Gremlins in the Gears!

As I reported yesterday the RV had the ABS and Brake diodes come on. Well, today, I go the "service engine" light too. I know this one is unrelated to the other two. This one comes on whenever I put bad gas or gas with ethanol in it. But my dash was lit up like a Christmas tree none the less. I was supposed to take it to Camping World this morning. When I called yesterday Kammy told me to come in the next morning at 8AM and Pat would take care of me. We stayed at an RV five minutes away so as to make the trip easy. I set my alarm clock yet still slept very lightly not getting that full deep sleep. Then everyone rushed around earlier than we usually get up getting things ready to go without an RV for a few hours. Pat turned out to be a real piece of work. I arrived about 5 minutes before the place opened and saw a group of mechanics standing around . I walked over and the eldest of the group came over to meet me. I told him I was looking for Pat. He was he. And I said that Kammy had to me to ask for him. He told me they were having a meeting but I can see him inside in a few minutes. I stood at the door like a fan in line for the hot ticket. They unlocked the door and I went in. I walked over to Pat. He looked at me like he had never seen me before in his life. I repeated what I said outside and described my problem. Oh, we don't do that kind of work here. I was confused and sad and angry all at once. I asked if he could at least put meter on the car and look at the code so I can fix it myself. He said he would check to see if someone in the back could do that. He disappeared. When he came back he walked past me with out looking and up to another customer and clerk and started working on his problem. When he was done I walked up to him and began to inquire again. He said that they couldn't fix it but they could hook a meter to it and tell me the codes...but he would charge me 30 minutes labor for the 30 second job.....at least $70. I said no thank you.....and then I said thanks....at the door I added "a Lot!"

The night before the crew was so nice. I had always gotten bad service at Camping Worlds but the night crew made me feel there was a chance that at least one Camping World was alright. I was wrong.

I noticed the diodes weren't on so I decided to get out of MO and try my luck in OK. I made reservations at an RV park we stayed at in May. They told me there was an RV service shop next door. I called them and have an 8 am apt again. Pray for me.

An hour into the trip Nick radioed me and asked if the road was bumpy. I said it wasn't so we decided to pull over and check his tires. Last time we felt that feeling when the road was smooth was when the RV had tread separation then a blowout.
We found this gash in the tire. Nick said the rough ride started a few minutes ago yet he had not run over anything. Turns out this gash wasn't caused by hitting anything. Somehow a bubble of air formed under the radial layers and started to cause the tread to lift away from the tire. Then at the edge (inside and out) the tire started to chip away. There was a smaller but similar gash on the other side of the tire too. You could see the rubber kind of crumpling up.
Nick And James helped.
The only place we could find to pull off was at an adult book store so prevalent out here. Mami and the girls jumped out of the RV thinking we were at a place where they could use the restroom. I quickly stopped them before they got the surprise of their lives.
Mami though it was funny that everyone including the dog were crashed while we drove. She got the camera and snapped everyone pix. Ten minutes later she joined the dead-sleeping. Wish I could've got the picture.

When we arrived in OK City we quickly set up and I rushed the van off to the tire place. Turns out the spare was the wrong tire from the time I had the front tires changed in KY in July. I wanted the better of the two tires changed. He accidentally gave me the one that was also beginning to get tread separation. So I had the tire folks here change the two bad tires and moved the one good tire left to the spare position. They were very busy and it took then over 2 hours to do it.

While I waited I went to a cheap pizza buffet and stuffed myself. Mami and the kids cleaned out the fridge at the RV. Good thing since it will not be hooked up while at the repair shop.

Our RV park has buffalo. It also has a pool, a ping pong table and air conditioned game room. Did I mention it was over 100 out here. We are in the land of dry heat so it was a different 100 than the east coast.

Oh, nearly forgot. While driving I drove over, but did not hit, a piece of black plastic like the type used for door paneling in cars, but smaller. I heard it lift up and bang along the undercarriage. I asked Nick via radio if it came out. He said yes then asked me to step on my breaks. I did and he informed me that my wire connector wasn't connected any more. The trailer was disconnected (Power-wise). So after driving through a construction zone I pulled over and checked it out. The connector was worn down a little on one nub but otherwise fine.

Gremlins were mucking about today. I was too tire to be mad or frustrated. I am in the submit and take it mode.

By the way, I mentioned the names of the Camping World clerks. But notice I did not mention they were from the Stafford, MO store so as not to upset some people who read my blogs and hate when I name jerks or bad people. So rest at ease.