August 22, 2014

Travel day from Nicholasville, KY to Greenwood, IN

Both Monte and I had a miserable night—Monte because of his sinus infection and me, because between the heat with no air conditioning and the bright light shining in from the Fire Station next door.
With our ranger we were able to pick up the wifi signal from the dealership.  When our laptop batteries got low Monte turned on the inverter to charge them.  We knew the truck part being replaced coming from St. Louis would not be delivered until after 10AM so we just chilled out.

Monte took advantage of the idle time to put a new plug on one of our electric cords.

One of the guys from the fire department came over to ask if we would like to plug in so we could run our air conditioner.  

The distance from our rig to the outlet we could plug into was just over 100 feet. 

Monte put together all the cords we had and still came up approximately 10 feet short. 

To reach the outlet, Monte added a 10 foot air conditioner cord that bridged the distance. 

AAAH  air---For just a few minutes and then No air.  Monte reset the outlet and we had air again for a few minutes. 

One of the guys brought out a hundred foot extension cord that we plugged into and that worked like a charm.  The air stayed on.

We also took up the offer to use the shower in the firehouse. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Oh my goodness what a difference a little thing like a shower can make to ones spirit.

As a small thank you Monte brought over a few bottles of Mountain Dew and a lemon cake we had bought but hadn’t opened.

At 2pm our friend Bob who lives in nearby Wilmore and who we had just visited with for a few days, called to see how we doing.  He said if we should come over for dinner if we were going to be struck in the parking lot again overnight.  We told him we had set a deadline of 3pm-if the repairs were not completed we would stay.

Just before 3pm, Monte took a walk over to the service bay to get an update on the status of the repairs and was delighted to discover they had just taken the truck for a test drive and we were good to go.  

As we paid our portion of the bill ($56) we thanked the cashier who had graciously invited us over the previous evening for a barbeque and offered us the use of her shower.  We hadn’t taken her up on the offer but we were really touched by the offer.
We also thanked Zack, the service rep, who really went to bat for us not only with the extended warranty company but also his manager.  The repair totaled almost $1,900-only $256 out of pocket cost to us! 

Sometimes something that begins as a negative thing becomes something very positive. 

I can’t say enough good things about the guys from the Nicholasville Fire Department.  With all the awful things being reported on the news about the horrible things that people do to each other it is so refreshing to meet people who, by showing a simple act of kindness, have reaffirmed my belief in the goodness of others. 

 

By the time we hitched up and pulled out of the parking lot it was 4pm.  Our destination was the Camping World in Greenwood, IN, 180 miles away.  We had stayed at that Camping World two years ago on our way to Mor/Ryde and knew they had electric hook-ups. 

We were moving along great on I-60 until we reached I-65 in Louisville and had to merge over in rush hour traffic complicated by a construction zone.  It took us over an hour to go a few miles. 

Once we crossed the bridge the traffic flowed and we made up a little of the lost time until we came to a complete stop. 

Again it took us over an hour to go a few miles. 

While we were inching along it began to thunder and then the rains came.

When the traffic finally got going again we couldn’t see anything that had caused the stoppage. 

After a quick stop at a rest area we continued on without any additional disruptions arriving at Camping World at around 9:30pm. 

We circled the huge parking lot looking for a vacant site with electric.  Up one lane and down another-no vacancies.  I was just about resigned to having to spend the night without air conditioning when Monte found the very last site with electric. 

We got set up quickly-I heated up some left over pizza.  Monte took the truck for gas.  He had checked which stations had the lowest priced diesel on Gas Buddy but when he drove there the price was a lot higher than listed so he ended up having to drive a little further to find fuel at a decent price.

When he returned he attempted to repair our surge guard.  Monte noticed it wasn’t working a few days ago. 

Unfortunately, the surge guard case is sealed.  The only way to get at the components would be to cut open the case.  SO it appears it is providential that we are parked in the lot at Camping World because we are going to have to purchase a new surge guard.