"One Day at a Time, 2015” ….. South Carolina …..(November 23 - 25 ) ..... Freightliner Service Call, Gaffney, SC

 "One Day at a Time, 2015” ….. South Carolina …..(November 23 - 25 ) ..... Freightliner Service, Gaffney, SC; North Carolina, Hendersonville

November 23 - Travel Day - 273 Google Miles

We have been traveling now for several months and are never exactly sure what our Rand McNally GPS is going to do to us.  We have the ability to go into the Good Sam website, create a trip, export that trip to our GPS, and turn it on and start.  However, today something clearly went wrong.  We had looked at the map on Google and it seemed pretty straightforward.  Leave Myrtle Beach and head north on 50, meet up with Interstate 95 heading southwest;  Merge onto Interstate 20 and meet up with Interstate 26 in Columbia and head north. 

Bruce had set "shortest" trip on the actual GPS so when it imported what we had agreed upon, the GPS (Betsy) changed the route on us.  It may have been the shortest (in miles) but it definitely was not the fastest!!  We took no Interstates and went through small towns and back roads.  It was an interesting ride but ....

We arrived at the Freightliner Service center in Gaffney, backed into a spot, plugged in, and immediately started watching movies.  Why were we so drawn to watching movies?  Because we had experienced free WiFi at both of our last two camping spots which enabled us to save our own MiFi gigs, we had over 15 of them to use up before midnight!  It seems like we either get very close (to close for comfort), go over, or are short on using our MiFi!!  














November 24 Freightliner Service, Gaffney, SC

At 8 a.m., they took our rig in for service and we sat in the waiting room with some other folks - just like we did at the Thor Service Center recently. Around 4 p.m. they told us we were finished.  Bruce had asked for the two-year service call AND had asked them to look into the CHECK ENGINE light issue.  He had also asked them to weigh the RV but they forgot to do that so we were going to have that done first thing in the morning. 

This CHECK ENGINE light issue is the biggest issue we have had; it happens as we climb a grade; the light comes on, then the STOP ENGINE light comes on, then the coach dies.  It is extremely dangerous and has left us by the side of skinny mountain roads and extremely busy highways.

We've now consulted with four Freightliner dealerships about it:
Albuquerque, NM: they had our coach over a month and couldn't find the problem.
Tolleson, AZ: as I mentioned in my blog for March of this year, they determined there was a kink in the line and a defective vent valve.
Freightliner, CT: they discovered a wipe in the fuel tank
Gaffney, SC: low level of radiator fluid (the sensor inside triggers the RV to stop)

SO, now, which is it???  Every Freightliner has fixed the problem.  So we thought.  We are hoping that this is the last "fix."

November 25 Freightliner Service, Gaffney, SC and
Travel Day to Hendersonville, NC - 48 miles, about 54 minutes

The big peach by Gaffney

Since the car was still unhooked from the RV and the RV was getting weighed, I ran down to the Walmart in town for some groceries.  When I got back, Bruce was deep into conversations with a new set of folks there for service.  Everyone we have met is such a wealth of information!

Bruce and I decided that I would drive the 25 miles to Spartanburg, go to their Costco, get more groceries, and meet him somewhere outside of the city on the north side of town to hook the car back up.  Needless to say, driving west on I-85 into Spartanburg, the signs are confusing, and I got lost in the car.  I called Bruce and told him not to meet me at Costco but to go ahead and take I-26 to Asheville and I would look for him.  That plan actually worked!!  We met in a Shell Truck Stop where there was plenty of room for him to put the car on the trailer.  We ate a sandwich and continued on our way to Hendersonville.

Now, if ever there was an incline or grade to test the RV on for the results of the CHECK ENGINE light, Interstate 26 heading north to Asheville would be the place to do it.  I told Bruce that we need to make this round-trip journey with the coach again before we leave so we'll know that it really is fixed.  Pretty steep!!

We arrived at the Town Mountain Travel Park and got settled for the night.

The bathhouse.  Closed for the season.

I put a little too much force into opening up one of our chairs and cracked the wood.  My Mr. Fix-It pulled out some wood glue and the clamps that we use to hold the monitor down on the table, and is fixing it for me.  He has such patience with me!

Pretty sunset through the trees

Watching the news

Posted November 27, 2015