Slow start

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We started out on adventure 2019 on May 10 leaving from home (Titusville) Fl and heading to Holiday RV Park in Panacea Fl. We had the rig checked out at Cummins Orlando the week before, had a full Preventative Maintenance performed and told them some issues we were experiencing. They gave us a clean bill of health and ready to roll. Not so fast. About 230 miles into our trip, there was a loud crashing noise like something fell our of our engine, and something did. Thank goodness for roadside assistance through FMCA. The grear box to the fan assembly and clutch broke off, causing much damage and we needed a tow.

Jimmy's Towing came out with a tow truck which was small to tow our rig. When I called in I told them the weight of our rig and they thought it was a mistake, nope our rig really weighs over 42,000 pounds. Well they hooked us up and told us that they will have to drive slow because their front wheels were feeling "light". It was 52 miles to Four Star Freightliner near Tallahassee and we traveled there between 15 and 25 mph, mostly at the lower end of that scale. They forgot to charge the light bar that they put on the towed vehicle, so I followed them the entire way with my flashers on. It was dark by then, so flashers were a necessity. At one point they pulled off the road to check on the rv and almost lost it on the side of the road. It was heart stopping to see our motorhome wobble back and forth and almost get stuck in the mud.

We finally made it to Four Star Freightliner after midnight and set up in the parking lot, until they opened on Saturday morning. At least there was 50 amp power there so we had full use of the air conditioning, YAY!

Saturday, they inspected the rig, told us there was major damage and that they will contact Tiffin and Cummings on Monday morning. I was hoping it was something minor and we would be back on the road later in the day, no such luck. Come Monday, a full inspection was performed on the rig, phone calls made and Tiffin agreed to cover under warranty. We also had several conversation with Cummins, who said they were not assuming liability but will give us a free Preventative Maintenance appointment, about a $1200 value, in the future. But now there is the trust issue.

Two weeks, a weekend visit to my family in Atlanta, and 4 days in a hotel later, we were on the road. Wait not so fast, Four Star went over the agree repair amount with Tiffin so they were holding our motorhome hostage until Tiffin paid them. We gave Four Star until noon the following day and they said that Tiffin had not yet paid so they needed to hold on to the motorhome. I told them that we were taking the MH today and we are not going to be pawns in your game with Tiffin. After about 30 minutes of phone calls they resolved their issues and we were on our way. I thought the service at Four Star Freightliner was excellent until the game they started to play about releasing the motorhome.

We stayed at the Aloft Hotel, part of Marriott, in Tallahassee. This is a fun, low key hotel with a nice bar/lounge/pool and live entertainment on some evenings. The best part is that this hotel is very dog friendly. When you check in, your dog gets a goody bag there is no extra pet fee and they foster dogs (one at a time) to give them exposure for adoption. Highly recommend this hotel, thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

On to Alabama and then Memphis. Looks like we will be spending the next few days in Alabama as we can't get into the Memphis CG until Sunday.

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