BearTrex

I left Savannah feeling happy and thankful for such a good visit. I was tired from so much walking and I think from absorbing so much information in such a short time. But it was all good. I got the car hitched without a hitch (wah wah... sorry, I couldn’t resist) and off I went. I got on the highway and went to switch on cruise control ready to roll down the highway. But there was no cruise control. That really sucks. The gas pedal on the beast requires a lot of effort to push... for some reason the spring is very tight. That gives you a lot of control in tight situations, but on the highway it gets old fast. I figured it just needed to reset so I would stop sooner for gas and see what happened. I stopped, filled up and when I started again I still had no cruise control, but I also had no windshield wipers. Now that is not particularly safe should there be a heavy rain. I kept driving but called Newmar service. They needed my vehicle number. Having my ID card on my phone I could give them my VIN but that wasn’t what they needed to see the specifications of my rig. Barreling down the road was not a good spot to go back and find it. So I had to wait.

Next rest stop I got the number and called back again. After 10 minutes on hold, I decided to hit the road and keep holding. Finally they answered and best guess was to try turning off the battery and see if it resets. Stop at the next stop, turn off the battery, turn it back on after a bit... no change. Not wanting to lose too much time, I start driving again and call again. This time I got a gentleman who seemed to know more. He thought it might be a controller board; a fix that required going to a freight liner repair shop. By now I was close to Jacksonville. Luckily there was one there, so I called ahead. They said it was first-come-first-served so come on in. I did and luckily there was only one truck ahead of me. I went into the shop and gave them all my info. I had to unhitch the car and park it out front. The guy assured me it shouldn’t take long. I went out 10 minutes later to get my iPad and the coach was already taken away. GOOD!

As I was walking back to the waiting room, the same guy stops me and low and behold... no problems. The cruise control was working. The wipers were working. Figures!!! He said they wanted to check to see what might have been the problem. It should be minutes! OK. Back to the waiting room. 30 minutes later I went back to ask if I could get my iPad and was directed to my coach, sitting outside on the opposite side from where I left it... with no one working on it. I got my iPad and went back to ask. He said the guy just clocked in on it and was starting now. It should only be... you guessed it... a few minutes. I was feeling like I was on the set of the movie “The Money Pit” where the answer to everything was “two weeks” but here it was “a few minutes.” I asked him about that and he laughed. That was helpful.

Anyway, they were super nice despite the few minutes thing. Over three hours later they had found nothing and sent me on my way. They did do one recall so I guess that was good, but that meant I was getting to my next destination in the dark. Having to back into my space in the dark was not something I was looking forward to doing. For the record, I did it. Took a bit of work; it’s not my strongest driving skill in the RV. The many... MANY... tracks in the sand attest to that, but I am here parked in Florida under the trees ready to enjoy a few days of R&R (life is so hard)...