MOTORHOME is FIXED! Good Things are Worth Waiting For

Yippee Skippee

Hallelujah

Wheeee Heeeee 

and all that good stuff! 

The motor home is fixed and running again!!!!


We are extremely thankful to Nick Badendick of Oconto Truck and Power Center for his diligence in working his way through from the bottom up, diagnosing what was wrong with the motor home.

Instead of just throwing parts at it, he decided to work his way slowly through the electrical system--- once he determined it was not a fuel line problem or a fuel filter problem like we originally thought. 

The problem with our particular year 1996 of Cat 3126 Diesel engines is that the diagnostic plug port does not fit the modern diesel mechanic's cord plug for their diagnostic computers. We know the pin pattern lines up, it's just that the lip edge housing around the outside of the mechanic's plug will not fit on our diagnostic port. We have run into this at a number of diesel repair places that specialize in Cat engines. We know of one place that the technician actually shaved off the edge around his plug so it would fit our port to get a correct reading. And it worked! But we would not expect all mechanics to do that, would we?

We do know that at the big Fabco Cat repair place in Green Bay, they do have a series of adapters that can be plugged in that will convert it. But not every mechanic out there would have such a set of multiple adapters in their tool box.

So we happened to offhandedly mention to Nick that if he wanted to use the diagnostic port, he would have to shave off the surrounding edge of his plug! We laughed a little bit, and said of course we would never expect you to do that. Guess what? That's exactly what he had to do!!!

He was able to trace his way through our wiring diagrams, through a series of sensors and solenoids. He did happen to find 2 broken wires during the process which he reattached to the grounds that they needed to be firmly attached back on to.

Then he went on to keep looking, and was finally down to one final sensor which is called the Injection Actuator Pressure Switch.

This was the last step before possibly having to replace the entire HEUI fuel system at the cost of about $1,000, or heaven forbid, the ECM (electronic control module), which is the brain for about $5,000. So this was our last chance at possibly solving the problem.

Nick had just gotten back from his wonderful anniversary vacation with his wife this week, and set right back to work on our motor home. I think it was bugging him in the back of his brain, that he wanted to get home and tackle it and solve the conundrum.

Much to our surprise, late on Friday night at 7:18 p.m., we get a phone call from Nick! Yes, he been working that late, on a Friday night, on our motorhome. He had it running! Yeee Hawww Yippeee Ki Yi YAYAYAYAAAAAAYYYY!

It was that part!

He said the next morning he would be able to hook up the drive shaft. It had been disconnected for towing, of course. We said we would meet him over by the shop at 7:00 a.m. to hook it up. Steve said he would give him a hand.

We set the alarm for 6 a.m. and headed over with our coffee cups in hand.

You can imagine our joyous appreciation as the engine roared to life and purred like a true Kitty Cat. The guys had been outside busy hooking up the drive shaft while I was taking care of a little bit of "unpleasant business" inside.

Because the motorhome had been parked for three weeks in a grassy field next to a woods, it seems like some little critters, namely MICE, figured out they would make themselves at home!

I found little mousie doodoo's here and there, scattered across the kitchen counter, down into the kitchen sink, across the front window and dash area, and I suspect they were dancing upon our tabletop.

I started cleaning up inside while the guys were busy yakking outside. Normally at home, we keep the Victor electronic mouse repellent units running during winter storage or in the garage next to the motor home year round. I am sure that's what keeps down any mice inhabitation in our home, garage, and motor home. But the savvy little creatures in the woods out by the truck repair place felt that it was quite a beautiful vacation home to move in and make themselves at home. We had left no food or trash bags inside. But I'm sure they could smell residue of cooking and baking from the week before the motor home was towed there.

Oh well, that's just something to deal with, and we will make sure there are no hidden creatures out there tonight looking for a spot to call home. Not only will we put the Victor most repellent units in the rig for a couple weeks, we will also set out a few mouse traps with peanut butter. Just in case.

Anyhow, Nick had a very busy Saturday as it was his son's graduation party. So he said for us take the motorhome back to our house and we will settle up on the bill on Monday. That way we will take care of the paperwork when it's a normal work day with his office.

We gladly extolled our gratitude at the wonderful job he did, and that he was able to solve the problem.  And we handed him a bag of home grown tomatoes. Share the wealth.

Then that happy boy Stevieo got behind the wheel, and cruised on out of the repair parking lot. I was following behind in our vehicle (more on that later). I  made this little video of him driving away. I know he was grinning from ear to ear as he drove the rest of the way home.

We pulled in the driveway --- and I said let me grab the dogs and we will hop back in and go for a little test drive. 

We headed out on the highway and opened her up. Steve said the vehicle feels much more responsive, peppy, and better acceleration at the pedal ---- as well as the turbo boost seems to be operating more smoothly.

I punched the numbers on the Silverleaf dash computer digital readout and it said that instantaneous gas mileage when doing 60 miles an hour on the highway was 10.4 mpg! I don't think we've ever gotten that good of mileage. Then I hit the trip miles per gallon average from when we had driven up North and back --- and we were only at 7.6 mpg back then three weeks ago. So we gained almost a whole 3 mpg difference? Although of course, we were not towing the Tracker this time. Remember? The Tracker blew a head gasket while we were camping and we left it up North with my brother. We said he could part it out or fix it or scrap it or do whatever he wants to do with it.

We drove up the highway a ways and pulled off into a cute little county park. There we sat for a while and watched the fisherman come in-and-out of the boat landing. I did some more cleaning for a little bit, and we relaxed and enjoyed the idea that our motorhome was now functioning again. It was like we were reconnecting with it again, and gaining trust that it would serve us well and travel more miles for us.  Then we turned around and headed on back to Oconto to park it at home. Safe and sound. Where it belongs!

As for the toad vehicle, remember I said that our Tracker died? Well, that left us with only one car to get around. My beloved old Lincoln Continental. I know it's a big old Grandma Cruiser, but it's comfortable and I like it. We know it's getting quite well on in it's useful years as its only a 2001 and has over 200000 miles on it.

Over the last three weeks, we have discussed picking up another vehicle that could be comfortable as well as towable behind the motor home. We tossed around ideas of having a stick versus automatic transmission. Not all automatic vehicles can be towed 4 wheels down. We tossed around the idea of running with a tow dolly and having 2 wheels up and towing a vehicle. We also tossed around the idea would we want a little pick up truck? But from time to time we haul grand kids and we also have the dogs and we would really need a back seat. So we kind of thought about a little SUV and thought we'd keep our eyes open and see what we could find.

We have always liked the Saturn vehicles. We've had 2 of them over the years, as well as some other family members have had them come and go too. We know that the Saturn Vue is towable as well as the Saturn Ion and most of the other Saturn cars.

The only problem is, they don't make Saturn any more!

While we were not in any position to buy any type of a "new" vehicle. Especially with the impending repair costs on the motor home as well as a strained budget now that we are retired and on a fixed income. We've been trying to do various repairs and projects around the house and really didn't have a lot of $$$ to spend on another vehicle right now.

But we said if the right one came along we would see what we could do?

Steve happened to find a very interesting situation on Facebook Marketplace. A gentleman had picked up this Saturn Vue 2007 SUV from his place of employment. It had been a fleet vehicle for his company.  They were retiring it from service and he was fixing it up for his son to take out West on a move, relocating his family. They had just put on new tires, a new battery, had the transmission flushed, replaced a faulty tie rod end on the suspension, and a complete all around check up. Even little things like wiper blades were replaced and everything was up to snuff. But then his son found out they had a 3rd child on the way, and they really couldn't comfortably fit 3 child car seats safely in the back of this small size SUV.  So his son took their larger SUV to Washington, and now they had to sell this one. 

What made this deal the most interesting is that it was already set up for towing! The front tow base plate was already on the front (worth about $500-600) as well as all of the wiring set up for hooking it up to have the tail lights and brake lights work in conjunction with the lights on the motor home. (another $50-100 worth of labor for that) There's a special switch on the dash to flick from regular driving over to towing that handles the electronics and you don't need to pull fuses like on some vehicles.  Everything is set up for being towed, because the vehicle had been used at the man's place of business. He works for a company that makes high lift bucket trucks. Any time one needed to be delivered to a business after purchase, this little Saturn Vue would be hooked onto the back and towed to the place of delivery. And then the work man would unhook it and drive it back to the company. So half of all the odometer miles on this vehicle were racked up just from being towed behind and not actually driven.  We got the new transferable tire warranty, battery warranty info, and all of the fleet maintenance records too.

A big thing to consider was that no matter what vehicle we would buy, we would have to be purchasing a tow base plate to go with our tow bar system as well as adapting all of the wiring. So it was a great deal to have that stuff already done on this vehicle. The seller was flexible with the price and said there was a little wiggle room, and we drove on down to check it out.

It was what we wanted, the people were very pleasant, we achieved a mutual agreed upon price that made it worth our while--- as well as left them a little bit of profit to recoup what they put into it getting it ready for their son. We scraped together our pennies and paid $2,200. So everybody left the deal happy happy. That's the way to do it. It was a win win.

The only thing we needed is an auxiliary braking system, which our kids just bought a motorhome and had one with theirs that they weren't going to use. Our Tracker was under 2,000 pounds so we never needed one with that. But this Saturn Vue is heavier and needs that braking system to assist with braking safely when being towed.

We drove it home, took care of title and license transfer with our plates from the Tracker, it's done all online now. The DMV is not even open in our little town for a walk in customers due to Covid. So we handled that all online as well as the sales tax necessary for our state.

It's kinda cute....

We are happy to say, that since we've been driving it for the last 2 weeks, everything is fine and there were no hidden surprises or unfortunate repairs needed.

And on the home front, after we got the motor home back and parked in the yard, Steve and I jumped up and hung up the last 5 pieces of siding on the house before it got too hot or humid.

TAAA DAHHHH !

It's all done now on the North side. We only worked up until the edge of the triangle of the gable. We did not touch any of the upper wood siding because it was still in really good shape. Not only that, that is where the power supply is coming into the house from the overhead electrical wires.

We decided we weren't going to do anything with that portion of the gable end. The wood looks good enough and we were able to match it up perfectly and continue the same spacing with our new siding meeting up to the old siding.

Now all we have to do is hang the shutters by the window in the laundry room and we will be done!

Personally, I think it's time to go camping!

Motorhome Break Down, Towing and also Tracker Died

Boy oh boy, when they say things come in threes, do they ever mean it!

I thought I would be writing a nice blog with a campground review of a beautiful week of camping while we snuck away to a national forest park in the U P last Sunday. Little did I know that instead I would be writing a blog about all of our repairs and breakdowns!

It all started on last Sunday morning. My sister texted me from a remote little National Forest campground in the U P of Michigan. She said all of the weekend warriors were leaving and they were going to be camping through Wednesday or Thursday. Why not come up and join them? It was remote and quiet and there would be nobody else around. We are trying hard to avoid any contact with people due to the increase in the Covid numbers.

Steve and I had just been looking at the weather report, and discussing that there was going to be a nice stretch of four or five days. Maybe we should load up the camper and go?

Within 17 minutes of the original text, Steve was filling the freshwater tank on the motorhome. I was tossing enough groceries into baskets that we could haul out and fill the fridge. We grabbed some extra clothes, filled up the dog food container, grabbed their leashes and our cell phones --- off we went.

We were driving along on a beautiful day, although it was somewhat windy. As we drove north it wasn't too bad, but then when we swung in a westerly direction on Highway 8 we were battling quite a head wind. It's about a 40-mile stretch across 8 before we have to turn north again.

Everything was good. 

But halfway through that stretch Steve noticed the engine temperature was climbing. Especially on the hilly areas. We must have really been working hard against that headwind, plus it was a very hot day in the 90s.

Suddenly, the engine was at 220 degrees which is not good!! We pulled over into a wayside and sat for a while to let it cool off.

Yes, here and there in Wisconsin there are still a few old waysides remaining along the state highways. You don't see them along the interstates anymore, but every now and then we have them here in Wisconsin.  We fired up the generator and started the roof air conditioners to stay cool.

As the engine slowly cooled off, we figured it was time to try to finish the rest of the journey to the campground. We only had 40 or 50 more miles to go.

We took off again, and we noticed the heat was slowly rising, even after we turned to go north and we weren't fighting the headwind anymore.

As we were watching the heat slowly slowly climb on the Silverleaf computerized read out, I had recalled reading a while back on one of my Safari groups that it's good to actually open up the vents and run the HEAT on the dash full blast to open the thermostat and drop the engine temperature. Yes, it worked! It dropped 10° as soon as we turned on the dash heat.  We left the roof air going with the generator at the same time. Battling cool and hot air both blowing at the same time, we were able to keep going.

Now we were cruising along with the engine in the 190 degree range, so we decided to get to the campground and shut it down. I looked in my maintenance records, which I keep very diligent records of dates, part numbers, mileage etc. My notes said that the last time the thermostat had been changed, it was 8 years prior. So we figured it would probably be a good time to get that done before we attempt the trip back home.

We figured this would be easy peasy. We called the local parts store up there with the part number, and had one ordered. They said no problem, it would be in by Wednesday and we could pick it up.

So that was trouble episode NUMBER ONE.

~~~~~~~

Little did we know about NUMBERS TWO and THREE to come???

Right about now in this blog, I would be writing about our wonderful campsite, our great time together with family, and our remote camping using our half-price Senior Access Pass for the first time at the National Forest Campground. But I will write more about that later in another blog with more room and time.

Wednesday afternoon, it was time to go to get the thermostat. So we hopped in the little Tracker, we made it as far as the exit of the campground. Suddenly we had a big puff of white exhaust come billowing out the back of the Tracker. Oh my! It was a huge cloud of white exhaust when we tried to accelerate up the hill. I took this pic just at idle, not even under throttle and it was quite a lot of white smoke.

Yep, you guessed it. We just blew the head gasket!  We limped it right back to the campsite and shut it down. Dangnabbit...

Since it was only a 1997, it really wasn't worth much to go through the trouble or cost to fix it.

We had just been discussing with my younger brother that if we had found another vehicle to pull behind the motorhome, the Tracker was about ready to be retired anyhow. My younger brother already has our last Tracker, the white rag top one, that we used to tow for years before we bought this one. So we called him up and told him that rather than dragging this thing all the way back to our home in Wisconsin, even for a metal scrapper, was he interested in keeping it up there for the parts for the other Tracker that is still running?

"Sure!" he said and we could tow it right up to his house, since we already had the base plate and tow bar to do so. Then he wouldn't have to use a tow strap and another person to steer while hauling it behind his truck.

Because he doesn't think we really overheated it enough to warp the head, it may very well be repairable. Otherwise, he can part it out and take off all the good stuff like the tires, the battery and any things he may want for his other Tracker. Of course, his third option is to just sell it for scrap. So we will pop the title in the mail to him and he can do with it whatever he wants.

So that was NUMBER TWO of the three things!

and now we have to 

go to the expense of 

buying another vehicle 

to tow behind the motorhome....

~~~~~~~

On to number three. Remember I said there were three things???

After a delightful wonderful five days of camping, even with the demise of the Tracker, it was time to head on back home. We hooked the Tracker on the back of the motorhome for one last time.  We brought it into town and dropped it at my brother's house. We removed the Blue Ox base plate for the tow bar.

Who knows, we may be able to use it on our next towable vehicle. Or we can sell it. We said goodbye to our little billy goat Tracker who has served us well for the last 9 years.

We were headed south out of Iron River, Michigan on Highway 189, then when you hit the border to Wisconsin and becomes Highway 139.

Steve was carefully watching the temperature to be sure that the new thermostat was working. We were about 30 miles out of town when we felt a funny surging coming from the engine. It suddenly sound like fuel was not getting to the engine??

Here comes NUMBER THREE!!!

We were right near the end of Highway 139 where it meets Highway 8. We knew there was a parking lot there at a little closed bar and grill. We pulled into the lot and the engine was really sputtering. We shut it down.

At least we were off the road 

and safe. 

That is the main thing.

As luck would have it, of course, the engine would not start again.

We could crank on it but we did not want to wear out the starter. After several attempts we decided that we would do the next practical thing and examine the fuel filters.

Steve is very particular and precise in his maintenance on the motorhome. He puts in fuel conditioner and an algaecide with every fuel fill up. That's one of the worst things in the summer months when heat and humidity makes algae grow in the diesel fuel.  This particular batch of 100 gallons was just fine for the last three excursions, so we didn't feel it was actually a bad batch of fuel or problems with the fuel itself.  More along the lines of a problem with fuel delivery.

The next thing he did was to release the little screw valve on the bottom of the larger fuel filter. This is a water separator feature that will allow you to drain any traces of water from the fuel system. What was interesting is that instead of anything dribbling out upon release of that little spigot, there was a sucking sound of air being sucked into the filter! Then a moment or so later some fuel did dribble out. Steve has a little container there to dribble the fuel into so he can examine it.  There wasn't any water in it, and it was clear diesel. There were no specks of anything either. Puzzling...

Well, our next step would be to actually change out the filters.

He carries on board the two new fuel filters necessary for our Cat 3126 diesel engine.

The only problem is, before you can put on the fuel filter, you need to fill it to the brim with clean diesel and no air bubbles. Here we are, stuck in the parking lot in the middle of the woods, in northern Wisconsin, with no way to get a gas can of clean diesel!!!

Remember, we don't have the Tracker towed behind any more. Otherwise we could have just unhooked it, buzzed over to the nearest gas station 20 miles away, and brought back fresh diesel.

Sigh.  The one time that we don't have a vehicle towed behind is the time we REALLY could use one!!!   That was just not to be.

What was our next best option? Ah ha!  Call up that little brother that we just gave the Tracker to. I knew he had just gotten home from work, after a long day at the mine. Of course, he quickly grabbed a spare can, and headed to the station and filled it with diesel.

30 miles later he was pulling up at our parking lot!

Fresh from the mine, and covered it nickle dust.

Between he and Steve, they carefully filled up and swapped out the filters. Oddly though, the diesel fluid they poured out of the old filters look just fine.

They turned the key to prime the engine, and tried to fire it up. Sadly, no go. They attempted a number of times and decided enough was enough. Better to not wear out the starter, nor the engine batteries.

There really was nothing more we could do.

It was after 5pm, but now was the time to get on the phone and contact our American Family Insurance. On our policy, we pay additional for roadside emergency service. We have heard so many horror stories of people who use Good Sam or Coach Net roadside emergency service for the motorhomes. We decided instead to pay the little bit extra on our premium every month and have American Family Emergency Roadside Assistance. It also handles low fuel, lockout, and towing for all of our vehicles.  Now it was time to actually USE it for the first time!

It was after 5 p.m. so we could not talk to our local agent directly. We called the main number, who asked us a few questions and then transferred us over to the roadside assistance team.

From there, the agent was searching their database for an available tow truck that would be sufficient to handle a 30,000 lb 40 ft long motorhome. I think that's one of the biggest complaints we read about from RVers using Coach Net or Good Sam. It seems in most cases, they inadvertently they send out the wrong size tow truck and it takes multiple attempts with various tow companies before they get a sufficient rig to pull a motorhome.

So while on the line, I stressed emphatically over and over during the call that we were 30,000 pounds and 40 ft long...

It worked. She could find a company willing to take the job, but the only problem was they could not come until the next morning. She asked are we safe enough off the road and able to spend overnight in our rig? You bet. We were in probably the best possible situation for having a breakdown because we were safely off the road in a flat level parking lot. We had plenty of access in front of the motorhome for the tow truck to hook up. We were in a quiet area of the woods, but because of the intersection of Highways 8 and 139 there happened to be a big streetlight overhead of the intersection. We even had a very good cell and internet signal. So we were in a well-lit safe area with ample room around us. The bar and grill was closed due to covid-19 restrictions, and nobody else parked in the entire lot.

Our towing policy provides for a series of tows that will get you to the nearest facility that is capable of repairing your problem. We hear horror stories where they will only tow a motorhome ONE time to the nearest RV dealer or gas station. That doesn't help when you have a diesel engine. We need to get to a diesel truck repair facility. Our policy provides additional subsequent tows if the first place can't fix you. We were quite happy with that information when we arranged to have this type of coverage. Over the years of reading about Coach-Net and Good Sam, that is not the case for them---- many times I read how people are left stranded at the first place who turn out they can't fix their problem.  Then they have to shoulder the added expense of subsequent tows.

We determined, with the help of the agent, that the best place to tow us was back to Oconto to our home which is 90 miles away. Then if we couldn't fix it we could have it towed on another day the additional 30 miles down to the Fabco Cat diesel repair place in Green Bay.

The next problem was they needed to secure payment on our credit card, which would be reimbursed to us later by the insurance company. As soon as they tried to charge our American Express card, a fraud alert protection hold jumped up and prevented them from charging our account!

(Thank you American Express for your diligence)

We were able to verify to American Express that yes, it was a legitimate charge. Then we could go ahead with the transaction. Our complete claim and arrangements were all done on the phone within 45 minutes.

The only hitch in the plan was that we would have to wait until morning for a tow truck.

Honestly, that was okay with us because even the overall charge to our credit card was very minimal. It was $390 for a 90 mile tow. We were reassured that would be reimbursed through our local agent once her office would be open in the morning and we could send her a receipt.

We also clarified with them the fact that because we did not have an additional vehicle, we would need to ride along, as well as our two small dogs. That was perfectly okay with them as long as we had masks and sufficient social distancing practices observed by their tow drivers.

We breathed a sigh of relief and settled in for a relaxing evening. We were safe. We had food, water, dogs, and even located a couple stations on the TV antenna.

It was reassuring, after a long stressful day, to take showers and curl up in bed. The occasional sound of a truck rattling its jake brake to reach the stop sign was the only thing that we heard throughout the night. Nobody bothered us. No cops or sheriff stopped. Nobody questioned us as to why we were spending the night in a bar and grill's empty parking lot.

In the morning, by 7:15 a.m., our local agent Leah Burg was on the phone contacting us! We had left her a voicemail message the night before ... which was after office hours.

She got right on it first thing in the morning. She made sure that a tow company had been contacted and that they had sufficient equipment to tow us right the first time.

We were told the truck would arrive between 8 and 9:30. They were sending someone down from Iron Mountain to pick us up and take us all the way to Oconto to our home, and then return back to Iron Mountain again. That's quite a round trip for a tow company.  (I just checked it out, he went 202 miles round trip).

In the meantime, Steve had contacted the owner of Oconto Truck Center. Nick Badendick. He also happens to be the husband of the realtor that we bought our house from a year ago.

Over the phone, Steve ran it past him about what was happening and would he be interested in giving it a go in fixing it? It just so happens that Nick has the exact same engine in his motor home too!!!

He said sure thing, just have it towed to his shop here in Oconto, and he would take a look at it next week.

So we adapted our destination, with a phone call to the emergency roadside assistance team that we would be going to Oconto Truck Center instead of our home address. It was only one mile difference, and actually closer to the highway exit. No problem!

We then verified with the tow driver on the phone, enroute, that it would be okay to make the change. We also double checked with him what type of equipment was he coming with, and was it sufficient to tow a 30,000 lb 40 ft diesel motorhome?  Oh yes, and he was able to do the job for sure.  What a relief.  He was on his way!

We then went on to their Facebook page and website to check out their rig. It's name was "MILO" and it was a new acquisition this year for their tow company.

After we enjoyed our morning coffee we stowed away a few things that may become jumbled during the tow. Steve also removed our Blue Ox tow bar off the back hitch in case that could possibly get damaged or scraped during the process. We weren't towing the Tracker anymore anyhow, so it was good to get it off and stowed away in a compartment.

Soon Tim arrived with big MILO. 

Our HERO~! 

It was quite exciting watching him go through step by step of getting it ready to put the stinger underneath the rig and line everything up.

I made a video of the process, mainly for the grandkids to watch. But here is a link to the YouTube of how they got it all ready to tow our motorhome.

You can see during this video of his very close and precise attention to detail. He had to get everything exactly right and lined up and fitted. He double-checked and triple checked everything before even raising the rig up. Then he disengaged our drive shaft and strapped it up for transport. He was very careful to take the retaining pieces for the drive shaft and gave them personally to Steve to securely put them away. They would be needed to reattach the drive shaft again.

We have read horror stories of tow drivers over the years, with other people, losing those parts...

Tim did a great job making absolutely sure everything was perfect before it was time to leave.

~And awayyyy we go~ 

After 10 miles, he pulled over to the side in a parking lot, and went back and double-checked everything to make sure every item was secure and that everything was being towed properly. He checked all the connections, straps and even the auxillary LED light bar on the back.

We have the highest regards and compliments for LR Vincent Tow and Recovery Company of Kingsford, MI with the big MILO.

Here are their links: 

https://lrvincent.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LRVincenttowing/

An easy and trouble-free 90 miles later, he very adeptly backed it into the spot directed by Nick Bademdick, the owner of Oconto Truck and Power Center:

https://oconto-truck-and-power-center.business.site/website/oconto-truck-and-power-center/

https://www.facebook.com/Oconto-Truck-and-Power-Center-101870128112894/

Tim had us all unhooked in no time flat. I am pleased to announce that we experienced absolutely no damages or problems with the tow. We tipped him a little bit to grab a lunch on his way back to Iron Mountain.

Nick and Steve went over the situation, and the steps that we had done so far to try to rectify the situation. Being a Friday afternoon, he would have no time to get to it and instead was giving attention to his professional trucking customers that needed to get back on the road before the weekend. He said next week sometime he will be able to mess around with it, and give us an idea of what's going on and what can be done.

Then, above and beyond service, Nick gave Steve a quick ride over to our house, a mile away. Steve was able to grab a cooler and a couple laundry baskets from the house.  He hopped in our car, realizing it was the only vehicle we own right now that actually RUNS!   LOL .....   he came back over to where I was waiting with the dogs at the motor home. We cleared out the food from the refrigerator and any of the perishable groceries, our dirty laundry, and a few other things and put them into the car.

Steveio, the dogs, and I got back in the car, left the keys with Nick, and headed back home.

After that debacle, there is

 NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!!