From the Oasis to East Fork

We had an uneventful night in the Roadrunner at Dallas Freightliner. We slept well and felt safe. We got up ready to get the coach fixed. About 8:45 Nick was assigned as the mechanic to our coach and it got pulled into the service bay. While that was being done I decided to replace the defective wiper blade. My duct-tape repair held up. It was a pretty easy fix. I shake my head over paying $72 to have blades special-ordered at the RV Service Center in Flint MI in July. A replacement blade directly from the factory cost $15.00. We are learning...I also took off the front wheels of our bikes and put everything in the back end of the Honda. The back seats fold down so we have a lot of space. The $60 bike bag we ordered from Camping World works pretty well but traveling down the highway at 60 mph gives it a pretty good beating.
Meahwhile, Nick pulled some codes off the diagnostic machine that indicated a faulty fuel pump (transfer pump). It is covered under Cummins warranty with a $100 deductible which is very good news. Apparently after a coach is two years old, you automatically get enrolled into a program with a $100 deductible.
We watched Nicked get the part off and install a new one but it was not easy. He had to crawl under the engine, take off the exhaust pipe and muffler and bust some knuckles to get to it. After gettting it back together he ran up the rpms and took it for a test drive. It all looked good.
While he was at it, he replaced a metal band around the air cleaner ($3.00 item).

It was a little anti-climatic as we waited for him to get it all done. We passed the time reading and logging on to my computer. Although this was a 9 hour job and Nick stayed late to get it done, it was a terrific experience at Dallas Freightliner. We had a nice place to hang out in the lounge at the Oasis and met some customers who were getting a tour of the three month old facility. Dallas Freightliner is working on a fleet of new Walmart trucks that were made in Mexico in addition to the medium truck area where our RV was serviced. There is also a dog kennel on the lot. Some drivers have dogs and need a place to put them while their rigs are getting worked on.

Back to the transfer pump replacement: we got out of there a little after 6:00 PM.

Recap: We 'broke down' for a little over 48 hours. We stayed one night at the Walmart in Hillsboro, TX. We got towed to the Dallas Freightliner Center in Dallas, TX. We spent one night on their gated/secured property in the Roadrunner.

Total cost to us including towing and service: $103.00

(Membership to CoachNet is $99/year. We also lost one night at our COE campground site which is $18/night.)

When we left, the sun was shining and the weather was looking pretty good. It took an hour to the campground. I didn't like the thought of hitting commuter traffic and setting up in the dark but I wanted to get on our way.
The East Fork US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) park is northeast of Dallas. It was the first time we have set up in the dark, but it worked out fine.

Kelly brought Ed (her dog) out and met us there while we were setting up. We had a late dinner and Kelly and Ed left about 9:30 PM. Pam and I talked for a while and hit the hay.

All in all, we are very pleased with how things turned out. We would not have been surprised if the bill was a really big $$number. It gave us some more experience in this lifestyle and we were able to learn some new things. We look forward to seeing what other adventures come our way. And you can be sure we will post them on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Thanks for your interest!