Daily Archives: November 8, 2016
&$%#*& !
I knew it!
It always seems to happen.
Just as soon as I put the washer compartment doors back on from last month’s washer/dryer repair, the dryer up and dies.
No heat. Zip, Zero, Nada, Nyet.
Luckily the free washer/dryer building is just right across the street, so I’ve got a little leeway to get ours fixed.
The last time I had this problem was in January 2013 when it turned out to be the thermal Over Temp fuse.
The repair stuff is down toward the bottom of the blog.
Hopefully it’ll be that simple again. But it still means I’ve got to pull it back out again.
Our Mr. Coffee coffee maker has been doing a lot of gurgling lately, taking a longer than normal time to make our morning coffee. So yesterday I decided to run the Clean cycle on it.
You start off by pouring 20 oz. of vinegar into the reservoir and then select the Clean function. It then brews around 15 oz. through the system, sits for about 20 minutes letting everything soak and dissolve the calcium. Then it starts up again and brews the remaining vinegar.
After that you run a full 12 cup pot of plain water through the system. Then you do the vinegar thing all over again
When that’s done, you finish up by doing TWO 12 cup pots of plain water.
And this morning it brewed much faster and much quieter. Nice.
Yesterday morning I emailed our invoices into SiteWatch for the last two weeks. Jan had 1 and I had 3, because we have separate invoices for each gate we worked. We submit the invoices on Monday and then get paid by direct deposit the following Monday.
Some readers have been commented on our blog and on Facebook about Roadside Assistance companies like Good Sam’s and Coach-Net. We’ve had both over the last 9 years, usually depending on who was the cheapest when it was time to renew, and it would be difficult to rate one over the other.
Of course your mileage may differ.
We’ve had two long tows with our coach. The first one was in 2008, our first year on the road, when we were traveling from Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ. The radiator fan on our Cummins diesel came apart, puncturing the radiator. We were flat-towed about 50 miles into Flagstaff directly to a big truck radiator repair shop.
Thanks to the miracles of cellphones and the Internet, by the time the tow driver showed up, I had us a hotel reserved in Flagstaff, I had called Spartan and they were overnighting a new fan to the hotel, and I had the truck unhitched ready to follow the rig.
Taking about an hour to prep for the tow, the driver disconnected the driveshaft and hooked his truck air system into the rig’s tap in the compartment on the front driver’s side of the rig.
All told, it was about 4 hours from the time we called Good Sam until we were at the repair shop in Flagstaff. Not bad under the circumstances.
The second time was in May of 2015 when we had our infamous blowout, again traveling between Las Vegas and Flagstaff. (I’m starting to detect a pattern here.)
The closest tow truck was 90 miles away in Prescott, AZ.. What showed up was a flatbed. It took the guy about a hour to get us up on the truck and we were on our way.
Our blowout happened about 2pm and we were on the road a little after 6pm. Really good, considering the truck had to come from Prescott 90 miles away, drive 10 miles past us to get to an exit to turn around and come back to us, and then get us loaded up.
We’ve also had a couple of short tows, both only about a mile or so, and both in Canada, again in 2008.
In addition, we twice had to be pulled out of the mud at RV parks. And we had good service every time.
One thing to know is that each Road Service company does not have its own group of tow truck drivers everywhere around the country. In most areas there is a pool with a central dispatch system for all the services like AAA,, Allstate, GEICO, Good Sam, Coach-Net, etc., all draw from this pool. So when GS needs a tow truck in a certain area, they call the dispatch operator who knows what’s available.
So, if GS can’t get you a big tow truck for 5 hours, odds are Coach-Net can’t either.
And yes, you will hear horror stories from people with both GS and CN. Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw.
But now there’s a new player in town. SafeRide RV Motor Club with Roadside Assistance, sold by Chris and Charles Yust of C and C RV Insurance fame.
Because it’s also a ‘Club’ they offer a number of extra services, above and beyond what GS and Coach-Net seem to offer.
Check it out.
Didn’t hear from Todd today, so as it stands right now it looks like I won’t be working a gate tomorrow, unless it’s another last minute night shift gate like last time.
We’ll see.
Thought for the Day:
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