It has been said, “When life deals you a lemon, make lemonade.” It’s been a precept I’ve attempted to follow through all of the many unwelcome health issues with which I have struggled for the past 35 years or so. Sometimes the lemonade was sweet, sometimes a little sour, but looking for the bright side of any adversity has always seemed more rewarding than dwelling on pain, discomfort, or limitation.
Well, another lemon rolled our way yesterday as we were traveling to Carefree, AZ, to visit our friend Sue who, together with her late husband Dave, we first met on our Mexico RV train adventure. About halfway there we stopped to stretch our legs and walk around a bit. I left the motorhome and stood on the curbside in the chilly morning air. Suddenly I noticed a large shiny puddle growing under the diesel engine at the rear of our coach. Smelling a bit of it on my finger confirmed it was diesel fuel and it was leaking quite rapidly. Where we stopped was right in front of a place advertising diesel truck repairs but when we approached the surly mechanic he informed us he would not work on a motorhome under any circumstances. I was finally able to convince him to at least look at the engine from the rear. He too confirmed a fuel leak from somewhere high up on the engine and said he wouldn’t drive the coach anywhere.
Soooo, for the second time since we’ve owned the RV we called our roadside service company and arranged for a tow to a garage in Quartzite, AZ. That was a 27 mile trip back in the direction from which we had just come. The leak was discovered at about 11:00 a.m. but, due to the lengthy delay in getting a big rig flatbed tow truck to us, getting all loaded, and traveling the miles, it was nearly 5 p.m. by the time we were unloaded at the mechanic’s garage.
He came aboard, lifted our bed to get to the engine, and found we had blown a hole in a fuel line leading to one of the fuel injectors. He said a special part would have to be fabricated in Blythe, CA (another 25 miles west), the next day as the fuel line had a special fitting on the end of it.
Today the new line was installed and we were able to get back on the road but, due to another commitment, we had to cancel our Carefree trip altogether. All in all it was a simple minor repair but had a large effect on our plans. We’re both sorry to have not been able to complete that part of our trip and visit with Sue. Unforeseen circumstances have now stopped us from completing that trip twice in the past 5 months.
Now, what was all that stuff about lemonade? Well, during the tow for those 27 miles we were able to achieve an infinite miles per gallon of fuel. Even more meaningful is that had we not stopped to take that break we could have ended up with a serious fire in the engine compartment which, given our being in the middle of nowhere, would probably have resulted in the total destruction of the coach and our Jeep we tow behind us. Given that scenario it could even have been worse ending in injury to us or worse. So once again that angel was sitting on our shoulders taking care of us and serving a big frosty glass of lemonade.
Thank you!
Well, another lemon rolled our way yesterday as we were traveling to Carefree, AZ, to visit our friend Sue who, together with her late husband Dave, we first met on our Mexico RV train adventure. About halfway there we stopped to stretch our legs and walk around a bit. I left the motorhome and stood on the curbside in the chilly morning air. Suddenly I noticed a large shiny puddle growing under the diesel engine at the rear of our coach. Smelling a bit of it on my finger confirmed it was diesel fuel and it was leaking quite rapidly. Where we stopped was right in front of a place advertising diesel truck repairs but when we approached the surly mechanic he informed us he would not work on a motorhome under any circumstances. I was finally able to convince him to at least look at the engine from the rear. He too confirmed a fuel leak from somewhere high up on the engine and said he wouldn’t drive the coach anywhere.
Soooo, for the second time since we’ve owned the RV we called our roadside service company and arranged for a tow to a garage in Quartzite, AZ. That was a 27 mile trip back in the direction from which we had just come. The leak was discovered at about 11:00 a.m. but, due to the lengthy delay in getting a big rig flatbed tow truck to us, getting all loaded, and traveling the miles, it was nearly 5 p.m. by the time we were unloaded at the mechanic’s garage.
He came aboard, lifted our bed to get to the engine, and found we had blown a hole in a fuel line leading to one of the fuel injectors. He said a special part would have to be fabricated in Blythe, CA (another 25 miles west), the next day as the fuel line had a special fitting on the end of it.
Today the new line was installed and we were able to get back on the road but, due to another commitment, we had to cancel our Carefree trip altogether. All in all it was a simple minor repair but had a large effect on our plans. We’re both sorry to have not been able to complete that part of our trip and visit with Sue. Unforeseen circumstances have now stopped us from completing that trip twice in the past 5 months.
Now, what was all that stuff about lemonade? Well, during the tow for those 27 miles we were able to achieve an infinite miles per gallon of fuel. Even more meaningful is that had we not stopped to take that break we could have ended up with a serious fire in the engine compartment which, given our being in the middle of nowhere, would probably have resulted in the total destruction of the coach and our Jeep we tow behind us. Given that scenario it could even have been worse ending in injury to us or worse. So once again that angel was sitting on our shoulders taking care of us and serving a big frosty glass of lemonade.
Thank you!
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