Day 2 started out in a fairly unremarkable fashion. We got up around 7:00am local time and immediately got ready. We were in a hurry to get going so we showered, ate breakfast and got on the road. We planned to hook up with some family in Memphis and all of us were going to have dinner at the world famous Rendezvous later that evening (pronounced: Ron-day-voo for our friends back in SC). We were traveling down I-40 for about an hour or so when I decided it was time to get fuel. The plan was to pull into one of those travel centers that seem to be popping up everywhere and top off the Turd with petro. However, this guy in a little Honda refused to let me over and I missed the turn, having to go about 3 miles further on this god forsaken side road until I found a site suitable for a u-turn. In any event, we pulled into the travel center and began fueling the RV, checking the tires and washing the windows. Upon leaving we were forced to make a sharp right hand turn out of the parking lot and a quick, equally sharp left onto the interstate ramp. Immediately I realized that there was something wrong. The Turd was handling horribly, bouncing all over the place and really running rough. It was like I had a flat tire or something. I pulled over to the side of the interstate and checked all of the tires. That was scary, because unlike a regular car, the Turd takes up the entire shoulder of the road. Believe me when I say that a situation like that really tests your faith. Not your faith in God but your faith in that other supreme being…your wife. With zero room between the left said of the RV and the dangerous rush of oncoming traffic, I could not safely look around the front side of the RV with out the risk of immediate death. With the stakes so high and the pressure so intense you could cut it with a knife, my wife was sitting peacefully in the driver’s seat with a slight, sardonic smile. At that moment, thoughts began racing through my mind; how much life insurance do I have again…what does my living will say about vegetative states…and then there was that smile, that slight peaceful smile. It was really quite un-nerving. Upon reciting my concerns to my wife, she casually said that she was not smiling at the thought of my immediate demise or the promise of a big insurance pay off. She was simply amused by the fact that I chose not to go around to the back of the RV so I could safely look at the left side tires while keeping an eye on oncoming traffic. Then she muttered something that sounded like dumb ass, made a veiled reference to the merits of natural selection, and started smiling again.
Anyway, there were no problems with the tires and nothing wrong with the tow package or the jeep itself. Pulling back on to the interstate it was obvious that the problem remained and that the Turd continued to handle poorly acting as if we had a flat. We got off at the next exit and pulled into another travel center. This time the cabin filled with an acrid smell and the ABS light came on. After consulting the owner’s manual it was apparent that the RV can operate without the ABS system as long as none of the other brake lights were glowing. We decided that it would be fine to drive the Turd to a repair facility to have the brakes looked at. I don’t know if the brake seized up or the jeep was misaligned due to the sharp turns made earlier, but the problem with the handling disappeared although the ABS light remained on. As we traveled to Memphis, I attempted to call every RV repair shop and dealership in and around Memphis. As you would come to expect by now, none of the RV places worked on ABS and referred me to Chevrolet. Every Chevy place save one did not have the lift capacity to work on the RV and thus could not help us. So I was forced to make an appointment for 7:00am the following morning at a dealership in downtown Memphis. I am going to end the entry here, though it is not the end of the story. I will post part 2 later in the day.
Anyway, there were no problems with the tires and nothing wrong with the tow package or the jeep itself. Pulling back on to the interstate it was obvious that the problem remained and that the Turd continued to handle poorly acting as if we had a flat. We got off at the next exit and pulled into another travel center. This time the cabin filled with an acrid smell and the ABS light came on. After consulting the owner’s manual it was apparent that the RV can operate without the ABS system as long as none of the other brake lights were glowing. We decided that it would be fine to drive the Turd to a repair facility to have the brakes looked at. I don’t know if the brake seized up or the jeep was misaligned due to the sharp turns made earlier, but the problem with the handling disappeared although the ABS light remained on. As we traveled to Memphis, I attempted to call every RV repair shop and dealership in and around Memphis. As you would come to expect by now, none of the RV places worked on ABS and referred me to Chevrolet. Every Chevy place save one did not have the lift capacity to work on the RV and thus could not help us. So I was forced to make an appointment for 7:00am the following morning at a dealership in downtown Memphis. I am going to end the entry here, though it is not the end of the story. I will post part 2 later in the day.
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