Repaired and on to the Best Austrian Food in Years!

We finished up our appointment at the Freightliner Custom Chassis Repair Facility in Gaffney, SC on Monday at about 5:00 PM.  We had the standard M3 maintenance list plus we added a couple more items like dash air conditioner not blowing cold air.  We also had them check why our coach usually has a hard time starting after sitting for a few days.  We recently had a weird ABS light on the dash come on when we pulled the coach forward after fueling at the last truck stop, so we asked them to look at that too.  We had a Onan 7500 generator problem but they don't trouble shoot issues, they just do the maintenance on it.

I was hoping for a bill under $1000, but that was pretty unrealistic. Labor is $100/hour and they put two guys on it for six hours.  Pam was thinking it was going to be $2000 or more.  The bill ending up being almost $1842 which I thought was pretty reasonable.

You might ask, "What else did they do?"  Just for that possibility, I included pictures of the work orders and invoice which itemizes things:

Work order

 Invoice and notes

M3 Maintenance list

Battery test results

During the afternoon as we waited for them to finish, we were still thinking we'd travel that evening.
We were thinking we'd hop in the Roadrunner and drive three hours down the highway and stay at a campground along the way.

But the more we thought about it, we decided against that plan.  We had gotten up early and we didn't relish the idea of going through Charlotte rush-hour go-home traffic after a long day.  Instead we decided to go dinner somewhere decent and get a good nights rest.

We found an Austrian Restaurant in Spartanburg which was only about 25 minutes up I-85.  Except we hit the evening traffic going that direction and had a 30 minute slowdown.  We were surprised the traffic was that congested on a Monday afternoon.

Then we found out it wasn't usually like that.  We notice there were no cars coming in the opposite direction.

And this was why.  Somehow the truck driver had gotten himself sideways across the entire two lanes of traffic.  And he was seriously into a ditch, so there was no getting that guy out for a while.

We continued on to the restaurant and were in for a big treat.  Gerhard's Cafe is in a shopping center next to a grocery store, so we didn't know what to expect.  We were greatly surprised and pleased to find it was very authentic and the food was really really good.

When we got seated we looked around and there are a lot of memorabilia from Austria.  A lot of thought went into the cafe which could easily pass for a gasthaus.  The ambiance and decor was non-commercial.  The wood floors and ceiling timbers were authentic. You could image looking outside near the barn where the cows were being milked...

The cafe is a mix of fine dining in one section, casual dining, with a small bar and then a larger bar and pub in another area.  It also has outside dining but that was not an option because of the 90 degree weather.

We enjoyed the selection on the menu and ordered Weiner schnitzel and Cordon Bleu.  Pam and I lived in Germany for three great years (and our kids were born there) and loved the food.  And I liked the beer.  I got a draft beer which was delicious.  The glass said it was from the world's oldest brewery.  I don't know about that.

As I recall, dinner in Germany was an event of sorts and not something to be rushed.  Here too, we had plenty of time to enjoy the atmosphere and chatted with the waitress.  We learned that the owner and chef, Gerhard opened the place in 1993 and went back to the home country to bring back three containers full of memorabilia and artifacts.  No wonder the place looked and felt Austrian!

When the main courses were served they looked fantastic.  Schnitzel cooked to perfection with fried potatoes done the Austrian way.

And Pam's Cordon Bleu was equally appealing and delicious.  We had the best time enjoying that food!

We took a different route back to the Roadrunner that was still parked in the Service Center campground and returned in about 30 minutes.  It was the best German food we've had in the U.S. (technically Austrian - but who can tell the difference), ever!  It was a place I'd go back to in a minute.

Another great day on the road in the Roadrunner.  Thanks for joining us today!