sure why?) – we finally pull over on shoulder for lunch & toilet break.  Last quarter of drive in driving rain; entrance to KOA very challengingL
Wednesday better weather but now the battery charging system acts up? 384 miles driven to Pelham, AL.  To Dan it appears we have engine battery charging issue (alternator, voltage regulator, ???).  We call an emergency roadside service who says they will be at RV park in an hour – they never show!
Thursday AM, 10OCT, Dan calls local Cummins engine facility who advertises that they are a Coach Care facilityJ  These Cummins facilities supposedly will go the extra mile for RV owners.  First words out of their mouth are – we don’t deal with electric issues on RVs (even though the charging system comes with the engine out of the factory?).  They highly recommend RV Roadway for the possible engine work.


Dan makes appointment for tomorrow morning; luckily we decide to check facility out & not wait until tomorrow to see it firsthand.  Turns out they are small local RV dealer selling mostly trailers & definitely not capable of diesel engine work.  They then recommend Thompson Cat down the road even though we have a Cummins not a Caterpillar engine.  Now feeling a little desperate, Dan drives to the Cat facility & explains the situation.  They say bring RV in asap & they’ll try to fix today.  In four hours they diagnose the problem & locate the only part (alternator) in the immediate area to fix the problemJ!!!


Although feeling a little stressed out we decide to drive 170 miles to Meridian, MS, so that we can have a more reasonable drive to Houma, LA, tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!


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