All was great leading up to our trip to NAR's mid year conference in DC. Monika's son had just got married and they were on their honeymoon.

We were all set with what we had to do prior to leaving. We scurried around on Friday May 11th to make sure we could try and leave around 5 PM so we could get through Hartford, Conn after rush hour. We were ready to go at 2:30 and off we went. The motor home was driving great as usual just floating down 495 with ease.

Even though fuel prices for the motor home were running 2.79 a gallon and we get 10 miles to the gallon with 128 gallon fuel tank, we knew it was still cheaper to drive to DC than fly and stay in a hotel. The cheaper hotels we have stayed in before, run us 179.00 a night for 5 nights plus meals etc..

I filled the coach up and spent 155.30 to top her off and I knew I could get to DC and half way back on  a full tank and possibly top her off again on the Jersey turnpike at 2.61 a gallon still a lot cheaper than had we spent time in a hotel. We love our coach as we have all our own bedding and our own dishes and food and etc.

While driving down 495 south I decided to take 290 west through Worcester and then catch the Mass Turnpike to I84 and then 684. When I turned on to 290 I had a truck in front of me not going anywhere and messed me all up. Then all of a sudden the coach started sputtering and coughing. The dash warning light came on. It seemed like it may be a clogged fuel filter. All of a sudden I couldn't get any throttle and I was going nowhere. 

We called for road service and they arrived within an hour and the service man changed the fuel filters and the coach started up and I thought we were home free. Then all hell broke loose and the coach started sputtering again and wouldn't go anywhere. We now needed to be towed and that wasn't going to be cheap. 

The tow truck came in about an hour and it took him about 45 minutes to hook us up. Hi Way Recovery was the company  that towed us and  Bobby was  the Owner and he was really great. He was a real nice guy and very friendly and  supportive as to the pain we were now feeling as our  home on wheels was being  towed down the road.

It was about  7:30 pm now and we were towed to Tri-State Motors in Shrewsbury, MA. They are a very large trucking firm that handles Cummins engines like we have. They are open 24 hours a day 6 days a week. We were hoping they had the part we needed and hopefully we would be on our way Saturday afternoon. As luck would have it NO GO. The part we needed was the Injector Fuel Valve which they do not sell separately anymore so we have to get the whole Fuel pump which weighs 75 lbs and costs 2400.00 plus it takes a minimum of 8 hours to install. We were not going anywhere to fast that night. We ended up sleeping in the Truck Drivers lounge in Big Fat Easy Recliners. They were comfortable.

They brought the coach in the shop about 9:45 Pm Friday and the guy working on it would be leaving about midnight and he would turn the job over to the third shift person. Well, the third shift guy never touched it as he had another priority truck that arrived late that was already scheduled. We were hoping they didn't arrive so they could work on ours. No such luck.

When dawn arrived I went downstars and found out we wouldn't get fixed until sometime late Monday and we were told to make other arrangements. Luckily we called our friends who went to our home and drove Monika's SUV to us and we were back on the road at noon headed to DC.

We are now staying with friends in their house instead of in their driveway in our motor home.

Monika is in class all day today getting her credits to be able to teach the ABR Course . Once she finishes and you need a great instructor and our motor home is fixed we are only a drive away.

"Have Teacher will Travel" 

Jay and Monika McGillicuddy

Serving Southern New Hampshire and Rockingham County

New Hampshire Real Estate with Jay McGillicuddy 

NH Real Estate Blogs 

Prudential Verani Realty

Hampstead NH Real Estate

603-548-7685