Bill N
Well-known member
Ever had the feeling that you were going on a trip that may not bode well for all? We just had ours. My wife's mother (age 95) passed away in July and to allow time for all the relatives to plan and travel to the funeral we scheduled it in her hometown of New Orleans on what would have been her 96th birthday.
When she passed, we had her cremated and carried the ashes with us (in a lower compartment of the motorhome). I had a bad feeling about this trip from the beginning because we never really had a very good relationship with the lady and she always said that we would regret her passing. Oh well.
At 550 miles of a 650 mile trip the clutch on the chassis AC compressor blew completely off the coach with a low thud. Everything except the AC still operated correctly but there was a rattling in the compressor area. Still we had to get to destination by the next day because the cemetery refused to make arrangements by phone or prepayment so I decided to limp on and hope we made it to our campground. After 100 miles of stressful driving with all still operating normal - no AC except by generator for the coach air- we arrived at the CG rattle and all. Since the next day was time to make the arrangements (we camped 50 miles away - did not want to stay in New Orleans), we decided to try for a fix one day later, Friday, which was an open day before the Saturday funeral.
I did not want the rig towed to a repair shop and sat there for a long period because we had two cats and a dog on board also so I asked Coach Net to try and find a Roadside Service which they did and, to my utter amazement, the guy brought out the right part and did a total repair on site. He acted like he did them every day and said he had been a roadside tech for large trucks and trailers for 29 years. I believe him. Best darned mechanic I have ever seen. Two and one half hours and the job was done and he was gone but I will admit that I have to have a discussion with Coach Net about his company insisting I pay his labor charge for the entire trip from shop and back to shop - a total of 6 hours at $105 per/hr.
But all was good and the funeral went off without a hitch the next day and we left for home on Sunday with plans to overnight in Memphis. No problem and the AC worked wonderfully. Next morning we stopped at a Cracker Barrel and when coming back to the coach I noticed a few drips on the ground under the rear of the engine or front of the tranny. Checked the tranny level and it was a quart down so I put that in and made a decision to head for home and check the tranny every 50 miles or so.
We had gone no more than a few blocks from the restaurant when our dog, a 16 year old Shih Tzu who is blind and deaf, appeared to have a seizure just as I entered the interstate in Memphis. My wife became extremely emotional because this pup is like our child and we both thought she was gone. I pulled over on a wide shoulder and we sat there for a few minutes until we could see that the dog was still breathing, very shallow and barely discernible. I decided to try and continue on and get out of that Memphis traffic and the further we went the pup became slightly better but still appeared to be partially paralyzed. We knew then we had to get home that day so I put it on 65mph which is my max and we pressed on. I stopped twice, once for fuel and once to check the tranny again and each time I noticed that the drips were increasing in flow. Each time I added a quart of Dexron III. When we were 50 miles from home, we encountered some long gradual grades and each time the coach seemed to be sluggish in responding. I decided to pull it off at the next exit and call Coach Net for a tow to an Allison tranny repair shop.
Call it coincidental or whatever but the next exit was at a town named Norwood, Missouri and my last name is Norwood. The exit was a long uphill slope which I could tell was really working the tranny. We stopped at the stop sign and there was a small truck stop just across the road so I stepped on the gas to pull into it and I had to go at least half throttle to get it to move onto the lot.
That's where she stopped and the rest you can guess - Coach Net, tow 50 miles to Springfield and the Allison dealer which is where it sits today.
One good thing is that being so close to home, I disconnected the toad, loaded all the animals and had the wife drive on home and get them back in familiar surroundings while I waited for the tow. It was not 15 minutes after she left that the tow guy called and he was in the next town and got there quickly and hooked up. Coach Net was great on this trip (twice) and I only hope they don't jack up my membership. I have used their services 3 times in 3 months.
Today we went back to the repair shop and cleaned out our personal items and shut down the refrigerator. Thankfully, we made it safely home and our coach that always been so reliable kind of bit the bullet big time on this trip but we will get it fixed and press on. Thankfully, we are not having to make payments on it plus all the repairs and it is still our favorite form of travel. Sorry to be so long but sometimes it helps to see that big vehicles can encounter big problems at times.
Oh, almost forgot. The pup appears to be back to normal or as normal as she was before the seizure. That makes us very happy.
When she passed, we had her cremated and carried the ashes with us (in a lower compartment of the motorhome). I had a bad feeling about this trip from the beginning because we never really had a very good relationship with the lady and she always said that we would regret her passing. Oh well.
At 550 miles of a 650 mile trip the clutch on the chassis AC compressor blew completely off the coach with a low thud. Everything except the AC still operated correctly but there was a rattling in the compressor area. Still we had to get to destination by the next day because the cemetery refused to make arrangements by phone or prepayment so I decided to limp on and hope we made it to our campground. After 100 miles of stressful driving with all still operating normal - no AC except by generator for the coach air- we arrived at the CG rattle and all. Since the next day was time to make the arrangements (we camped 50 miles away - did not want to stay in New Orleans), we decided to try for a fix one day later, Friday, which was an open day before the Saturday funeral.
I did not want the rig towed to a repair shop and sat there for a long period because we had two cats and a dog on board also so I asked Coach Net to try and find a Roadside Service which they did and, to my utter amazement, the guy brought out the right part and did a total repair on site. He acted like he did them every day and said he had been a roadside tech for large trucks and trailers for 29 years. I believe him. Best darned mechanic I have ever seen. Two and one half hours and the job was done and he was gone but I will admit that I have to have a discussion with Coach Net about his company insisting I pay his labor charge for the entire trip from shop and back to shop - a total of 6 hours at $105 per/hr.
But all was good and the funeral went off without a hitch the next day and we left for home on Sunday with plans to overnight in Memphis. No problem and the AC worked wonderfully. Next morning we stopped at a Cracker Barrel and when coming back to the coach I noticed a few drips on the ground under the rear of the engine or front of the tranny. Checked the tranny level and it was a quart down so I put that in and made a decision to head for home and check the tranny every 50 miles or so.
We had gone no more than a few blocks from the restaurant when our dog, a 16 year old Shih Tzu who is blind and deaf, appeared to have a seizure just as I entered the interstate in Memphis. My wife became extremely emotional because this pup is like our child and we both thought she was gone. I pulled over on a wide shoulder and we sat there for a few minutes until we could see that the dog was still breathing, very shallow and barely discernible. I decided to try and continue on and get out of that Memphis traffic and the further we went the pup became slightly better but still appeared to be partially paralyzed. We knew then we had to get home that day so I put it on 65mph which is my max and we pressed on. I stopped twice, once for fuel and once to check the tranny again and each time I noticed that the drips were increasing in flow. Each time I added a quart of Dexron III. When we were 50 miles from home, we encountered some long gradual grades and each time the coach seemed to be sluggish in responding. I decided to pull it off at the next exit and call Coach Net for a tow to an Allison tranny repair shop.
Call it coincidental or whatever but the next exit was at a town named Norwood, Missouri and my last name is Norwood. The exit was a long uphill slope which I could tell was really working the tranny. We stopped at the stop sign and there was a small truck stop just across the road so I stepped on the gas to pull into it and I had to go at least half throttle to get it to move onto the lot.
That's where she stopped and the rest you can guess - Coach Net, tow 50 miles to Springfield and the Allison dealer which is where it sits today.
One good thing is that being so close to home, I disconnected the toad, loaded all the animals and had the wife drive on home and get them back in familiar surroundings while I waited for the tow. It was not 15 minutes after she left that the tow guy called and he was in the next town and got there quickly and hooked up. Coach Net was great on this trip (twice) and I only hope they don't jack up my membership. I have used their services 3 times in 3 months.
Today we went back to the repair shop and cleaned out our personal items and shut down the refrigerator. Thankfully, we made it safely home and our coach that always been so reliable kind of bit the bullet big time on this trip but we will get it fixed and press on. Thankfully, we are not having to make payments on it plus all the repairs and it is still our favorite form of travel. Sorry to be so long but sometimes it helps to see that big vehicles can encounter big problems at times.
Oh, almost forgot. The pup appears to be back to normal or as normal as she was before the seizure. That makes us very happy.
