What is it with bands and tour vehicles breaking down?
If you are an avid follower of touring bands you undoubtedly hear about their buses or vans breaking down on tour. We take really good care of our rv and had a new radiator, new tire, new bushing and I-beam installed before we left ( as well as all the typical preparations) so I definitely didn’t expect anything major to go wrong especially so soon!
Thankfully we did not experience a complete breakdown, but we had to have the RV serviced before we could continue traveling. And it happened on just the second day of a 7 week tour!
Thankfully, God was looking down upon us as the vehicle never actually stalled while we crawled in traffic on 95 for two extra hours. When the check engine light starts blinking in the middle of the interstate and you can feel the engine wanting to stall it definitely triggers concern. Twenty minutes from our destination we spotted an RV Center which we noted and then continued to the state park which would be our home for the next three nights.
Upon further inspection of our owner’s manual we learned that the problem was something we shouldn’t ignore so we set into problem solving mode. To be completely honest I was really disappointed. How could this be happening after we had already sunk a chunk of money into the vehicle and it was only the beginning of a very long trip? Was this a sign of things to come? Fortunately we were able to devise a plan which entailed getting up Monday morning (of course it all happened on a Sunday!) at 6am to start making calls.
AAA came right away ( after Paul spent a frustrating hour on the phone) and diagnosed the issue but couldn’t actually help with fixing it. I emailed the RV center we had passed, explained our issue and hoped he would actually see the message. In the interim Paul and I envisioned having to disconnect the trailer (no easy task) and unload the essentials the boys and dog would need if we had to take the RV to get repaired, leaving them at the campsite without a shelter. I also started planning what I would do at a service station sitting around all day instead of hanging out in the beautiful campground on our day off. ( yes, I unfortunately got caught up in the worst case scenario. But to my defense we did have to prepare for it). To our surprise, the service supervisor called back right away. Even better, he assured us they could help and even had a mobile serviceman they could send so we wouldn’t have to move anything!
We hung out at the campsite all day waiting for the tech to show up. Of course he was running around 3 hours late. He was a super nice guy (as well as a metal fan!) but ultimately was unable to fix the issue. After all of that we had to call for an appointment to bring the RV to the service center about 20 miles away. Everything I had envisioned was now something that needed to be executed. The only positive was they knew exactly what was wrong and they assured us they’d have us out of there by noon if we got there right at 8 am the morning.
At 7am we kicked the boys out of the rv along with the dog, left them with chairs, the cooler and some food and drove to the service station. They were ready for us and we learned they would have to replace all the coils and spark plugs. Paul and I spent the entire morning there. We killed time by looking at all the rvs on-site and walked to a Waffle House for coffee. And of course the parts delivery and start of the repair ran late. We were hopeful when they informed us that the parts were delivered, only to then find out they only brought 8/10 parts. Instead of being done at noon, the work hadn’t even begun yet!
Finally they began the task around 12:30. Our hope was quickly gone when they told us that they delivered the wrong final 2 parts and they couldn’t find a place with them available. It was truly maddening and gave us second thoughts about their ability to repair it correctly, but unfortunately we were stuck.
To make matters worse it decided to downpour on the boys and dog back at the campsite, soaking everything we left there — including laptops and electronics.
This was definitely not how we wanted to spend our two days off, but we realize how fortunate we are that it happened when we had a day off and nowhere to be. We could have easily broken down on our ride and then we really would have been screwed. Hopefully this will be the only mechanical issue we have!
By 3:30 we were back at the campsite just in time for another downpour! There was a silver lining— they barely charged us for the labor and waived the service call fee. So what we expected to be at least $1500 was much less. It was still a big chunk of change we had no intention of spending, but at least we had peace of mind before continuing! Let’s hope it’s smoother sailing from here!
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