Month: May 2012

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Visit From the Appraiser

The appraiser just left. He was very kind. He walked around Miranda and documented all the existing damage and made me list all her options, including the solar panel. He couldn’t tell me anything, only that he will make his report and recommendation to the adjuster. He looked at the invoice for the brake service and agreed that I wasn’t anywhere due for that kind of work again. I told him that I won’t let the mechanic start until there is an okay from the insurance company because I am not going to pay for this work even if it means having to sue. I am through being a pushover.

I will confess that I’ve been holding it together since this happened, but I lost it with him. I didn’t realise just how worried I was that, because of Miranda’s age, the insurance company might decide to just write her off. The way the guy was talking and asking me questions and hemming and hawing, the fear just became too much. I was absolutely mortified, but that was enough to push him to reassure me that he saw no evidence for that and that the rig will easily be road worthy again.

The rental car situation is approaching resolution and I’m hoping to get the car by noonish. I can’t check into the hotel till four (they are booked solid), so I’d like to be on the road by three. I’ll shower, have a nap, and then pick up my friend around 7. So the day might not be a total write-off after all.

I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep there, then spend the afternoon with my friend. Her mom is making dinner for me Friday night and you have no idea how much I will appreciate a home cooked meal. I have barely eaten anything since the car wreck. Part of it is nerves, part of it is that there is so much stuff crammed into the front of the rig that cooking just isn’t pleasant. Thank goodness that I can pretty much live off peanut butter sandwiches and that they are a reasonably healthy meal. 🙂

Right now, the big concern is that I need to leave Virginia on May 12th to make it back to Canada on the 15th at a reasonable pace. I can get to Canada on the 18th and still make my deadline there, but I told US Customs that I would be out on the 15th. I don’t know if that’s something that can be stretched with a phone call due to extraordinary circumstances, but I have a full week to worry about that.

I’m off to try the car rental company again. For some reason (probably my area code), my insurance adjuster’s request got routed to Bismarck, ND, so now the folks down the street here need to get hold of the folks in Bismarck to get all the information. It’ll be fine; I’m just glad I got the ball rolling yesterday. Enterprise car rental has never let me down.

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Slowly Making Plans

I spoke to Aviva this morning. They have authorized me up to $1,000 (up to $100 per day) for a hotel room. Intact is letting me have a car for a few days, but they haven’t decided yet for how long. I have to pay for the hotel out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed, so I only booked until Monday morning because money is suddenly very, very, very tight.

The adjuster for Aviva says that even if the damage is a result of the accident, they may rule against me because I drove without having the rig properly inspected and may have made more damage. I am going to play the ‘look at how much free advertising you guys get from me’ card, especially since the repairs aren’t going to be that much from their perspective. I mean, the hotel amount is ‘just $1,000.’

I have certain things to do today and into tomorrow that require my undivided attention. I hope to leave for the hotel late tomorrow afternoon, freshen up (a shower is going to feel so nice!), then meet up with my friend for our evening. I will sleep at the hotel on Thursday night, but will probably just use it during the day over the weekend.

What. A. Nightmare.

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"As Long as You’re Self-Contained"

Just as I hit publish on that last post, the mechanic/tower came to see me to ask if I’d spoken to the insurance company. I explained that because of the time zone difference, nothing is going to happen today and that I think I could be here till into next week because I’m not paying for anything until an adjuster takes a look at everything. He said that’s fine with him, “as long as you’re self-contained.”

Power is not a problem and my black tank is at barely a quarter full. I’m out of water in the on board tank, but I have tons of water in jugs that I can use for washing up and whatnot. So I’m fine on that end. I am going to ask the insurance company to pay for a hotel while I’m stuck so that I have a place to hang out during the day that is closer to my friend’s home and where I can take showers. She and I are going to a midnight movie premiere tomorrow, so that would be a very late night for me if I had to come back to the rig to sleep. So even if the insurance company says no, I am going to pay for a hotel room for at least one night. I am also going to see if Aviva would pay for a rental car for a bit longer than Intact would.

So I’m settled in for the long haul and looking forward to speaking with the adjusters so that I can get the ball rolling on salvaging the rest of my vacation.

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Stuck On the Side of the Road in My RV: How I Dealt With It

I’ve been asked by a few people how I got from the side of that road yesterday to not just the towing yard, but a towing yard that is also a shop that can do the work on my rig. So I thought I’d share the steps I took yesterday to get here.

Soon as I knew there was a problem, I pulled over. I was unable to put the rig into park, so I settled for neutral and cut the engine. I carefully exited the rig and walked around, noticing there was a burnt smell, but not sure where it was coming from. I was in a bad location and this was not the time to sit and wait and hope that things would fix themselves. I needed a tow.

The last time I tried to have Miranda towed, my roadside assistance program at the time tried to screw me over. I had paid them several hundred dollars through my insurance company so that I would be covered to have the motorhome towed in case of an emergency. But when I called them for a tow, they said that their nearest affiliate was far enough away that I would have to pay a $150 out of pocket surcharge to have the rig towed. I wound up paying $125 to a wrecker located just a few minutes away.

All that to say that I do not have roadside assistance. So last night I was sitting in the middle of nowhere with no real idea where I was. I asked my GPS to tell me where the nearest automotive services were and called the first company that had towing in the name. I knew that if they couldn’t help me, they would know who locally could. I did the same thing that night after I lost the brakes. Whoever thought to put phone numbers as well as addresses into the GPS database is a genius.

While I waited for the first company to pick up, I fiddled with my GPS until I got the screen that told me where I was. This was brilliant. I had a street and city, nearest house address, nearest intersection, and GPS coordinates. I was able to precisely tell the tow companies where I was, which helped to narrow down the choices of who could get to me.

Now, the other consideration was finding a wrecker that could handle a motorhome. When you say ‘motorhome’ to a tow company, they assume a giant 40′ diesel pusher. I am quick to say that I have a small motorhome that is a class C on a Ford-E450 chassis, basically a 32′ Econoline van.

The third tower I spoke to is also a mechanic who could fix the problem. This was just dumb luck!

I told him I thought I lost my transmission. He made me do a few tests and determined over the phone that my rear axle had gone. So he knew Miranda would have to be towed from the rear. This is more complicated because you have to tow with the full weight of the rig on the front end. He asked me how much stuff I had inside and I replied with more useful information, her approximate weight, which was just under 14,000 lbs at last weigh-in. He said that if this was right, then his wrecker would just be able to lift and take her the 15 miles to his shop.

When he arrived, he spent some time under the rig and confirmed his over-the-phone diagnosis. He asked me again how much stuff I had inside and almost blanched when I said everything I own. I know he didn’t believe the weight amount that I told him. He had me sit in the RV cab while he got Miranda up onto the lift. I had my dinner during that time, amusingly enough. Once she was loaded, he had me sit in his truck and told me he was cautiously optimistic, but he’d know in a few minutes if she was going to tow okay.

Miranda ended up doing great and he had no trouble getting her to the yard although it was sloooow going and some of the longest 15 miles of my life!

Once at the shop, he dropped her on as level a spot as he could find, which was really not level and twisting the chassis. I told him I had levelers so he had me put some in front of the front wheels and he rolled Miranda over it. Then, he lifted the back end while I placed levelers under the passenger rear wheels. The leveling isn’t perfect, but it’s liveable.

After all that, he left me to my own devices, saying to come see him today once I’d spoken to the adjuster.

So to recap, a GPS and a cell phone are really useful to have in an emergency. I am very, very grateful that I upgraded my Verizon phone to include use to and in Canada.

Oh, and it took less than two hours to go from, oh no, there’s a problem, to leveled in a safe spot for the night.

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Almost Heaven

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River –
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin’ like a breeze
Country Roads, take me home

I was very excited yesterday morning as I hit the road knowing that I would be at my friend’s within the day. It has been four years and one month since we last saw each other. I have traveled more than 27,000km since I last saw her. I couldn’t imagine anything sweeter after such a long journey than to fall into the arms of my oldest and dearest friend. A few more days now…

Because I had some mountain driving ahead of me, I planned yesterday that it would be a short driving day and that I would not be arriving at my friend’s. I took my time getting on the road and had a long break at the rest area after Charleston. This was my first time ever seeing a restaurant (snack bar) at a rest area!

I was purposely setting myself up to make arrival at her place too late to be feasible so that I wouldn’t rush through the day, get distracted, and get into an accident. Now that you know my mindset yesterday, it becomes even more evident why I don’t blame myself for the toad’s demise.

The section of I-64 between Charleston and Beckley is the West Virginia Turnpike, a toll road. I had reviewed the list of tolls ahead of time and felt that the information was very clear. I was a motorhome towing the equivalent of a trailer so I would have to pay $3.25 twice. I made sure to get a bunch of singles and quarters when I bought some things at Walmart the night before so I would have exact change. The first toll booth guide was visibly surprised that I had my exact fare in hand!

approaching the second toll booth

So that was yesterday. The accident happened just after the second toll booth.

This morning, I set off in good spirits. Miranda was purring and nothing felt amiss. I have done a lot of mileage in my rig and know how she behaves. She never hinted at been hurt today. Oh, sweet Miranda, aren’t you supposed to tell me you’re hurtin’ before you keen?

I hadn’t been on the road long today when I got a hint that the big challenge of the day, the 7% 5-mile long descent, was upon me:

Almost there:

At the summit:

Here we go! *gulp*

Motorhome goes into D2 and we start the hill at 40MPH.

What is it about those Blue Ridge Mountains?

Halfway there!

Recommended truck speed is 45MPH. The engine would start strain at that speed, so that’s when I’d hit the brakes, about four times total over the five miles.

Done!

Have I mentioned in this post how much I love the Blue Ridge Mountains?

It was coming on lunchtime when I hit Lewisburg, so I did something I just about never do when towing the car, I made an unplanned exit from the highway for something other than fuel. In plain English, that means I saw a sign for Applebee’s and I heeded its call. 😀 I barely eaten anything the day before and had very little for breakfast, so that was just what I needed to get those gastric juices flowing again. I headed in the general direction of the Applebee’s and noticed a Walmart, so I decided to park there since the Applebee’s would be nearby. It turned out to be right next door. I ordered a pasta and salad lunch deal but only had room for the salad (and a one-bite brownie with ice cream), so I got a to-go box for the pasta. $11 for lunch and dinner, not a bad deal, huh? I ended up having the pasta while waiting for the tow truck. But I digress again.

I made it to Virginia!!!

The Virginia Welcome Centre is not RV friendly as there is only car-sized parking and no pull-thrus. I couldn’t have done this with the toad attached!

I had to back out of that parking stall!

Nice-looking welcome centre:

I stocked up on a ton of tourist information material.

Then I drove through some more beautiful scenery marred only by a dirty windshield:

Approaching Richmond, I was due for a break, so I turned off the interstate to go to a ‘tourist information centre’ that I never succeeded in finding. That put me on a lovely rural route that paralleled I-64 for about five miles before merging back onto it.

A wave of emotion hit when I reached the I-64/I-95 junction and hit familiar territory. I’d only been that way once before, but there were a few familiar landmarks; a building, the city names on the exits, the stench of tobacco at the Philip Morris plant.

The last bit of my journey was on back roads and I looked forward to pulling over just shy of my destination for a bite to eat and to text my friend to let her know I was incoming. Well, we all know what happened there.