What's Wrong With This Picture?

Don and I are supposed to be on our way to Macon, GA for a Monaco International pre-Rally. We are supposed to meet a group of friends on Sunday, but it doesn't look like we'll be making it! Might not make it on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday! Heck...we might be lucky if we make it to the rally at all!

Rolled out of Fort Lauderdale on time this morning. Drove north and we were on I-95 just north of Fort Lauderdale when the Lo Cool buzzer and light began flashing. We pulled over, Don put coolant in and we got back on the road. I blamed him for not checking the fluid levels before we left. A mile or so down the road, the light came on and our Turbo gauge began going up and down erratically. Along with that came loss of power. I got on the phone to Monaco and he wanted Don to check something in the back of the engine. We got off the highway entirely at that point and discovered that we had fluid all over the back of the motorhome and the car in tow! Time to call Coach Net, our towing service! That was 11:30 a.m. At 1:30 p.m. I called Coach Net and found out that it would be at least 2 HOURS before the tow truck would arrive. Why hadn't they called us to let us know that instead of ME calling them? They told me the name of the company coming to get us and I called them to confirm the 2 hour wait time. While I was on the phone with them, he got a radio call from his lo-boy, the unit that was coming to pick us up. He was down on the side of the road. They wouldn't be able to come get us after all. Coach Net had told me they had called many companies and no one had the equipment to tow us. Not unheard of within the RV world especially with our 45' motorhome. I asked the guy at the towing company if he could recommend someone else. He gave me the name and I called that company. He would also be around 2 hours, it was strictly cash and they charged $250/hr! Even dealing with Coach Net it would be CASH and we would have to get refunded. I called Coach Net and broke the news. About that time Don lost his cool and called Coach Net himself. I got on the GPS and looked up towing companies NEAR where we were. They didn't have anything but he recommended someone that did. I called Coach Net and gave them that information.

Fast forward a little. I'm sitting on the couch, waiting for a phone call, Don is sitting in the passenger seat when he sees a car to the side of us and he says "he's going to hit the car in front of him", tires lock up, screech and yes, he hits the guy in front who had stopped or slowed down. They pull over in front of us, the guy in the back car (the hitter) keeps pointing back to us and it's obvious that he's blaming us or telling the guy in front (the hittee) that he was looking at us, we were in his way or something! Now we are well over to the right hand side, it's marked off like an island and very wide AND we had been sitting there for hours! We could have parked two motorhomes side by side and still had plenty of room to walk around AND be out of traffic! Police arrive (oh yeah, I forgot that an hour earlier we had a cop pull over a speeder and they pulled in front of us, gave/got the ticket and off they went)! So after the cop takes the accident report he backs up to us and asks if everything is o.k. We told him our sob story and that we were waiting for a tow truck. He told me that he could have a wrecker here in 15 minutes - GUARANTEED! He asked me to confirm where our tow truck was and said he'd wait while doing his report. About the same time Coach Net called to confirm the wrecker was on it's way. I think it's about 3:30 by now. Wrecker calls to confirm where we are and arrives at 4:00 p.m. Now remember, we started this entire process with our first phone call to Coach Net at 11:30 a.m.!!!! Cop leaves, wrecker (hook not a lo-boy) begins hooking up. I'm on the phone to different "closer" shops (we were supposed to be headed to Miami...hey, that's the wrong way) to see if they could work on us. What I heard was..."two weeks, Tuesday, not until late Monday". Looks like we're heading to Miami! At 4:22 P.M. we finally are moving! Don's with the tow truck, I'm in the car behind. At 7:30 p.m. we finally pull into the Florida Detroit Diesel-Allison shop in Miami. Do you realize that IF we had gone with the "CASH" guy, it would have been $750.00 out of our pocket! Yikes...they must know that we only have State Quarters in our safe and a few Canadian dollars, that's why they got another tow company!!!

Detroit came out to look at the coach, it's now almost 8:00 and it's been dark for some time! They finally find the problem...the heater hose has been rubbing against some clamp. Monaco didn't put it in a "loom" and over the 24,000 miles it developed a leak! When the guy came a little while later to connect the drive shaft so we can start up, put the slides out and level he said it was wet everywhere! I guess this hose runs to and fro, up and back, here and there and everywhere! The good news is they know what the problem is, the bad news is they aren't sure they have that much hose. The good news is they are open until 11:00 p.m. The bad news is the parts department is closed! Good news is they can fix it, bad news is they won't start until Monday. It's at least an all day job, so at the best we can get on the road on Tuesday. That means we would get to Macon about Thursday! I think that's the day the rally is over! We're only 593 miles away! So close, yet so far away!

This facility has a guard on duty with a closed gate. The guard took both Don and I on a tour of the shop and grounds! It's huge here. They have a spot where yachts can pull up for work (we're right on the canal that leads directly to the ocean! We go by this area and man, does it smell good! The mechanics are having a barbecue! I walked over a little later and told them how good it smelled! They didn't take the hint, but then I asked if I brought over a couple of hamburger patties if they would have two extra buns. We were starving! They said sure and off I went! Took back our plates, burgers and some Fritos! They gladly grilled our burgers! Those things tasted pretty darn good...especially since it was after 9:00 p.m.

So here we sit in a lovely, greasy, noisy (did I mention that we are in the flight path of the Miami International Airport?) well lit camp spot! We have an extension cord draped about 100' away so at least we can keep the batteries up. If we need water, we can run some hoses. Thank goodness that Don made sure our water tank was full and the gray tank was empty! It ain't Macon, GA but I guess we can have an adventure to write about! We're hoping that we can get Monaco to agree to pay for the repair or at the least split the cost with us! It was something that they didn't do and should have that caused the problem so it makes sense, but we are now out of warranty! My other concern is getting a refund of the almost $300 for the rally since it IS a Monaco problem and not us just deciding that we aren't coming! Might be time to check into a new Winnebago, huh?

Tomorrow we will have breakfast with my girlfriend, Nancy, who we stopped here to see in the first place, and then head to South Beach! Never know where we might head after that!