Twenty miles from my destination at Cheaha Resort SP in Alabama yesterday, I had a blowout. Here is the short version of the 24 hours that followed.
Contacted AAA who took 45 minutes to get my information right.
Waited a half hour for a call back that was supposed to come in “5 minutes”.
Called AAA, they had my phone number wrong.
Decided to fire up the refrigerator to keep the food cold, as I was sitting in the hot Alabama sun.
Reefer wouldn’t fire. Messed with it for 20 minutes and determined that the battery was dead.
Got a call from the wrecker, said he would be there in 10 minutes.
Waited an hour for him to show up.
Tried changing the tire, but one of the studs was cross threaded.
Got the tires changed, then stripped another stud by using the bad lug nut on a good stud.
Called Camping World in Oxford AL, 45 miles away to see if they could provide service if I got there late afternoon. They said yes, if they had the tire in stock.
Went straight to Camping World. Asked the receptionist for the service department and was directed accordingly.
Service manager said he could not help me as the techs were all leaving for the night.
Service manager gave me a spot along the fence and an adapter for umbilical to stay the night in the parking lot.
Parked the rig and got everything running on electric.
Discovered while disconnecting the trailer, that I had also sheared off one of the pins on the sway bar.
Went shopping in Camping World and discovered that there are TWO service departments. One for CW and one for the adjacent Dealer.
Asked CW service rep for help. She remembered that I had called. They had the tire, but their techs had left for the night as well.
Investigated my battery issue, and it was easier to change than a car battery.
Bought two (2) new batteries so I can run them parallel, but CW did not have the jumpers . . . .
New tire at CW was going to cost well over $200, so decided to wait until morning to get an estimate from the RV dealer.
Walked in the store at 8a. Waited fifteen minutes for them to check in another customer who was ‘already in the computer’
Started working on an estimate, and the service manager (the one that had made me accommodations for the night), tells me he really doesn’t do tires. WHATHEHECK?!?
He sends me over to CW or a local tire dealer.
I call the tire dealer, he doesn’t have a tire, but suggests a different dealer.
I call that dealer, they have the tire, so off I go.
Dealer has me pull the trailer around back, and tech goes immediately to work. Takes less than 15 minutes to replace the tire.
We wait 3 hours for CarQuest, located a little over one mile away, to bring over two replacement studs for the wheel. THREE HOURS!!!
I pull out of the tire dealer at noon and head for lunch.
Stopped into Wal-mart and picked up the cables I needed.
Otherwise, it was an uneventful two days . . .
The good news is that I have a new tire, two new studs on the wheel, TWO batteries running parallel, a solar trickle charger and two new pins for the sway bar,
The bad news is that it took me a full 24 hours longer to get to Cheaha Resort SP. But hey, I’m in no hurry.