We had a little catch in our giddy-up this morning. Yesterday, as Ruthi was preparing some of the items for leaving today, she discovered a problem with the rear right stabilizer “jack”. Jack is a misnomer as it is not designed nor built to “jack” up anything. The sole purpose is to steady the RV in the right rear corner. There is a twin mechanism on the rear left to secure that end. FYI: the front end is supported by REAL jacks that raises/lowers the front (left and right) for leveling and positioning for hitching up to the Ford.
Anyway, back to the problem, the mechanism is really a very long screw that draws or lowers the supporting shaft. At the end of the very long screw is a smaller screw that is positioned through a support and bolted with washers and a nut (no, not one of us, even though we qualify as nutty). Ruthi, in a moment of extra attention to this mechanism, had lubricated both sides to eliminate the irritating squeak. It seems that the only thing holding the nut and associated washers on that side was the road GUNK. Oiling that away caused the nut and washers to loosen and fall to the ground. In effect this made not only the mechanism non-workable it also made it difficult to store the long screw and associated shaft like they are normally (up under the rear of the RV).
So now what, we can’t drive with it hanging and if we don’t get it fixed we will be a little more jiggly than normal at our next campground. Of course, it’s too late to call someone locally. Besides we have discovered that while most local guys can be good there is no re-course if they are not and you are hundreds of miles down the road. We have started depending on the various Camping Worlds across America for things we can schedule or like the water leak fix they had caused that wasn’t discovered until a few days later. As soon as we could this morning, we called to see if they could fit us in. The service manager and Ruthi really thought it would be a simple fix/replace job. The location would only really add a few miles to the overall day. Our path would be adjusted but not by much.
We strapped up the screw/shaft with bungee cords and a Velcro strap to keep it from dragging on the pavement sending sparks up to our RV. We hook up and drive out of the park which happens to be on the West side of CA 101. We are heading North and need to get up on the overpass and merge into the flow of traffic, always tricky with 45 foot of rig. As we look North, we see billowing BLACK smoke. It takes us a while, but soon we discover it is a semi wrecked in the South-bound lane just slightly North of our exit. It that bad??? What does it mean for us getting to Camping World quickly??? Traffic is stopped in both directions but cars are exiting the North-bound lane at our exit and then re-entering the highway. Because of the long on-ramp provided it puts traffic well away from the fire, smoke and fumes. Whew, it won’t slow us down and we can see the driver with CHP officers watching the flames. There was only the cab and no load.
We finally get to Camping World at 9:30 and begin our sitting exercises until they can fit us in or someone cancels. At 11:30 we get lucky. Not only has the 11 appointment decided not to get the work done there (and he leaves) and the 11:30 has made a fueling mistake, like we have in the past, of putting gasoline into his diesel engine. OPPS! So, his bad fortune turns out to be our good fortune. The technician and Ruthi review what the problem is and in less than 30 minutes he has corrected the problem and advised us on a future choice if and when these “jacks” finally do cease to be functional/repairable.
