A Little Help Getting Up the Canyonville Hill.

Or BCAA RV Plus to the Rescue

 Tuesday, 18 October


Since we were so late arriving at Blue Ox and since we had a lot of time to make our appointment in Redding we got off to a late start, about 11:30! Rain on and off though not the downpours we expect they were getting at home.

Art was really missing the lack of cruise control. We had had a new lever installed before we left but due to the mechanic's location and our time constraints we really had not been able to confirm it working. It wasn't. At all. At least the old one worked some of the time! Oh well, one to add to the list at Redding.

The drive continued through on and off rain and shortly after 2:00 PM we pulled of at Exit 99 to a 7 Feathers Truck Stop for fuel and lunch break and to give Art a rest and the dogs a bit of a walk. Back on the road an hour and a half later. Returning to the rig Art noted that the engine seemed to be running a little rough. In hindsight should have looked for a mechanic there instead of thinking "One more for Redding Freightliner" Thursday morning.
This was Tuesday.

While grinding up the very long and fairly steep hill over Canyon Creek Pass, near mile marker 92 the rig was pulling very hard, seemed very low on power as a car passed in the next lane honking the horn. A close look in the mirror showed grey smoke apparently coming from the back of the rig.

Art immediately pulled off onto the shoulder, turned the flashers on, set the spring brake and told Gillian to get the dogs out of the rig. He ran back to look expecting the worst, wondering when was the last time that he had checked the pressure on the Compressed Air Foam fire extinguisher, and took a look. There was definitely a significant amount of grey smoke coming from the rear grill and underneath and fuel was spewing on the ground and running down the road. LOUD RUDE WORD! He hadn't shut the engine off!

Dashed back inside, shut it down and looked again. Still smoke, no sign of fire and the fuel had stopped running out. And I mean running out, not leaking out.

Next he disconnected the towing cables etc while Gillian stood back with the dogs. The smoke soon stopped, so Gillian put the dogs in the back and reversed the Jeep several dozens of feet back and well off the road.

Needless to say the Jeep was covered in fuel oil as were the tow cables. With a bucket of warm water, a bottle of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid and a few rags we began to remove the oil from the windshield and front of the Jeep so she would be able to see while driving to somewhere there was a phone cell.

About 4:30 Gillian and the dogs set off leaving Art to baby sit the rig and have a nap. Art was surprised when she returned within the hour. The tow truck would be here at 6:35.

She had called BCAA, (answered by AAA) explained the problem, the size and type of rig we were driving and that we would like to be towed to a Freightliner shop. They gave Gillian the name of the shop in Medford which she called. The service department said they handled Freightliner and were open until 11:30 PM.

The tow truck arrived at 6:15, earlier than promised and got right to work:

Once he got the main tow attachment made he had Art put his foot on the brake and release the spring brake then sloooowly release the foot brake. The 37,000 pound tow truck was connected and holding us just fine.

Then the fun parts--where to connect the air? Apparently our rig has four air tanks, though only gauges for Front and Rear. Eventually he was able to feed air from the truck so that both motorhome airtanks showed full pressure (130 psi). Then he had to disconnect the drive shaft, connect the safety chains and off we went.

For the uninitiated a bit of explanation about air brakes; In vehicles with air brakes, the brakes are applied by air pressure. BUT the rear brakes have a secondary system where the brakes can also be applied by very very strong springs which are held OFF by air pressure. If a vehicle should loose air pressure the spring brakes apply and lock the rear wheels. So the tow truck driver had to make sure the motorhome system held air or things could get very exciting.

You have probably seen the two pairs of black rubber skidmarks angling across the road. Probably caused by the loss of air to a semi's trailer and the trailer brakes locking up.

In an hour our so we were on our way  to Medford, Exit 30 -- a run of about 62 miles.

The log book was in the rig so no times or mileages for our arrival but eventually we were parked. We were told we could sleep in the rig but the shop opened at 7:00 AM. We opted for the Comfort Inn more or less across the road. While waiting back on the highway we had profitably spent the time by packing a couple of bags (yes bags, not suitcases!) in expectation of a night or two in a hotel. We piled into the now very crowded Jeep and set off. Gillian thinking there was an entrance to the street where she had parked simply drove over the curb, turned right, them crossed the road to the left turn lane to the hotel. She should have gone back the way we came and entered the street a block or so further up with the aid of a traffic light!

By the time we got checked in it was getting late, most of the restaurants apparently close by 10:00 PM so our only choices were Denny's a bit down the road and a sports bar in the hotel next door. We couldn't leave the dogs in the room so the back of the Jeep for them while we walked across the parking lot to the bar.

We sat at the bar and ordered a beer each while we perused the short menu. The beer, from a local micro brewery, was very good. Or perhaps we were just really ready for them. It was a good thing that we were hungry; it soon became obvious that Fish and Chips were  probably not the best thing to order--we should have had the burgers. The fish was OK but the batter was actually chewy. The chips. . .  . Art picked one up with his fingers and it just drooped down like a wet piece of string. They did have malt vinegar though. At least not present was the common wailing of country and western music. The bartender and waitress were very professional, managing to deal with several difficult customers very well. An interesting end to an interesting day

We returned to the Jeep to rescue the dogs and back into the motel for bed.

After breakfast and dog walking and feeding next morning we returned to Pacific Truck Center to pick up some more things and to check the progress on the motorhome. I must say that the the staff there was very accommodating, not fussing about the several trips in to get various items such as clothing, computers, camera some times a couple of times a day!

The fuel was spilling from a fractured fuel line from the fuel pump to the injector. The tow truck driver had mentioned that he had noted that the airbags (suspension) we all showing signs of age and one had what appeared to be a crease in the fabric. The service advisor agreed that yes they were all showing signs of age, but there was no way of telling how long they would last, weeks, months or more. Having spent time on the roadside in Mexico in the past we decided to have them all replaced. They could be here next afternoon.

Also, since the new Cruise Control lever was not working Art asked them to look at that too. Of course that could not be done until the rig was running again. It looked like this was going to be at least a two day job.  Guess we'll get to know a little about Medford, Oregon.