New York or Bust

We left you last in Little Rock, Arkansas...

Departing there, our next stop was about 4.5 hrs down the road to Red Bay, Alabama.

A beautiful warm sunny day was ours as we enjoyed the first of the spring blooms on the trees lining the main drag into town.

Red Bay Spring Blooms

Our first stop was Sabrina's RV wash.   We had an appointment for a full interior and exterior "Spa Day"

Sabrina's Red Bay

Kate and the dogs kept a keen eye on the goings on, and as usual,  were a highlight on the lot.

They started at 8am and by dark we were done and treated to a like new interior.

Our next stop was Precision RV Repair in Belmont, Ms.   Red Bay is right on the border with Mississippi.

We had some preventative maintenance performed on the big DS slide.   Afterwards it was opening and closing like greased lightning.     I also had a bad kink in the kitchen sink drain which was hard for me to get to - so I let the guys who are skilled at that clean that up for me.

Precision RV Belmont, Ms

Next was a stop at Bay Diesel in Red Bay to try and get my EGR code taken care of.

The EGR valve is on top of the engine so access is gained thru the hatch in the rear bathroom. 

They did not have an EGR valve in stock, so they pulled it, cleaned it (it was pretty carboned up) and reinstalled it.   They also replaced the EGR pressure sensor. 

The big red dust-coated Cummins

Fingers crossed that the repairs would solve our issue, we left Red Bay just ahead of the bad storms that were beginning to sweep across the country.

Traveling thru Huntsville, Al we passed the big Saturn V rocket.    The ominous clouds told us what was chasing us - not very far behind.

Unfortunately - about an hour out of Red Bay, the engine again threw off that EGR code.  This time it remained on rather than cycle on and off like it had been previously.

We arrived late afternoon at our next stop - The Two Rivers Landing RV Resort in Sevierville, Tn - just outside of Great Smoky Mtns National Park.

It's a beautiful park with Motorhome only sites that face-in on the French Broad River.

In season all of the shrubs and flowers here are quite beautiful.

View from our site

Our plan was to spend 3 nights here.   I like to pad a few extra days in our travel schedule in case of any issues, and here is where we would spend them.

After settling in, I contacted the Freightliner 24/7 help line to discuss the engine issues.     They explained that the issue could be several things, but since it is related to the emissions control system, the computer could decide to shut the bus down and put is into "limp mode" at any given moment.    If that happens we would only be able to "limp along" at something like 10 miles per hour.   His advice (no doubt from the lawyers) was to find service asap.

Considering the above, we decided to leave in the morning and try to get to NY as quickly as possible.   This way, if we did have a breakdown, we'd be closer to our destination which would give us more options.   Our pressing need was to be able to make the Vet appointment on Weds 19 March for Phoebes export paperwork.    Without that - we can't go overseas.

About 40 gas lanes at Buckees....   Wow!

It was 850 miles from Two Rivers to our destination.   I had planned 3 legs for that.    But instead we decided to cut it down to 2.     

We pulled out at 0-dark-thirty, just as the thunder from that big storm we are running from started to move in.

Our first stop would be what was going to be our second stop.    570 miles down the road we arrived at a big parking lot with RV Parking outside of Cabellas in Hamburg, Pa.     While there I ran in and grabbed a few pairs of shorts since I've recently lost 45 lbs and my pants are falling off of me.

Cabellas, Hamburg Pa

It was a great place to spend the night.   Quiet and even had a security guy driving around.   They had horse stalls and dog kennels in front of the bus where you could leave the animals if it was hot and you wanted to shop.

Cabellas, Hamburg Pa

We left Cabellas again, just as that big storm was starting to move in on us again.    The first few drops were beginning to fall as we pulled back onto I-78 east.

Our last leg was only 4.5 hours and with luck we'd be settled in with no worries about Vet appointments etc.

By 1430 we'd arrived.    3 days early - but its still winter so there was plenty of room at the inn.   Most (all) of the others here are full timers.   Brenda, the duty person who met us when we arrived was super nice, friendly, and helpful.    She got us checked in for the extra 3 days and gave us the rundown on the park.

The scenerly is sort of dingy right now.   Its that ugly time of year in the Northeast.   Grey, cloudy, the grass is dead and the trees are barren.    There is still a bit of snow on the ground and the winter potholes have not yet been filled.  That storm finally caught up to us last night and we got pounded with lots of rain and high winds, but its lost most of the severe aspects of it were gone.

I think when the sun comes out, our view will improve, but not to worry - 2 weeks from Weds we'll be winging our way to Paris!

We'll be leaving the bus here for the summer so if I was not able to secure an appointment for the repairs now, I could certainly schedule something for October when we get back.

The view at Saratoga RV Park

As luck would have it - I've scored an appointment at Cummins (the engine manufacturer) for monday morning at 0700.   So we'll be there bright and early and hopefully get this resolved once and for all.

I'm guessing that our next post might be from Belgium...

I do make more regular mini-updates of my new Facebook page.    I'm not a big FB person but it is easy to run a mini blog there.   I think this link might take you to my posts where you can follow it should you wish.

See you down the road.