Wow! And I thought I had it bad, with a flat tire a couple of weeks back!
Glad you and Margie are safe, and that your vehicle can be fixed... even if it
is a horrific price!
Good luck!
David.
Hello fellow photographers. So, the short story is we are back at
my father-in-law, Bob's house, three days after we left. So, here
is the rest of the story.
We got to our half way stop in an RV park in Bakersfield on
Saturday and spent the night. Then we headed out for Yosemite. The
weather was not too bad but I knew they were expecting pretty bad
rains in Yosemite Sunday night but we would be already camped. So
we are on our way in and past Oakhurst winding through the trees.
It is raining but not bad. The fall color starts to get really
nice so I am anticipating a great trip. We get to the area where
the fire hit a few years ago and it is misty/foggy with these
spindles of trees reaching skyward and a beautiful wet undercover
of reds and yellows of the dogwood. Just spectacular. Of course,
Bob is in his GIANT 5th wheel so we have on place to pull over. A
little past that really nice spot is a place he can fit, so I say
lets pull over and he can get in our rig and go back about 1/4 mile
to a few small turnouts. Well, he is packing up and Margie sees
some steam under our van. I though we just hit some water and it
was evaporating from our exhaust but then it filtered inside and
smelled a bit different. I spun around to a asphalt area, put it
up on some leveling blocks and crawled under to see transmission
fluid running out from between the engine and transmission and it
was HOT. I checked the fluid level and it did not seem low, so, we
waited a bit and turned around. It was running just fine. It was
mostly downhill back to Fresno and we were hoping we could make it
may that far or further to a campground and regroup to see what we
could do. It was still running great. Never noticed any problems.
Well, on the outskirts of Fresno it started to shift a bit hard
when we took of from a traffic light but no slipping. Found a
campground and I we were about 1 mile from the exit when a horrible
screeching noise started so I pulled over and just as I stopped it
jerked. I checked the fluid level and it seemed to be fine. I
have a hard time reading the tranny fluid levels. I added fluid
anyway and went to get back on the road to get off at the exit but
it would not budge. Locked up. Well, a few phone calls and a tow
truck was suppose to be there in 45 min. The freeway was busy and
scary as cars and trucks went screaming by at a million miles/hour.
About 1.5 hours later still no truck even after a few more calls to
AAA. Finally a CHP officer stopped to see if we needed help. He
offered to call AAA and did as Margie was also talking to an agent.
Margie was told there have been lots of calls due to the rain and
flooding and we have been skipped over three times. Well, I guess
the CHP had more weight because when they called AAA we had someone
there in about 15 min while our AAA truck still was not there.
Anyway, we had no idea were to go, so asked and he towed us to the
Dodge dealer since he knew they had a place for a Sunday night drop-
off. A late night sales person said we could sleep in our van and
Bob could leave his 5th wheel along the street for the night.
Filled out the forms and after dealing with street racers and a
uncooperative security guard, left with Bob and spend the night at
a Walmart. Next morning we went back at 7:00 through rain and
flooded streets and were told they will not work on it because it
is too old and they can't get parts anymore. Gave us a few tranny
shops to contact so we did and all said it would be about month
before they could get to it. After much debate we decided to have
it towed back to Bob's in SoCal and got that all arranged. So,
skipping that long story, we made it back today after spending the
night in another Walmart in Victorville.
So, today I looked up Jasper remanufactured trannies for a price
and called a few local places to see how long. We expected to
leave the van here and rent a car to drive home, them come back in
the spring to picked it up, or have it shipped home. Much to my
surprise we found a place on Jasper's preferred list that will get
the tranny and install it next Tuesday. WOW! So, that is what we
are doing. A little over $4K. Almost the price of a Q2, but well
worth it.
So, NO PHOTOS OF YOSEMITE OR THE DRIVE IN! Saw it on the news
today. 5+ inches of rain, beautiful colors and raging falls by
autumn levels. But safe and sound and her to tell this story.
Aram and Margie
