Marsha/CA
Moderator Emeritus
The last two weeks have been an ahhhh not so fun part of our trip. While we were in Sasakatoon SK , we decided to do "preventive action" and replace all the tires on the Coach. Tim had been noticing little cracks on the sidewalls which were getting bigger and bigger with the miles we were traveling. When we talked to the coach manufacturer, they had warned us that people were having side wall blowouts on our tire model. Found a tire dealer, had to wait 3 days for the tires to be delivered and took off for Prince Albert National Park . We spent Labor Day weekend there; but on Sunday we went outside to just have a nice relaxing cup of coffee, and noticed that the front tire on the little tow car was flat. Took it off, had it repaired and grumbled all day.
We left Prince Albert National Park on Tuesday headed for Edmonton Ab and the next leg would have been Jasper National Park, Banff, all the beautiful places we have been heading toward. We stopped in Llyodmister, AB for the night. We had been noticing that when we put the jacks up in the position for travel and turn on the engine to wait for the air pressure to fill that it had been taking an extra long time for the pressure to build up. Well, that morning it wouldn't build up at all. So, we call for service. It took nearly 3 hours just to get the air built up so that we could drive to a Freightliner Service center. In a couple of hours they identified the problem which was nothing but a loose air/dryer filter that was not tight and letting all the air leak out. In anticipation of finally getting going, as we began to hook up the tow car; somehow the plastic housing on the plug that goes into the tow car had cracked. We bought a replacement and put it on; that is after the first one we bought we discovered was defective. By this time it's 6 PM, we are tired, hungry, but get the plug put on check signals, brakes etc and off we go.
We get about 50 miles down the road and decide to pull over and just sleep in a dirt lot with the truckers. However before that we take a bad turn and get fine dirt and dust all over the little car and the back of the motorhome. We have to unhook, turn around and finally found the dirt lot.
The next morning we are deciding that all the cruddy stuff is behind us, we pull out of the truck stop and are joyfully heading toward Edmonton in excitement of finally getting to Jasper/Banff and Lake Louise . About 30 miles east of Edmonton , I am in the back of the motorhome and I hear Tim yell. Thinking that we were about to be hit, I latch onto the door frame expecting an impact....nothing. I walk up to the front of the motorhome and Tim's face is ashen and he is cussing up a storm. A hawk had flown into our driver's side window and shattered the glass. Pieces of glass were all over the dash. We are lucky that it didn't come through. I start making phone calls (on roaming I might add) to the insurance company, RV repair shops etc. Every time we came to a bump we were expecting the glass to collapse in on us; but it held; got to a campground which is right near a repair and RV supply shop. Talked to them and ?Yes, they can help, yes they can replace big motor home windshields and will get back to us?. Our hopes are still high..let's get the laundry and grocery shopping done so we can start off early the next morning after the windshield is fixed..
That afternoon the repair shop called and said it will take 7-10 days because the windshield has to come from the States. So here we sit. We have finally accepted that there is nothing we could have done about the bird; and nothing we can do to make the repair happen any faster.
At one time Tim was ready to sell the motor home to the first person to offer him $10 bucks; but we have passed that moment and have decided we will just extend our trip by a week and still keep going. Who knows we might come to love Edmonton and move here.
Marsha~
We left Prince Albert National Park on Tuesday headed for Edmonton Ab and the next leg would have been Jasper National Park, Banff, all the beautiful places we have been heading toward. We stopped in Llyodmister, AB for the night. We had been noticing that when we put the jacks up in the position for travel and turn on the engine to wait for the air pressure to fill that it had been taking an extra long time for the pressure to build up. Well, that morning it wouldn't build up at all. So, we call for service. It took nearly 3 hours just to get the air built up so that we could drive to a Freightliner Service center. In a couple of hours they identified the problem which was nothing but a loose air/dryer filter that was not tight and letting all the air leak out. In anticipation of finally getting going, as we began to hook up the tow car; somehow the plastic housing on the plug that goes into the tow car had cracked. We bought a replacement and put it on; that is after the first one we bought we discovered was defective. By this time it's 6 PM, we are tired, hungry, but get the plug put on check signals, brakes etc and off we go.
We get about 50 miles down the road and decide to pull over and just sleep in a dirt lot with the truckers. However before that we take a bad turn and get fine dirt and dust all over the little car and the back of the motorhome. We have to unhook, turn around and finally found the dirt lot.
The next morning we are deciding that all the cruddy stuff is behind us, we pull out of the truck stop and are joyfully heading toward Edmonton in excitement of finally getting to Jasper/Banff and Lake Louise . About 30 miles east of Edmonton , I am in the back of the motorhome and I hear Tim yell. Thinking that we were about to be hit, I latch onto the door frame expecting an impact....nothing. I walk up to the front of the motorhome and Tim's face is ashen and he is cussing up a storm. A hawk had flown into our driver's side window and shattered the glass. Pieces of glass were all over the dash. We are lucky that it didn't come through. I start making phone calls (on roaming I might add) to the insurance company, RV repair shops etc. Every time we came to a bump we were expecting the glass to collapse in on us; but it held; got to a campground which is right near a repair and RV supply shop. Talked to them and ?Yes, they can help, yes they can replace big motor home windshields and will get back to us?. Our hopes are still high..let's get the laundry and grocery shopping done so we can start off early the next morning after the windshield is fixed..
That afternoon the repair shop called and said it will take 7-10 days because the windshield has to come from the States. So here we sit. We have finally accepted that there is nothing we could have done about the bird; and nothing we can do to make the repair happen any faster.
At one time Tim was ready to sell the motor home to the first person to offer him $10 bucks; but we have passed that moment and have decided we will just extend our trip by a week and still keep going. Who knows we might come to love Edmonton and move here.
Marsha~
