If This Is Having Fun - I Don't Want Any!

OK, here's the story, sad but true. I wish I had better news for you!

We were finally on the road, heading north. It had been a long wait to get started this summer since the great state of Alabama requires you come in person to renew your drivers license. But, we finally reached the magical 60 days in advance of expiration and got it done.

A short weekend stop in Montgomery to see the kids and we were on the road again - yeah, right!

Day one - driving through Birmingham, AL. I had forgot what big hills there are on I-65, as it had been quite awhile since we had driven that direction. Oh well, we have a great motorhome with a good engine (snicker).

I noticed on the last hill that I didn't seem to have the get up and go, more like it got up and went. We made it to the top at about 50 mph and then breezed on up the road to Athens, AL where we stopped for the night.

All seemed right with the world, well ours anyway, and we talked about looking forward to doing the burbon trail in KY in the coming days.

Day two - Bright and early the next morning we are on the road again. Now I have to tell you I hate driving through Nashville - I always feel like I-65 got lost in the shuffle. Little did I know it wouldn't be a problem, not for awhile anyway.

We were breezing along, cruise set at 63 when I noticed on another hill that the speed had dropped down below 50! Wow, this isn't good. I took off the cruise and peddled it but it made no difference. Not looking good. Topped that hill only to find another one looming ahead. Hmm, lets coast up to 70 and maybe we'll top it. We did, at 35 mph. From this point it just kept getting worse. I saw a billboard for Love's Truck Stop 15 miles ahead and prayed that we could at least get there, off the interstate. After several times of having to run the shoulder because of only doing around 20 uphill and running around 40 mph on a straight away we made it to Love's parking lot.

A call to Good Sam ERS was made. They called back to say that Cummins, in Nashville, couldn't take us for a week. Great! A few minutes later they called back with the news that Tennessee Diesel in Columbia would take care of us. OK, so I trusted Good Sam and said that would be good, we were only about 8 miles from the repair center (later to be called something else) and would attempt to drive there. Off we went again, in slow mode, but we made it.

When I pulled through the gate of Tennessee Diesel, my skin crawled. It looked like a salvage yard and I didn't like the looks of this place but Good Sam sent us so it couldn't be bad - right? NOT!!!

Maybe the mechanic has been working on engines for 20 years but a little kindness would have gone a very long way about this time. Did we get any - no. He was the rudest person I've met in a long time. I had called Freightliner in Mobile where we had just had the MH serviced. He suggested the fuel filters, that we may have got some bad fuel. I started to suggest this to the mechanic and he rudely said "If you want Cummins to work this issue, just go there". Well that didn't set well with me and certainly got us off to a very bad start. He proceeded to pull the air filter and proclaimed it was filthy. Another call by me to Cummins in Nashville came up with the information that if you shine a flashlight into the top of the air filter and can see light coming through the side, it's not "filthy". Off went Dean to do the test - hah! Light at the end of the tunnel, er, filter. It wasn't filthy. OK, we didn't bite there so off to something else. He sticks his head way in the engine compartment and says "You have a manifold leak, probably need to go to Cummins". Do I believe him - not sure. I need to interject here that we arrived at this "repair facility" around 10 am. It was now close to lunch and of course off went the mechanic. Two hours later he's back. During this time I made another call to Cummins in Nashville about the possibility of coming in. They said they would pull someone to change the fuel filters but if that wasn't the problem it would be Monday before they could get us in the shop, they are swamped. OK, I agreed and we told this grease monkey to put the air filter back that we were movin on. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I was told that Tennessee Diesel was a Cummins Parts Center, not repair center, by the owner!!!

Another call to Good Sam ERS by me only to find out that because we had driven to a repair facility, that they recommended, and who told Good Sam that they could repair the manifold, after telling me they couldn't and to take it to Cummins, that if we needed towed it would be at our expense! OK, so by two in the afternoon, I'm certainly not a happy camper. This is when I found out that Good Sam ERS doesn't have recommended or approved service centers, they use the yellow pages. Well, I'm now enlightened.

With the MH air filter in place off we started for Cummins about 40 miles away. I have to tell you, I prayed every quarter mile of that journey. Would you believe it, the engine did what it was supposed to and got us there.

True to their word, Cummins got a "certified" mechanic on the job right away to change out the fuel filters. Meanwhile I made reservations at the nearest campground, Yogi Bear. After replacing the filters, he had me rev up the engine and then said he didn't like the sound he was hearing - a manifold leak!!! Well, I'll give grease monkey that one, but that still doesn't change my opinion of they way they do business.

We paid for the filters and were on our way to the campground and it started again, on a busy parkway, 35 mph was the max I could go with trails of black smoke showing where we had been.

So here we sit, in Nashville, at a very expensive park $280 for 5 nights with GS discount. I'm not even going to get into the fact that the first site was so unlevel that the jacks would not even try to level us - just showed excessive slope. I can't get satellite reception and the wifi is just OK.

After getting set up, we realized that we hadn't eaten anything all day. Got a bite to eat, showered and went to bed. By this time my stress level just couldn't get any higher and sleep was the only thing that sounded good.

There is more to this story, like finding out the Cummins Repair here in Nashville doesn't work with 2nd party warranties i.e. Good Sam CSP. Great! I did talk them into calling and getting a work order opened. Maybe I'll be able to talk them into working with them??? I pray so. From the sounds of it, this is not going to be a cheap repair and it is going to be in the shop for several days.

Just another day in Paradise? If so, I want out!