Potholes in the Road

 

Pothole (noun)

1 circular hole formed in the rocky bed of a river by the grinding action of stones or gravel whirled round by the water

2 a pot-shaped hole in a road surface

3 a usually minor difficulty or setback

I absolutely love my RV. It’s a 2020 Pleasure Way XLTS on a Mercedes Benz Sprinter Chassis. The MB diesel engine has been great and hopefully will keep me going for many more miles. The Pleasure Way build-out is one of the best built RVs in its class! It has taken a real beating but it’s still rock solid. A lot of RVs are built cheaply and literally fall apart after a couple of years. I was very fortunate to find this rig!

While I’ve enjoyed many miles without any problems or issues, I have had several issues that were either user error, a road hazard, an accident, or an error from a mechanic. These slowed me down for a bit but it all worked out!

Road Hazard - Cracked Windshield 

Somewhere in New Hampshire a big logging truck kicked up a rock that hit the windshield dead on. I contacted a repair shop in NH but they didn't have any appointments available for a couple of weeks. I made an appointment to have it replaced in Bangor ME but they ordered the wrong windshield. They told me they could have the correct one shipped/received in about 10 days, but I would be long gone by then.  Two other places on my route told me the same thing. I knew I would be traveling through my hometown in a couple of weeks so I called Safe-lite in Absecon NJ and set up an appointment. Confirmed we had the right part number and was back on the road heading south. When I got to the repair shop in Absecon I told them about the issues I had with the other shops and they generously gave me a significant discount so I didn’t have to deal with my insurance company! Fantastic.

Repair in progress

Accident - Broken Sideview Mirror

I was parked in a stall at Walmart waiting for my buddy to finish his shopping when another RV tried to squeeze by me in the stall next to me. Well that didn’t work out too well. He hit my sideview mirror and smashed it to pieces. The damage to his rig was much worse, scratches and dents along the entire passenger side. We exchanged information and were on our way. 

I called the dealership and made an appointment for a week out. After arriving at the appropriate time I was asked if I had ordered the mirror…wait...what? Isn’t that their job? Oh well. Made another appointment 2 weeks out to give them plenty of time to get it ordered…hopefully they will get everything repaired this Friday….fingers crossed.

Very difficult/dangerous to drive without a mirror 

User Error - Diesel vs Regular Gas Lesson

After visiting some buddies in Lewes, Delaware, I stopped at a BP Gas Station to fill up. At most stations the green nozzle is diesel and black is gas…but not at BP. I picked up the green nozzle and proceeded to pump about a half of tank of gas into my diesel tank…oh boy! I knew that I shouldn’t drive it but I was in the middle of nowhere and wanted to get back to a MB dealership. The next morning I was handed an estimate of $23,000 for repairs and a few other maintenance items. SHOCKING. The service manager suggested that I contact my insurance company, I did and they covered it! They also paid for a hotel room and a rental car for 10 days.

This is the correct nozzle - now I check and double check!

Mechanic Error - Fuel Filter

I had routine service done on the rig in Palm Springs, they also did some software updates, so it was a long day at the dealership. I made it about 120 miles towards Quartzsite before the engine quit. I called for roadside service and they said they would need to tow me back to Palm Springs to have the deanship work on it. Because of the size of the RV I had to wait about 3 hours before they were able to find a flatbed tractor/trailer big enough to carry me back to the dealership. It was the weekend so the dealership was closed. Got a hotel nearby and hung out until Monday morning. The mechanic didn’t install the fuel filter properly so diesel was leaking everywhere. They sorted it out very quickly and before I got back on the road I gave all my receipts to the General Manager and he got a check cut to reimburse me. $1200 for the tow and about $600 for my weekend stay. The good news is that I got some great meals and some long showers at the hotel. 

Loading up the RV

User Error - Wrong Road

While I was touring around Nova Scotia, I was checking out a lighthouse near the Bay of Fundy. Google Maps showed the ‘road’ looped around back to the north. That was not accurate. The ‘road’ turned out to be less than very narrow rocky trail. Once I realized I couldn’t go any further, I had to carefully do a ’50 point turn’ to get out of there. For a few minutes I really thought I was going to get stuck and have to abandon the RV, thankfully I was able to get safely turned around and get back on a real road! Very dicey!

It’s always an adventure! I’ve really learned to stay calm/patient/positive and take a few minutes to assess the situation and work out a solution. I haven’t gotten mad at anyone else or myself. It is what it is…and I know it will get sorted out. 

On to my next adventure!