DIDN'T WE ALREADY DO THIS???????

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia: Same song second verse, or maybe the second time around, or been here done that, or we got busted, or whatever you want to title this blog.......Ernie says to call it NO SUPPORT IN CANADA! Anyhow, August 4th last year I posted on this same subject but I can't remember how to link to my own previous blogs. I'll do what Linda B does....Help, Kari!

Here's the story. Yesterday afternoon we were heading down a scenic, but rather curvy and bumpy road, toward a camp site not too far down the road when all of a sudden Ernie said "#%&&$@!" There was smoke coming out from around the wheel well of the tires on the driver's side of the RV. We edged the big RV over to the edge of the narrow road and he got out and checked. Sure enough, it was the spring again, the spring that we had replaced in August by Tok, Alaska, and then replaced with a stronger one at the factory in November. We couldn't drive it. This time however, we were in civilization, not 80 miles away from anyone, so we had hope that we'd get it fixed quickly. I walked ahead on the road just a bit and found a big driveway guarded by big iron gates, but the gates were open so we decided to pull in there. We got the RV off the road and through the gate, and started making phone calls. First we called Good Sam and explained everything, and they said they'd look for a repair place and call us back. They did, and told us they could find nothing, but we should call our dealer. We called back to our dealer in Minnesota and the gal there found a few suggestions, but they were in New Brunswick, hundreds of miles from here. It didn't look like an immediate fix, so Ernie walked up to the very nice house on the hill and asked the woman there if we could park there until we could get it fixed. She said of course we could. Then Ernie got some numbers of places around here and started calling them. Each place said they couldn't do it, but call so and so who they were certain would fix it. Finally, a man said they could come out in the morning. Ernie walked back to talk to the kind woman and she said we could park there for the night, so our friends went on to the closest campground with their rig and we crawled into our RV.

Morning came and we waited in vain for the phone call saying the truck was on the way to repair it. Finally Ernie decided to call them to see what was going on......the cell phones wouldn't work! We kept getting a message to include a 1 or a 0 in the number, but when we did that, it told us to include a 1 or a 0 in the number. Over and over again, the same message. So he walked back to the nice woman and asked to use her phone. Guess what? The day manager of this truck parts place said that there was no way they could come out and fix it! Ernie told him that he had talked to someone last night that said they would be out this morning. Well, it seems that the night manager is new..........guess he didn't know what he was talking about. Anyhow, he suggested that Ernie put a block of wood between the frame and the spring and limp along into Dartmouth to get it fixed. So we jacked the rig way up and he crawled under and beat a piece of wood into the space. It seemed to hold it up enough so we lowered the jacks and took off on our 40 mile trip into Dartmouth. Ernie drove. I prayed.

We made it into town and found the place where they fix trucks so I figure they can fix our RV. They didn't have the right size spring on hand, but they will make one the right size; that's what they do, make springs. So, we had to find a place for the night. We found a semi-reasonable motel not too far from the truck place and booked a room. We were supposed to have internet in our room, but guess what. That doesn't work either, and the No Smoking room must have just been designated as such because it reeks! And the supper at the restaurant included onion rings and fries, both fried in the same oil as they use for the shrimp and clams and other shell fish, which I am allergic to!

We tried to call our friends to tell them we should be back on the road tomorrow and that we'll meet them at Peggy's Cove, but our phones still don't work. I emailed Kari to ask her to check with my buddy RJ at my phone place, and I left her a message on her blog to ask her to check her email. Hopefully she'll check someplace tonight and get the message.

But as I said last year, it could have been worse. We didn't damage the RV, didn't have an accident, nobody was hurt, and we are safe and sound in a smelly motel room. No, actually, I'm sitting in the smelly lounge because the wireless works here. And, I am looking forward to tomorrow when I finally get to go to Peggy's Cove, a place I'm heard about for years. And you can bet I'll post pictures the first chance I get! So life isn't all bad! Except that it was 98 degrees today!