Our next stop on the "Trip to Hell" was the repair shop. For those who aren't familiar with the RV life, Elkheart, Indiana is a Mecca of manufacturers who supply the industry with everything from basic trailers, 5th Wheels and motor coaches up to fully decked out rigs that can cost up to two million dollars with every amenity you can possibly imagine. Note: Ours is not one of those.
We took our RV to Elkheart hoping to fix some electrical problems that had accumulated along the way. Smart wheel, head lights, break lights, horn, speed control just minor inconveniences. The Cummins repair center there took a look into the poltergeist that had taken up residence in our rig. Time was limited and our problem so overwhelming, we had to leave for our next show prior to them finding a solution.
We were headed to the "Windy City", "Chi Town" the birthplace of your's truly. A few miles shy of the Indiana / Illinois border, that darn alarm went off again. Dave pulled off the highway so he could detach the car enabling me to continue on to the show venue while he dealt with the newest hiccup. I made it through Chicago without an "event" occurring until I was about five miles away from the Rosemont Center where show set-up was already underway. The car started making a loud knocking sound that just should not be ignored. I ignored it! I had to make it to the venue before they closed.
I mentioned that I'm originally from Chicago and luckily I still had friends and family in the vicinity. I was able to get hold of my friends John and Cindy whom I hadn't seen in almost 10 years and they were kind enough to come and help me set up my booth. With three people set up went pretty fast and we were out in a few hours (unheard of when just Dave and I do it). After set-up we took my car over to "Enterprise" and rented a van, leaving the Traverse in their parking lot until we could get it to a repair shop. I got a message from Dave around 8:00 p.m. saying he had finally arrived at our RV park located in Sycamore which is about an hour from the Convention Center. A trip that should have taken him 2 maybe 3 hours at the most, took 8 hours. Apparently his GPS was set to avoid all tolls which pretty much means all Expressways in the Chicago area. Another lesson learned, small crowded residential streets are not equipped to handle a 40' motor home.
sounds normal, lol