Red Bay we have lift off!

The Smitanic was made ready for an early AM call to the Mechanical bay as indicated by the techs from the Express Bay. But by 10 AM it had not been summoned! Anxious to hit the road to get a jump on the 3 day trip back to NC, Kevin and Theresa walked by the Mechanical Bay and noted all 3 were occupied with other RVs. Theresa inquired with one of the Techs there where the Smitanic fit into the wait queue? “there is one more in front of you, you may get in today, but no promises.” The priority of repairs once again perplexed the two eager nomads. How can one go from first thing in the AM' to 'maybe today' ? Lunch was at a local Steakhouse that had a Wednesday lunch special of a hamburger w/side and a drink which was shared between the two. The waitress asked where home was? She approved of NC even if it had North in the name, “y'all are really southerners. Don't know what to do about the ones from New York', as she shook her head in disgust. No comment to that.

Still awaiting a call for a turn in mechanical, Theresa decided to kill time in the Customer Lounge working on a 1000 piece puzzle some other ladies had started while Kevin returned to the RV to catch up on emails, news and other triage. Finally, in early afternoon, it was the Smitanic's turn!

Once in the bay, four wheel jacks were locked in to the wheels of the rig. Then all lifted the 18 tons of machine about 6ft in the air. Kevin described the leak issue to the mechanics, Sandy and Kyle. Armed with mirrors and wrenchs they examined the underbelly and began to tighten up all suspect bolts and fittings. Kevin then described and issue he noticed with one of the leveling jacks slipping down a bit after a days drive. Kevin continued his description by saying he lubricates the jacks with silicon. As soon as Kevin uttered Silicon, both Sandy and Kyle in unison said, “Never Use Silicon!” Again T.9 BoeShield was recommended as the only thing to use on all moving parts on the RV.

Kevin continued on his list of mechanical issues and told them that another repair place had also found a small leak in the cooling fan. The mechanics teamed up to examine up in the the left rear of the bus behind the duelies. They then called Kevin over to show him the location of the leak and validated it was indeed a gasket around the cooling fan. “we got not parts for that”, “Chris over at the diesel shop can get it, might take a while, and between you and this small country boy I think he charges too much”, Sandy offered. “Do you think I can drive it back to NC about 700 miles?”, Kevin inquired. “Cant rightly say, you might be good to a long while, or you might loose all the hydrolics a block from here”, Sandy replied with confidence. Kevin pondered the options, he new the leak had been detected a few weeks ago and made an executive decision. Since it was a slow leak, it would be OK to get to NC to the Freightliner repair place so they could fix it and leverage the extended warranty to help minimize the cost. 

With Kevin's list finally exhausted of items, the Smitanic was lowered back to ground floor. Sandy, with the Smitanic paperwork in hand, escorted Kevin and Theresa to see one of the 'Ladies in the Office' who would take care of billing for all the repair work. Lisa quickly entered the pages of work items logged by each technician into a computer! This was the first evidence of business technology! It does exist! A detailed print out was handed to Kevin and Theresa for their validation. To their surprise the bill was about 1/3 of what was expected! Good news! Payment was quickly made before any discrepancy was found.

It was mid afternoon before a decision was made to check out of this parking lot and get down the road about 150 miles to a 'real' campground. The bill for the weeks worth of full hook up was only $120, not bad. Kevin and Theresa looked at each other and agreed this pilgrimage was a great value and would become a regular event! Just do not be in a hurry, and bring something to entertain ones self.

A call to Rick at Triple T Freightliner was made to validate they would be able to fit the warranty repair of the cooling fan leak into their schedule. Since the Smits were off to a wedding in LA, the Smitanic could be left at the Wilmington repair location. This would allow more than 10 days for the repair to be completed. Should be enough time. Awesome! 

The Smitanic slide into Triple T early on the 3rd day of travel. It was a Saturday and the service department was minimally staffed. “I had called earlier and talked with Rick who told me to bring it in before 11 am today”, Kevin told the technician behind the desk as Kevin handed him the extended warranty paperwork. “I will make copies and give these back”. The technician completed that task and said “You are good to go”. “Do you want my name or number?” Kevin asked. “Na, you are in the system.”

With the final (for this round) repair item pending, the Toad was loaded with refrigerator items, dirty cloths, electronics and the dog. Cary would be the final destination for the day. A break from the repair vortex and a promise of hot showers awaited the road weary travelers as they asked Siri to get them to Home.

This post will be the last one until early September when the next part of the nomadness gets underway.