Frustrated As All Get Out
I'd like to tell you all that I have a week of being on the road under my belt, but nooooooooo. Still here in stifling SoFLo, but as I understand it, it is stifling where so many of you are. Duluth is the only place on my route that will even be an escape.
Some of you already know, on June 29 a neighbor came pounding frantically on our door saying the van was smoking,. No, the ZiOsmobile had not taken up a bad habit. Billowing clouds of smoke were coming from the front end. I pop the hood, grab the fire extinguisher and my neighbor and I are desperately trying to find how to unhook the battery. The best we do is disconnect the computer and start to use the extinguisher on the flames coming from below the van! I cannot tell you how fortunate we are that my neighbor, Nawa saw this as the van has a full tank of gas and 3/4 tank of propane. My mom and niece and I were just hanging out at the back of the house and Gerard had gone off to the store. I don't even want to contemplate what Gerard would have come home to. My 15 year old neighbor stops by and climbs under the van and takes photos of what might have caused the fire. I am on my computer desperately trying to ask folks on Roadtrek Facebook pages what I should do next.
Turns out it is a Surepower Separator, someone from the Roadtrek Owners Facebook Page was able to identify it from my
photos. This part is responsible for keeping the coach batteries from draining the chassis battery. Mind you, the van was just sitting in the driveway... nothing turned on... not plugged in... no need for batteries to be doing anything. I am also solar... so the good ol' sun was feeding energy through that separator to the batteries. The separator malfunctioned, overheated, fried itself.
Friday, June 30th, I have a good response from the company and we try to get it to the dealer in my area. I seriously do not want it towed. I am concerned about damage happening to my electric, water and propane connections at the rear of the vehicle if it is towed. I want a flat bed to take it and once the tow driver is here, he concurs.
So off it goes to Nokomis, Florida and I get a phone call saying they can't fix it. The driver drives it back down here to the Dodge dealer to find out they can't fix it either, because it is an RV part that has been added to the Dodge that malfunctioned. The flat bed driver is long gone. So a tow driver shows up and tows it.... Yes, TOWS it 2.5 hours to Lakeland, Florida. I hear that the van has arrived and they have ordered the part and will put the ZiOs mobile back together. My launch date, July 16, for my epic 8000 mile trip comes and goes. I finally am able to pick up the van yesterday, July 22nd. Roadtrek rents me a car. I make the 2.5 hour drive to get it. I am happy to make the 2.5 hour drive back in the ZiOs mobile! I even save a soft shell turtle in the middle of the highway. Yay for backroad drives!
So yes, in fact, no damage was done to the rear of the vehicle in the towing. I get home and notice paint scraped off, a dent and tell tale paint left on the FRONT end from the pink tow truck.
This is the same tow truck that ripped off the bumper of my PT Cruiser when it had to be towed to the shop back in February!!!!! I am pissed, frustrated and certainly disappointed. I am suppose to launch this Wednesday. Of course, it is Saturday when I discover the damage, so tomorrow, Monday the phone calls start and see what is to happen next.
Wednesday, I am supposed to be in High Springs, Florida; Thursday in Athens, Georgia, Friday in the Smokies. By mid-August, I hope to have visited everyone "up north" and be on my way out west through South Dakota. I am really hoping the repairs can wait until October when I return. Then, maybe it is the universe sending me in an entirely different direction. I get better with rolling with the punches all the time.