Oh, no......Moby Dick is Down for the Count!

Today was a disastrous day!

Oh, it started out just fine.  I headed out with Moby Dick, the big diesel truck about 1:30PM.  First stop was HEB to fill up with diesel at $3.53/gallon.  Next I headed over to the RV storage lot to pick up Pholly, the 5^th wheel to bring her home. Now, I could have waited a day or two before bringing her home to get ready for the Pink FlaminGoes GTG but it is easier to get the RV into my cul-de-sac on a weekday.  On weekends and evenings our cul-de-sac resembles a Walmart parking lot with all the angle parking that goes on in the circle.

Anyway, I opened the gate and pulled into the storage area.  As I started down the road, Moby just died….that’s right, the truck just died like I turned off the key.  Nada, nothing.  From running perfect to nothing at all....no power of any kind.  

And yes, it does get worse.  I was about to call DH for ideas on what could be wrong and discovered that I forgot my cellphone at home....I never do that.  So I trudged over to the office to call DH.  No answer....okay, no problem…..he is out on the motorcycle and can't answer because he is riding.  So I waited and called again 10 min later …….and then again in another 10 minutes.  Hmmm.  This is not good but he might still be riding. So I headed back to the RV to relax for a while. I spent some time reading the RV owner’s manual, found a couple of other mags in the cupboard, Passport America book, etc.  

After an hour or so, I trudged back to the office and called again.  By this time it is becoming obvious that DH did not take his cellphone with him (he does do that).  I left another message figuring he would call back to the office number eventually even though he wouldn’t recognize the number just based on how many times it showed up.  Back to the RV again…..he finally shows up about 4:30.

Since there were absolutely no warning signs of the impending disaster, he figured it must be some sort of electrical problem like a major fuse.  Those of you who aren’t diesel truck mechanics know what an overwhelming feeling you can get when you open that big hood and look into that huge engine compartment.  Out comes the truck book.  We checked everything we could think of checking.  I mean the batteries were both new a week ago and DH always cleans the cables and puts dialectic grease of them.  So we started going through all the fuses to try to find one that would cut out everything.  We pulled a bunch of fuses to check them. Nothing looked bad.

Finally I called Bluebonnet Ford in New Braunfels (our dealer).  I was routed through to Will in the service dept.  After I explained the whole thing to him, he walked us through everything he could think of that might be wrong.  Batteries good, battery cables clean and tight, check out all the 40 and 50 AMP fuses.  If it was the alternator, there should have been some advance warning like flashing lights or reduced power.  It was getting obvious that Moby would need a tow to the dealer.

Will gave me Bluebonnet’s towing number if I wanted to get it towed and told me to use his name. We have an extended warranty on the truck that will also cover the towing if the repair falls under the warranty.  We also have towing under our vehicle insure.  So I made a quick call to GMAC and explained about the problem and the coverage for towing under our truck warranty.  I didn’t want to put a claim in under the truck insurance if it was going to be covered under the other policy but I also didn’t want to have to call GMAC later and have them tell me that they couldn’t cover it because they didn’t send out the tow truck.  I know, I know….probably overthinking it but you hear all the stories.  GMAC told me no problem…..go ahead and call Bluebonnet's tow company.  If our truck warranty didn’t cover the tow, just be sure to save the invoice and  send GMAC the bill so they could reimburse us.  Okay, that’s the only good news.

By now it was nearly 5:30PM.  I put the call in to the Bluebonnet tow truck guy.  He was out at Canyon Lake with the big truck so it would take a couple of hours.  I told him our only problem would be that the RV storage gate locked completely at 8:00PM so if we weren’t all loaded and out of there before then, we would be locked in for the night.  He said he would do his absolute best and would call when he got back to Bluebonnet and was on his way to us. 

DH put the battery in the RV while I headed back to the stix and brix to feed the Traveling Longdogs.  On the way back, I picked up some burgers and cokes for an imprompto picnic in the RV.  After telling DH not to put on all the overhead lights in the RV, just use a couple (remember I am the RVer) and the battery would be just fine.  I figured he would be stretched out on the bed taking a nap when I got back but he was back at the truck still trying to figure out what could be wrong.

The tow truck made good time and showed up by 7:00PM.  He had the big flatbed truck for Moby which made DH very happy.  He also had lots of special lights on the truck because it was very dark by then.  DH was concerned because he had tried and couldn’t get Moby out of park but the tow guy said no problem and proceeded to do something to a panel on top of the steering column.  Our other worry was that the truck window was open with no way to roll it back up.  I had pulled out one of my RV tire covers and the driver said he was put it back on over the door once he was back at Bluebonnet so it will hopefully keep out any rain.  It will be parked inside a locked storage area and we did remove all the items loose in the truck. 

No work on the truck until Monday morning....the day I planned to leave for the GTG.  So I won't know anything until.  I may not have a tow for my RV next week.  Keep your fingers crossed for me and maybe a little prayer would help too.  DH doesn’t think they will even look at it right away Monday morning but Will is an RVer himself and he knows that I was picking up the RV to leave town when this disaster occurred so I am keeping the faith for a quick fix on Monday……but, just in case, I have several offers of a bed if needed.   Ohhhh, the Traveling Longdogs would be so disappointed about staying home.

And here I thought the GFCI I was going to try to replace myself would be the tough part this trip.