Broken Down Blues (cont.)
This is the second part of our break-down story from yesterday.
When I left you last night, Ali, Max and I were waiting for a cab. They had just towed away our RV. The cab finally arrived and our driver, Roger, took us safely to our destination in Manassas, VA. Roger is from Pakistan. All the men in his family are in the Pakistani army but he’s the blacksheep of the family and has traveled to many countries, finally settling here. He speaks seven languages! It was a bit of a drive and he was very interesting to talk to.
The shop, JJ’s on Euclid in Manassas, took excellent care of us! The owners are also RVers and understood our predicament. They fixed us right up and we only had to wait for a little while. In fact, from break-down on the median to driving away from the shop, the entire ordeal only lasted 3 1/2 hours! The best part? The fix only cost us $50! (Well, okay, add in the $30 can fare and it still wasn’t terribly expensive.)
We decided it was still early and we could probably still make it to our scheduled campground that evening. We stopped for gas and hit the road. It was a beautiful day! No green goo was soaking my shoes and the RV wasn’t overheating.
I took over driving for awhile and, after about a half hour or so, it seemed like the RV was feeling a bit sluggish. I was on a highway (not a freeway) and was glad there were two lanes, because the RV didn’t seem to want to go above 55 mph. I realized I’d had the gas pedal on the floor for quite sometime and I still couldn’t get it to go any faster. And it was making a deep drag sound that I could see and even feel under my feet. Hmmm.
As the day wore on, it got worse and I could only get it up to about 45 mph. I was getting worried but didn’t want to say anything to Richard after our stressful morning. Perhaps it would just…go away! Yeah, the RV would fix itself if I just let enough time go by. If I could just get to the campground and let it rest for the evening, it would be just hunky dory in the morning! (sigh)
Just around dusk, when the RV was topping out around 40 and I was starting to wonder when Richard was going to ask me why I was driving so slowly, a red light caught my eye. I looked down and my stomach went into my throat.
CHECK ENGINE SOON.
I read it out loud.
Richard said, “You are KIDDING me!”
“No, dear. Not a joke.” I then told him what the RV had been doing to me all day.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he asked.
“Because…I love you?” I meekly replied.
We found a gas station with a repair bay and pulled over. They couldn’t help us, but told us the RV would probably make it another 40 miles (to our campground) since it had been running all day.
After we got gas, the engine light did not come back on and only 15 minutes later, it was running like normal.
I was starting to think we maybe got some bad gas in Manassas. About that time, Richard said, “Maybe we got some bad gas?” He’s always reading my mind like that.
We got to the campground and had a wonderful, peaceful evening.
We got up this morning and hit the road again. We’d planned to be home on Saturday (We have a hearing to attend on Tuesday and wanted to give ourselves some leeway) and thought maybe we could drive straight through and get there tonight instead of tomorrow. Frankly, we were tired of having engine trouble and anxious to get it to our personal mechanic for a complete checkup and maintenance (which, incidentally, we DID have done before our trip).
The RV was running just fine and we stopped for breakfast. Only moments after we asked the waitress for a child’s cup for Max (she’d brought him a regular glass), he spilled his chocolate milk all over himself. I took him to the RV, changed him, brought him back in, and we sat down to eat, look at the atlas, and re-route ourselves on a more direct route home (bypassing our final campground in Connecticut).
After breakfast, Richard took over driving and I sat back to relax. I even started getting drowsy…until I suddenly heard that familiar drag on the engine…the same drag I’d listened to all day yesterday. I was now wide awake.
Yep, it had started again. Except this time, when we got on the freeway, the RV was going so slow up one incline that we had to turn on our hazard lights.
We decided to pull over at the next town and have it looked at. There’s no way we could drive all the way to Maine going 40 mph. As we took the next exit, we looked to the left and there, in the golden sunshine, stood a stranded motorist’s oasis. A Chevy Dealership! We have a Chevy engine! Yea!!!
The manager there is a super nice guy and, despite being completely booked, looked under our hood, drove the RV and offered to get us in as fast as he could. They think it’s the fuel filter. One of their mechanics, Roger, agreed to run the diagnostics on it in the morning and fix it for us. God Bless Roger!
Tonight, we’re at the local Best Western and driving a rental car. We’re still planning to be home tomorrow night. If they can’t fix it tomorrow, it will have to wait until Monday. If that’s the case, the children, Percy, and I will drive the rental car to Maine (we’re only 7 hours from home) and Richard will stay behind with the sick RV and drive her home when she’s feeling better.
The best part about today? We have a full-sized shower to use this evening!