Unexpected Road Repair

What happens when you have vehicle issues while on the road?  

When we started RVing two years ago, I was really anxious.  First of all, I am deathly afraid of heights.  What does that hav to do with being in an RV?  Well, in a Class A RV, the seats and living quarters are up to the height of a semi tractor trailer.  The front windshield is beyond huge.  When we are driving on mountains, hills, and bridges, I am way above everything, and it can creep me out.

After the first few mistakes our first time out of not locking the refrigerator (which took a few lessons to getting that into my head), and other mishaps, we now have a routine for our travel.  I am responsible for making sure the refrigerator is locked, the glass dish of the microwave is removed into a cabinet where it cannot bounce all around making a racket, and Dennis is responsible for checking all outdoor storage doors that they are secure, and the main door in is locked when he comes in.  I check the rearview mirror on the passenger side to assure the steps have retracted.  

Dennis starts the engine, and then we hold hands and pray.  Yes, we pray.  We thank God for the opportunity to travel, we thank him for the adventures we had on that stop, and we pray for safety, for us, for the RV, and for the Jeep we are towing.  Just doing this has greatly reduced my anxiety while traveling.  When I start to feel anxious along the route, I read so I am not watching the road and not getting fearful of what I cannot control.

We spent a month in Missouri visiting family and friends.  We attended my grandson’s graduation from the University of Missouri, and visited my granddaughter at Missouri State University.  We did lots of lunches and dinners with family and friends in the St. Louis area, where I lived most of my life.  

Our next big stop was Blue Ridge, Georgia.  We would sleep one night in Tennessee, and head our way to our RV park in northern Georgia.  Just east of Chattanooga, we would stop for lunch and meet up with a friend and her husband who was a classmate of mine in high school.

As we were approaching Chattanooga, Dennis mentioned that the engine light came flashing on the RV.  Now understand, before we leave for any trip, Dennis has the RV in at the RV center for any fixes to the RV, and at a Ford Truck center for any fixes and maintenance on the truck part.  Our RV is still under warranty with both, and always in good working condition when we start our journey.  But, things happen, and parts can fail or break.

I called my friend and told her that it didn’t look like we could meet for lunch because we think we need to find a Ford Truck repair place to figure out the problem with the RV, but my frantic search wasn’t being successful.  Ethel told me that she would call her local Ford dealership and ask them.  A few minutes later she called and gave me the phone number of a  truck repair facility in Chattanooga.  We were just a few miles away, and the engine was now acting up.  Dennis said he was hoping we could get to the facility before the engine decided to stop.  Even though it was close, we were in heavy traffic.  I just prayed out loud that God would allow our RV to keep running at least until we get to the facility.

We pulled our RV in, and were told that they couldn’t even look at it until some time the following week (it was a Friday that this happened).  We were not happy, but we had no choice.  I called my friend in Blue Ridge, who wanted us to stay with them anyway, although we declined the invitation since we had our RV.  I asked her if we could accept her invitation and maybe even stay a few days longer than we planned.  She was thrilled we were coming to stay with them.  Then I asked the big question—do you have any refrigerator and freezer space?  If we were leaving the RV, we had to unload all spoilable food, since the repair facility will not have anything electrical running in the RV for many days.  Can you believe that our friends had a full freezer that was empty!  They also have three refrigerators!  

I kept thinking about God’s graciousness in that this could have happened somewhere between Clarksville, Tennessee and Chattanooga where there was no repair center, and a far distance from Blue Ridge.

We proceeded to load up our car with all the groceries that could spoil with no electricity.  Dennis drove the jeep up to the local Walmart for containers to put food in while I started packing up our clothes.  We do not carry suitcases when traveling in an RV—we have plenty of closets and drawers.  For some reason, I had several large shopping bags with us that our clothes could be loaded in.  

I follow several RV Facebook groups, and by many of their experiences, including ours, a repair to an RV can take weeks to months.  The supply chain for parts is still an issue.  If the repair was big and needed weeks to months to repair, we had to take as much clothes with us, and would probably have to drive home without the RV.  The remainder of our trip would be cancelled.

Once we loaded everything, we took the two hour trip to beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia.  Our route took us south out of Tennessee along the Ocoee River.  It’s a beautiful winding road along a river of people white water rafting.  We took a turn off the highway and wound our way through curvy roads and up the mountain where our friend lives.  They live on top of a mountain. There are beautiful views and wildlife everywhere.

The views from their home are breathtaking as it looks over the trees and several Georgia mountains pop up in the distance.

Our week was in limbo.  We had no idea how our next leg of travel would be.  Would we be packing up the car to meet our RV and continue or trip, or would we be driving home to Arizona in just our car, and cancel all upcoming RV park reservations?

One of my favorite places in Blue Ridge, Georgia is the Mercier Orchards.  The rolling hills of orchards are beautiful to see, and their store fascinates me.  It is filled with not only fresh fruit from their orchards, but also jams, jellies, honey, pies, and other items processed from the fruits they grow.  The great surprise was their fresh strawberries—I had no idea they also grew strawberries.  These berries are nothing like you buy in the store—they are picked ripe in the field.  The look, the smell, and the taste brought back childhood memories of when my grandmother would bring fresh strawberries from her garden to our home.  These berries were exquisite in their appearance and taste.  

We had a wonderful time visiting, and as not to take advantage of their last minute hospitality, I happily made a few dinners for everyone.  I love cooking, and so was happy to make our meals as a treat and response to their kindness for our unexpected 7 day stay with them.

On day 6, the repair center called Dennis and told him the problem with the engine, and that if they got the parts the next morning, we could have the RV back that afternoon.  We were really excited to hear our repair was a simple one, and our trip could continue.  We loaded all our clothes and food back into the Jeep, along with 1/2 bushel of Georgia peaches, and headed our way back to Chattanooga. 

We rearranged our agenda, moving our Florida reservation to start later, and added extra days to it.  We are just outside of Destin, Florida and enjoying the sunshine and beaches.

What could have been a disastrous end to a well planned vacation, ended by having extra time with good friends, and making adjustments to reservations to continue our trip.