Some might call the events of the past 10 days a trip from Hell, not me, it's not that bad but maybe one could say at least a trip from Purgatory. Susan and I started home with the motor home on April 8th I think it was and everything went smooth until Knoxville Tenn. and then as we started up a long slope of a hill the motor just lost power totally like someone had just pinched the fuel line with a large pair of vise grips maybe. I immediately started moving to the right side and onto the berm of the road along I 75...When we came to a stop we were off the road by maybe 3 feet with motor home and tow vehicle and about a foot from the guard rail along the edge as seen in the pictures. We were about 100 yards from exit 17 that would have offered us more safety, but we were done, it would not restart.
It was Saturday night about 9 PM. I called a friend kind of like they do on the Millionaire show where you win a lot of money...Except this was kind of a reverse thing, I called trying to gain info that would maybe save money and also bring in some expertise that I maybe was lacking being in a strange town and mechanically challenged as I am. Terry lives just a few miles north in LaFollette Tenn. Maybe three rings and he answered just like on TV. He said Hello, and I said, Hey Terry, Jack here I am broke down on I-75 told him how the coach quit on me and do you know of a tow truck service and where should I take it? He suggested the Cat dealer but did not know of any towing companies...I thought Terry might as he had owned a large trucking company there a few years back. So next thing called my Progressive Insurance company and found out I did have some coverage and they would call one for me. Finally contact the wrecker company and talked to the manager..Just for fun I said hey do you know Terry Claiborne?....He said yeal, matter of fact my mom is Shirley Claiborne's sister...Terry is my Uncle...Small world has not much to do with the story but anyway they sent out a wrecker..He arrived at midnight and left at 4 am after deciding they did not know how to hook it up or did not have the right wrecker who knows..They called Progressive and they told me they had no other wreckers and to call 911 and let the police handle it...Tow Pro the towing company did say they would contact the Cat dealer for me to call me later and see if he could help. We laid down on the couch's and immediately fell into much needed sleep but dreaming all kinds of stuff every time a semi passed and tossed us too and fro....
7 O'clock a.m. phone rings its the Cat dealer...He knows a tow company that knows how to do it..they arrived at 10 am. By 12.30 we got hooked up as seen in other picture and arrived at the Cat dealer in Knoxville, Sowers I think is the name. They brought in a mechanic who did nothing but remove my fuel filter which was dry he said fill it with fuel, had me crank it and shot in a little either and it took off. We took it for a test drive after he also put hooked it up to his computer...He said I was good to go charging me 600 plus dollars added to the 650 tow bill I know the insurance company will probably be pretty upset about..So we were off driving to Lexington Kentucky that night. We parked on a street close to Jill and Matt's place, stayed with them leaving before 8 am for home. Got 5 blocks and it went down right in front of the ST Joe Hospital, our hearts sank as we knew the problem was still very much with us.
Another tow truck this one very quick in an hours time we were at the Whayne Supply Cat dealer in Lexington. They worked on it until 3 testing for leaks in the fuel lines. We finally left at 3 heading home in the tow vehicle leaving the motor home for them to solve the problem...
We went down and picked it up Monday, they had found a pin hole leak in a fuel line. I hoped the problem was solved.
Hooked up the tow vehicle and we were off again. Running good all the way to north to exit 16 on I65 north of Louisville pulled into a truck stop for a sandwich circling the semi's finding a spot and 10 feet away from where I planned to stop down it went again..I took off the fuel filter which had been sucked dry the previous two breakdowns and checked it..it was still half full...filled it with fuel, Susan cranked the engine and I injected a little ether...it would not go..Called Cat they said my nearest dealer is Whayne Supply in Louisville. Another wrecker yesterday, arrived after a two hour wait.... motor home is at Cat, I am back home, hoping and praying that this problem can be solved as it is very very stressful and Expensive...Bothers me that the service manager in Lexington as I was decribing my problem stated that the Hewy pump was probably the problem and I don't think they every checked it...hope they will now among alot of other possible things..Somewhere between my fuel tank and my Engine there is a problem....I need to be semi retired and thinking about future travel and not this....
But I still love the motor home and its way of travel...Still love Caterpillar, they make quality stuff and employ my son in law at the large engine plant in Lafayette. Some how it will all work out....I hope.
This has been the longest spell I think between blog stories since I started this 3 years ago...Stress has a way of messing up schedules...
After much Prayer, Stress and Money, I finally this day made it all the way home. The final act of this drama started today with a phone call from Louisville Caterpillar service center that my motor home was done and the bill being prepaired...I took off for Louisville about 11 a.m. and arrived there about 2 P.M. The coach was done and the bill was prepaired to the tune of over 2,000 dollars...I gulped and simply asked that they at least consider that I had paid 500 to the same owner of the service center in Lexington and for the same problem more or less. They finally agreed to remove 4 hours labor at 90 dollars per hour or 360 dollars bringing my bill down to the 1600 dollar range. Never thought I would appreciate a 1600 dollar repair bill for a fuel pump, but after first being told over 2000 you bet your sweet bippy, I was very appreciative.
Picture above calls for a celebration of sorts. I made it home and here I am parked in front of my home in Indiana...and it ran good all the way and surely hope it continues to do so for years to come. I had a case of my finest wine in my wine cellar of the motor home. Emmediately upon shutting it off for the first time since Louisville I proceeded to that compartment and removed the several bottles of my Brown County Old Barrel Port Wine and skipped my way into the house. Pulled the cork on one of them and poured my self a "liberal" pour of it and did all the right stuff...First smelling it then taking a small sip...Ahhh yes it was good, very good and after a couple sips I ventured out to remove my truck from the motor home..tucking it away into the garage for the night I did indeed finish my liberal glass of the wonderful grape product....
