Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Not On April First! Yepper

As we were pulling into Freightliner for our warranty work appointment in Chandler this morning there was a loud bang and I lost all power in the rig.  Smoke came rolling in and filled the rig almost instantly.  The mechanics heard and saw what was happening.  Luckily they didn’t need the fire extinguishers that they had in hand by then.  Needless to say we got pulled into a bay with no problem.  The engine had blown apart literally.  Pieces of the engine had actually gone up thru the floor and into our bedroom and the side walls of the RV.  The mechanics had to go and pick up engine pieces that were all over the entrance of Freightliner dealership.  They called Freightliner Hq who in turn said to remove the engine and ship it to them to determine if it was covered under warranty.  Oh great, this will take time but what can you do?  Let me think…….

That afternoon we went up to La Mesa RV in Mesa.  They had a 42’ Tiffin Phaeton in stock that Carol really liked a lot.  At this point, anything we can sleep in looked good.  I did like the paint job.  Nope, we didn’t buy it.  We went back to our defunk rig towing a 26’ U Haul trailer.  We have to get all of our stuff out before anything else.  What a friggin job that was.  We just threw stuff in the U Haul.  It took about one hour and the RV was empty except the frig food which was not working at all.  Oh well.

Now what???????????  We went back to La Mesa RV and told them of our situation.  They called Bob Tiffin and told him.  He said he remembered us very well and to go ahead and let us use the 2014 42’ Phaeton for 3 months.  We had to sign some liability papers and call our insurance to get it insured immediately.  We moved in all of our stuff in the new Tiffin and returned the U Haul trailer that evening.  We drove the new rig back to Freightliner and emptied out the frig into the new frig.  Nothing really went bad food wise.

We couldn’t sleep so we decided to head for Livingston, what the hell.   Late that night a front tire blew.  Yepper it’s just one of those adventurous non believable days.  Everybody is alright including the kitty but the new Tiffin is now at Freightliner in Tucson.  It was towed there in the middle of night and we are at the Motel 6.   The new Tiffin has severe body damage in the front and down one side from the guard rails plus I laid it over on it’s side.   I hit the rails  trying to keep it in control when the front tire blew.  That was very exciting especially at night too.  That’s two pair of underwear in one day.  Carol too!

This will not interfere with our Alaska trip and we are still going even if it’s via a Jeep and a 13’ trailer.

Again, I’m glad it was really April first at Freightliner.   It’s an April first thing I do every year.  Did I keep you interested?  This would have been really bad luck if it happened!  I know Art believed every word of it.

See yea in our old new “Baby.”