Long Distance Problems

I recently got a call from Joe, one of the friends we camp with most often. Joe and Kathy joined us on our Yellowstone trip last year and were on their way to Florida for a month of snowbirding.

Earlier that day, I had sent him a text asking how the trip was going.

When he called back, the first thing he said was,

“Other than an accident, what’s the worst thing you can imagine happening on a trip?”

Thinking about towing a fifth wheel, my answer came quickly.

“A double tire blowout.”

“Worse,” he replied.

Knowing that Joe had experienced some turbo boost issues during our Yellowstone trip, I figured the problem had returned.

It hadn’t.

His transmission was failing.

While traveling at highway speed, the truck suddenly began shuddering and running rough. They safely pulled onto the shoulder, checked under the hood, and found nothing obvious. After restarting the truck, it went into limp mode.

The truck was only a few years old and had fewer than 75,000 miles on it.

Fortunately, there was a GMC dealership only a few miles away.

They slowly limped the truck to Autry Morlan GMC, dropped the fifth wheel in the dealership’s large parking lot, and waited for the technicians to diagnose the problem.

The diagnosis wasn’t good.

The transmission required a major repair involving the torque converter and valve body. The dealership could perform the work, but the required parts were on backorder. The estimated wait was two to three weeks before the parts would arrive, followed by another day to complete the repair.

They were approximately 700 miles from home and about the same distance from their destination in Florida.

For anyone who enjoys long distance RV travel, this is one of those nightmare scenarios.

As Joe explained everything that had happened, I immediately began thinking about how I might help. My first thought was driving down with our truck to bring them and the fifth wheel home.

Before I could offer, Joe said something I wasn’t expecting.

“We bought a new truck.”

I have to admit, that caught me completely off guard.

Then he explained how they reached that decision.

One of the salespeople asked whether they had considered trading the truck instead of waiting weeks for repairs. The GMC dealership didn’t have a comparable truck available, but a nearby Chevrolet dealership had the Chevrolet version of the same truck in stock.

It wasn’t the solution they had expected that morning, but after looking at the numbers, it made sense.

They were still making payments on their old truck, but fortunately they weren’t upside down on the loan. The dealership offered a fair trade in value, the pricing on the new truck was competitive, and most importantly, they could continue their trip instead of sitting in a motel for several weeks.

The dealership completed the paperwork, transferred their hitch, helped unload everything from the old truck, and loaded it into the new one.

A short time later, they were back on the road.

Situations like this remind me that roadside assistance can only take you so far. It can tow your vehicle or help with a flat tire, but when a major mechanical failure happens hundreds of miles from home, you’re still faced with making difficult decisions.

The key is staying calm, looking at every option, and making the best decision with the information you have.

I was impressed with how Joe and Kathy handled the situation. They never panicked, carefully evaluated their choices, made a decision, and kept moving toward their destination.

Sometimes that’s all you can do.

They’re back on the road now, enjoying their trip to Florida.

And when we all get together around the campfire this summer, I have a feeling this story will get told more than once.

Safe travels.