June 8 to 21, 2017

An unexpected occurrence forced us to change plans.  One of the many lessons we have learned, in the five years since moving into our RV full-time, is that we need to be flexible when making plans.  Because you just never know what little or big bump in the road may force a change in plans and whenever this has happened to us we have tried to have a positive attitude and “go with the flow.”

 

We set an alarm for 7am because we wanted to get an early start.  After I prepped the inside, I noticed there were a couple of rigs in line to use the one and only dump station at Liberty Harbor RV Park. 

 I decided to walk over and stand in line while Monte finished hitching up. 

It turned out to be a good idea because by the time it was our turn seven rigs were behind me in line. 

Even though I had researched the route we had to take I goofed and told Monte to take the next exit. 

 

Darn it.  We ended up driving in city traffic again!  Luckily the GPS quickly rerouted us.

After crossing into Connecticut, I asked Monte to stop at the Darien Service Plaza so I could use the restroom.  When I got back to the rig, Monte told me we had a “Big Problem”.  There was transmission fluid pouring out from under the truck.  We called the closest Dodge Dealer (five miles away).  They informed us that they did not have a life heavy enough for the truck and suggested we call Danbury Dodge.  Danbury Dodge instructed us to have the truck towed in but when we explained that we are towing a 5^th wheel they said they could not accommodate us, suggesting we have the rig towed to the Walmart a few miles away from their location.

We knew that wasn’t going to work so we called another Dodge Dealer in Meriden.  The service advisor, Bryonna, said, “Come on down.  We will work something out for the RV.”

When we called AAA to arrange the tow we were informed that we would need a heavy duty tow truck and the soonest they would have one available was the next morning.  So we spent a very restless night in the service plaza.  It was difficult to sleep with all the traffic from I-95 and the constant semi-truck engines idling all around us.

BUT, that being said, we counted our blessings that we had this issue in a safe place.  I shudder to think about it happening while we were on the highway or while we were driving in the city.

AAA ended up sending two trucks. 

They towed us 50 miles to Robert’s Dodge in Meriden, CT.

I cannot say enough good things about the staff at Robert’s Dodge.  In preparation for our arrival, they had cleared off several parking spaces along the perimeter of the parking lot. 

Then they diagnosed the issue-several nut plates had sheared off the torque converter. 

In addition the transmission pump had to be replaced.  Another 1000.00 dollar part.  The good news was the transmission checked out okay.  The better news was that our extended warranty was going to cover the entire repair less our $200 deductible. 

Monte opted to purchase a Banks torque converter (we would pay the difference out of pocket) because it would provide more power than the Dodge torque converter and has a very high rating. The dealer ordered the converter.  Unfortunately, it wouldn’t arrive for another 11 days on the 20^th. 

So we ended up dry-camping at Robert’s Dodge for a total of 12 days.  The weather cooperated with sunny days so our batteries charged allowing us to have power in the evenings and our roof top satellite dish worked great. 

  The extended warranty covered 7 days toward a car rental, Enterprise gave us a couple of extra days because we were willing to swap out our van for a smaller car before the rental was due back and Robert’s Dodge covered 2 days. (Did I say how awesome this dealer is!)

During our 12 day stay in Meriden we did some exploring beginning with the Mohegan Sun Casino.

  Both Monte and I received $50 in free slot play when we signed up for their players’ card. 

We played the slots for hours stopping when we had enough money left to eat at the buffet. 

 

Another day we took a drive to Mystic Seaport and continued on to Waverly, RI.

One day we shopped at Stew Leonard’s.  This is the largest bottle of wine I have ever seen.

The sign said look in my mouth so

of course Monte had to put his hand in the mouth.

On the 14^th, we celebrated my birthday with a dinner at Chili’s. 

 

 Earlier in the day we had taken a ride to Hop Brook Lake, a COE park.  It was the closest place I could locate that sold the National Park Senior Pass.  Yep, it’s official-I’m an old fart.

One of the crew at Robert’s Dodge suggested we go to Wooster St. in New Haven and eat at a local favorite, Frank Pepe’s Pizza.

The following is listed on their website, "Frank Pepe knew in 1925 that only coal burns hot and dry, and doesn’t give off steam like a wood fire. He knew that only a coal fire could give his “tomato pies” their famous crisp, charred, chewy crust. "

"We knew when we began to bring Pepe’s Pizza closer to you that we had to recreate his original oven, brick by brick, with a fire door cast from a mold of the original. And even in today’s fast-paced world, we knew that our customers might at times be willing to wait a few minutes longer for a PERFECT PEPE PIZZA. So that’s how we do it today. Grandpop, you taught us well."

 

 

Still having casino fever we spent an entire day at Foxwoods. 

 

I began with $50 and after going up and down (at one point I had 24 cents left and managed to get it up to $70) and several hours later finally lost my original starting money. 

 

We ended up with one free coupon for the buffet so it only cost us $25 for the both of us to eat. 

 

 After dinner, Monte watched a live band while I went back to the slots.

We went to Ninety 99 Nine Restaurant for Father’s Day.

We spent the final two days while at Robert’s Dodge just doing some local shopping, filling our propane tank and doing laundry. 

The final ordered part arrived Tuesday afternoon.  After it was installed Monte went with the mechanic for a test drive.  Rides GREAT!

We spent one last night dry camping at Robert’s Dodge. 

By 10AM on Wednesday morning we were pulling out of the parking lot and onto our next adventure.