Our very pleasant stay in Laurel, MS was followed by a quick overnight stop at Sunset Travel RV Park in Cottondale, AL. A decent place that was very convenient to the highway. The pull thru site that we had, #62, was very long and able to comfortably accommodate both the coach and the Jeep. The sites, which were on cement pads and had a picnic table, were a little closer together than we like. We had a quiet stay.

The next morning we were off to our next destination in Fort Payne, AL. During that journey, our fun (NOT) began! It was a Saturday afternoon. It’s true, right? Major incidents or medical issues always happen on a weekend, never during the week when services are available.

Remember I made a comment about the terrible Louisiana roads at the end of this post? Well, even though they weren’t the root cause, those roads had an impact on what was about to happen next. All along this drive, Rob had been commenting how there was an unusual amount of vibration in the front end and that we should probably schedule an alignment. Well…

…we were about 10 miles from our destination campground on I-59 when suddenly, there was a loud bang and the coach started shaking violently. It felt like a major earthquake as evidenced by the videos below! Luckily Rob was able to stabilize the coach and pull over into the breakdown lane.

 

 

 

With frantic words of warning to be careful from moi, Rob cautiously went outside to try to determine the cause of the noise. Perhaps we had blown a tire? Nope, not that! Nothing suspicious underneath the coach. Finally not being able to figure out the cause, he took off his sleuthing hat, but thinking that a tow might be in our near future, he unhitched the Jeep and removed the front generator panel.

Rob called Coach Net (a subscription service that provides roadside assistance to RV’ers) while I called 911 to request police to provide us with some protection from the high speed traffic whizzing by. Having the coach violently shake each time a tractor trailer truck sped by was pretty scary and unsettling!

After several calls with Coach Net and a lot of waiting, finally a very very nice state trooper, Officer Zunelli (not sure if that is his correct name) showed up. After a lot of discussion, he thought the best and safest strategy was for Rob to drive the coach at a very slow speed with me behind him in the Jeep followed by the police car at the tail end of the parade. All of us had our emergency flashers on. Fortunately, as it turns out, Rob was able to drive the coach about 25 mph so no need for a tow. The trooper stayed with us all the way into Fort Payne about over 10 miles away which left us about a mile from the campground. When we stopped, the trooper said that the campground had a mechanic there waiting for us and that the mechanic said he would try to figure out the problem. We couldn’t thank him enough for his help!

Arriving at Wills Creek Campground in Fort Payne, AL, I went inside to check in and to see if we could extend our existing two night reservation. Despite the fact they were totally booked, it was music to my ears to hear that one site was available and we could stay as long as we needed to. The mechanic was waiting outside but after doing some initial troubleshooting, he couldn’t find anything wrong, but said he would contact a local diesel mechanic to inspect the coach as well. We were escorted to our site #35.

Once settled into the campsite, Rob, still not sure of the cause of the problem, posted the situation on the IRV2 Entegra forum. Mark Quasius, a well known journalist and RV owner himself, quickly responded suggesting it might be a RettroBand failure.

We had the Rettrobands (installed on both front tires) at NIRVC in Surprise, AZ in January of 2022. Their purpose is to mitigate loss of control should there be a blowout. The owner of the company marketing and installing the Rettrobands, Brett Davis, saw the post and immediately contacted Rob, explaining it was probably because the Rettroband had been installed incorrectly. The next morning, Rob jacked up the front of the coach (using the leveling jacks) high enough to get the front wheels off the ground. Sure enough, a loud clunk and unbalance could be felt rotating the right front tire.

Brett immediately arranged an appointment for us the following Tuesday at NIRVC in Lebanon, TN (near Nashville), about 2-1/2 hours away. Brett committed to replacing the tire, fixing both RettroBands (he assumed the other one on the driver’s side had also been installed incorrectly) and pay for our diesel to get to Nashville. Wow! How awesome! How many companies or owners would do that for a customer? We can’t say enough good things about Brett and NIRVC!

But we still needed to get the coach in drivable condition, the failed Rettroband had to come out! The awesome repair shop at the campground, Holland’s RV Repair and Service (the name has since changed to Don’t Despair RV Repair), had arranged for a diesel mechanic and tire guy to meet with us.

Around 8 p.m. on Sunday night, there was a knock on our door – it was JR from JR’s Diesel and Auto Repair.

Rob explained the situation and JR agreed to remove the tire so the pieces of the damaged Rettroband could be removed. Removing these pieces would allow us to drive the 200 miles to Nashville on Monday. JR told us to meet him at the nearby Huddle House at 9:00 am on Monday morning.

What a nice guy! Because he was so accommodating, before he started work, we treated him to breakfast at the Huddle House. That was a mistake, primarily because of the service there. JR and I got our food after a considerable wait, but our waitress had neglected to put in Rob’s order (the same order as mine). When she did put in the order, apparently she didn’t give Rob’s order any priority so we ended up waiting at least an hour for his food to arrive. GGGRRRR! Guess we won’t be going back there any time in the near future!

Anyway, back in the parking lot, JR was able to remove the tire fairly quickly, He had an air compressor for the lug nuts, but the tire cam off the rim by hand with tire irons. The Rettroband had to be removed after one bead of the tire had been slipped off the rim before the rest of the tire could come off.

In the photo below, the two semi-circular pieces to the right of the rim is the Rettroband.

Fortunately, the tire didn’t seem to be damaged by the wayward Rettroband, so we were okay to drive on it. JR re-mounted the tire on the rim using a lube he called “snot” which he swears by. We left Fort Payne around 1:00 p.m, heading to Nashville.

NIRVC in Lebanon, TN (close to Nashville) is the largest volume dealer of both Class A and Class B motorhomes in Tennessee (NIRVC has several locations around the country). In addition to being a dealer, this enormous facility offers full-service repairs, thorough wash and detail, and HUGE secure indoor storage.  There’s plenty of spaces with electric hookups in their enormous parking lot for visitors to stay while their RV is being serviced.

Once we arrived, we scoped out an overnight spot in the last row away from everybody. 

Inside at the service desk, there was a little bit of confusion because the staff at the Service Desk hadn’t been informed of our appointment there. Finally the Service Manager appeared and explained the situation to the rest of the staff. Our coach would be taken into the service bay around 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

The next morning after packing up Sparky and all his paraphernalia into the Jeep, we headed to breakfast at Belle’s Little Country Kitchen where we both had Belle’s Breakfast Platter ($9.88) which had 2 eggs, bacon or sausage, home fries, gravy, toast or biscuit. Decent breakfast!

After doing some driving around, we went back to NIRVC where we hung out in their customer lounge. The coach was finally done around 4:00 p.m.

After we left NIRVC the next morning, we were on a fast track back to RI with overnight stays at Around the Pond RV Park in Greenville, TN which has 85 gravel, full hook sites. Our site #40 was a long pull thru.

The next night we stayed at Lee Hi Campground at the TA Travel Center in Lexington, VA. When Rob parked in a truck spot and went in to check in at the office/gas station. The campground has 50 full hook sites and 15 tent sites and is located at the top of a hill which overlooks the truck overnight parking lot. We were  assigned to a site which wasn’t big enough for our coach, so we had to call the office, they told us to move to site #43. Slightly easier to maneuver the coach into this site but still not ideal. Definitely not worth the $43.50 daily rate! We will avoid this campground in the future.

The next night we boondocked at a Harvest Host location – the Appalachian Brewery (ABC) in Mechanicsburg, PA. What a nice place!

Once settled in, we went to the brewery for supper, where I had their Brewers Mac & Cheese which was their ABC five-cheese blend packed with bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, cavatappi pasta, topped with panko breadcrumbs, and with blackened chicken ($17.50). Rob had the Mile High Meat Loaf which was homemade Black Angus meatloaf, piled high on Texas toast with garlic mashed potatoes, ‘Jolly Scot’ gravy and fried onion straws ($16). Both meals were delish!

Our last night before arriving back in RI was spent at Tri-State RV Park in Matamoras, PA which is “located on the Delaware River where NY, NJ and PA meet”. Yes, it was near the river but was it worth the $49 rate? Sites were gravel and pretty close together and the site we were assigned was too short.

The only highlight of our stay here was that we ordered a pepperoni pizza from Mamma Grace Pizzeria & Deli across the river in Sparrow Bush, NY. A little bit of a drive but worth it. Really good pizza!

The next morning we headed to another Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Montgomery, NY.

After all, we didn’t want to arrive back in RI all dirty! It was over a 4 hour drive back to RI. It was great to be back on home turf!