"LA Freeway"

We "dragged" our car behind the motorhome for over 1,600 miles. A red light, indicating the car’s brakes were being applied, stayed lit on the dash of the motorhome for the entire trip. I first noticed it after hitching the car to the motorhome at our home in Texas. I checked and double-checked all connections and came to the conclusion that nothing was wrong. The brakes were not actually being applied in the car as the red light indicated, therefore, the red light had to be malfunctioning. The car remained hitched to the motorhome for the entire trip and no problems were detected.

The phone woke me sometime around 6:00 this morning. My son, Rob, was calling to tell us that Kasey’s water had broken and they were headed to the hospital. Carol Ann and I left the RV park in Quartzite by 8:30 AM and drove the last 230 miles to the RV park in Orange, CA, where we will be staying for the next two weeks. LA freeway traffic is no fun when driving a motorhome with a car attached.

After settling in at the RV park and taking a nap, we began getting ready for the drive to the hospital. With all of the stuff we brought with us, the only jeans and shoes I could find were the ones I had worn every day of the trip. It appears that we left a bag of my clothes at home. Thank goodness I brought some khakis! We were finally ready and jumped in the car for the 25-minute drive to Hoag Presbyterian Medical Center in Newport Beach. The car seemed to “feel” a little different from what I remembered, but I decided to ignore it. After driving the motorhome for 1,600 miles I was sure that it was simply the difference between driving a motorhome and driving a small car. I didn’t think anymore about it. We got on I-5 (“the 5” as they call it out here), which was wall to wall cars leaving LA at rush hour for the suburbs. That is when the car began to have a seizure. Luckily we were in the right-most lane and able to pull off onto the shoulder, a very narrow shoulder on an overpass. Cars were zipping by only a foot or two from our car. If I opened my car door it would have been knocked off. To say that I was somewhat stressed at this point would have been a gross understatement.

Not knowing what else to do, we called our son, and while on the phone with him, a tow truck magically appeared in front of the car. I swear. I didn't even see it pull over in front of us. What are the odds of that happening? I just looked up and there it was! It was an Orange County Transportation Authority rescue/tow vehicle that had been patrolling the freeway and just happened to come by at the right time. The driver said we were in a very dangerous place and would tow us off of the freeway. I asked if he took AAA and was surprised to learn that it was a free service.  All four of the car wheels were locked up, so he put dollies under the rear wheels in order to tow it. Carol Ann and I got in the back seat of the tow truck and I began thinking about the new supplemental braking cable system and the red light on the dash of the motorhome. There were too many coincidences not to suspect this might be the source of the problem.

The tow truck driver towed us off of the freeway for about a mile to what he referred to as a “drop zone.” It was across the street from the Angels’ baseball stadium in Anaheim. It was already dark and I began imagining gang-bangers in every passing car. Still suspicious of the brake cable, I asked the tow truck driver if he had any wire cutters.  He managed to come up with a pair of needle nose pliers and I used them to cut the cable to the brake peddle and, just like that, we were back on the road! The next letter I write will be to the Blue Ox people about their Auto-Stop supplemental braking system.

To make a long story short, we made it to the hospital in plenty of time to be there when baby Siena was born a little after 9:00 PM PST. All is well.

D-Day Was A BUMMER!

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This was posted a day after it was written due to lack of Internet access. Glad I purchased that WiFi extender/repeater.

Saturday's departure was scheduled for 10AM.  There were still a few little things to do. Departure was pushed to 11 AM.  After all, our first overnight stop (Victoria) should only be a 5-hour drive.  What's the rush?  11 AM came and went.  We were still not ready.  We could leave at noon and be in Victoria around 5 PM.  No problem, it doesn’t really start getting dark until around 5:30 PM.  We almost made it off by noon.  It was about 12:15 PM. 

Only ten minutes into the trip I had one of those “OH, SHIT!” moments.  I left my laptop on the couch – the one at home, not the one in the motor home.  We turned around, went back to the house, and I retrieved my "external brain".  Too bad I can't actually plug my head into it.  OK, change departure time to 12:45 PM.  We may still make it before dark-thirty.  We had only one stop to make (in Lufkin, about 25 miles down the highway) to pick up a couple of spare parts at Mustang CAT. 

When we hit the Lufkin loop we began looking for Mustang CAT's sign (I had never been there before, but thought I knew about where it should be).  Carol Ann spotted the CAT sign first.  Fortunately it was on the right-hand side of the road so it would be an easy turn.  As we were pulling off of the loop onto the side street I said, “THIS IS NOT MUSTANG CAT!”  It was a Peterbilt service center that had a CAT sign out front because they serviced CAT engines.  No problem, turn around and get back on the loop.  Problem.  There was no good place to turn around and I had no idea where this road would lead.  No problem.  We saw a place were we SHOULD (not a good word when driving a 40-foot motor home towing a car behind it making it impossible to back up) be able to turn around. 

I knew the second that the rear wheels dropped from the pavement to the dirt that I was in trouble.  How could I tell?  In addition to the loud scraping noise, the real give away was when I realized that the rear wheels were turning but the coach was not moving.  After a few choice words I exited the coach to take a look.  The rear wheels were hanging over a ditch, barely touching the dirt.  The rear skid plate was resting (although it looked more stressed than resting) on the pavement.  Then of course, our tow car was still in the road.  Because I had turned left to turn around, the car was now blocking both lanes with the tow bar resting (that word again) on the pavement.

I began “un-hitching” the car, which was somewhat difficult due to the position of the tow bar.  I had no trouble disconnecting the cable for the running lights, the air hose for the pneumatic braking system, the “break-away” cable, and the two steel safety cables.  The pins holding the tow bar to the car were hard to remove because of the angle.  I finally managed to remove them with the aid of a rubber mallet and considered myself lucky to have smashed only my left thumb and index finger in the process.  At least we weren’t blocking both lanes anymore.  Traffic could still get by us by sharing a lane.

This is the kind of situation in which you are so glad that you upgraded your Good Sam Emergency Road Service to the “PLATINUM” service.  I got out my cell phone and called.  They answered right away.  Great.  I explained the situation to them.  I was put on hold while they “validated” my location.  The music-on-hold made me feel even worse.  After no less than 5 minutes of this torture the agent returned to inform me that she had “validated” my location and that, yes, I was where I said that I was.   She informed me that with my “PLATINUM” membership I was entitled to one truck and one man for two hours.  I was then asked to repeat my membership number, the manufacturer of my motor home, and its length.  I was placed on hold again while she sought someone to help me.  After 10 or 15 minutes (which seemed like 30 minutes) she came back on the line to tell me that she was having trouble finding a tow service in my area that could help me.  Translation:  "I can't find a tow service that will accept the job for what Good Sam is willing to pay."  She said she may have to look for a tow service “out of the area”.  Translation: "You might be there a long time."  Not wanting to be placed back on hold, I asked her to please call me back before she started looking "out of the area."

Half an hour later, and still waiting for a call back, I walked the 100 yards to the Peterbilt Service Center and asked if they would please recommend a good tow service.  You figure a Peterbilt place has to know a good tow service.  With no hesitation the man said, “Rick and Collins” and wrote down the name and phone number for me.  I walked back up the road to the RV and consulted with Carol Ann.  Translation:  “I don’t care if we do have an emergency road service policy, I am calling Rick and Collins!”  So I called Rich and Collins and was told that they would be there in 15 minutes.  YES!  As soon as I disconnected, my phone rang.  Good Sam had finally found someone that would accept the contract.  They would be there in 45 minutes to an hour.    Translation:   "Bubba should be there with his '49 Ford pickup in a few hours."  I thanked her but told her to cancel the tow call because I had someone coming to help in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Carol Ann volunteered to go find the parts store and purchase the spare parts while I waited for the tow truck.  True to their word, they arrived on the scene about 10 minutes later and had me out in 5 minutes.  I didn’t even ask the man “how much?”  I just handed him a credit card.  It was the best $150 I had spent in some time.

Carol Ann returned after we had gotten the coach back on the roadway.  We got the car “hitched” back up and we were on the road again around 2:45 PM.  Feeling somewhat better, I asked Carol Ann if she had any trouble finding Mustang CAT.  No, she said, but they were CLOSED!  All that trouble and grief and we didn't even get the parts.

The rest of the day was uneventful and we arrived at the Victoria, Texas Sam’s Club about 7:15 PM.  We parked in a secluded section of the parking lot and I was able to settle into my recliner only to discover that they had NO FREE WIFI!  What a way to end the day!  I may as well go to bed.  Guess I’ll have to wait and post this from Harlingen.  Bummer!