Harvey can sure be an exacting task master ....

 

As mentioned in the last epistle, we have decided to keep Harvey for a few more years. It was always in the plans to look to replace him after 5 years, and last May was his 5th Birthday. But, given the economy and what is happening to RV companies in the past several months, it seems a little dangerous to try to sell him at this point. There have been 9 RV companies just close their doors and declare bankruptcy ....

National RV - bankrupt
Western RV (Alpenlite/Alpine) - closed
Alfa Leisure - closed
Okanagan RV - closed
King of the Road - closed in 2007
Weekend Warrior - closed
Monaco - closed 3 large factories in Indiana
Travel Supreme - closed
Sunline Coach (Chapter 7 Liquidation in December 2006)

Just heard today .... Teton is in receivership as of today -- Sept 10 08

 

Quite the shakeup!!! So, we thought that we had better hang back and see what happens over the next 24 to 36 months.

But, as all decisions generate others, if we keep Harvey, we will have to do some maintenance (read expensive) work on him. The decision was made to purchase new tires for him, have a complete engine check-over as the warranty is up at 5 years, do a transmission maintenance and put in Synthetic oil, install a new satellite dish for Canadian TV reception and probably replace the recliner chair. All this would require us to take him to 4 -- which turned out to be 5 -- different service locations. As we park Harvey in Bellingham, it will take some careful co-ordination in order to pull this off. So, plans were made, appointments were set up and parts ordered.

As the Kal Tire shop here in North Van had been very helpful last year when I took Harvey there to check out if we needed new tires at that point, I thought that it would only be fair if I took him there to purchase the new ones. So, down I go, see the man and order the tires for a Monday afternoon. Depending on that appointment, I set up Finning for the engine check-over / oil change for Tuesday, Allison Transmission Centre for Wednesday, and the Satellite installer in Chilliwack for Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday. I knew it was tight, but we were heading from the west to the east, so we should be able to get Harvey home by Friday morning.

Well ... the best laid plans of mice and men .... the RV Gods still haunt us!!!!

Up early Monday morning and off we go to DogPatch to pick up Harvey. We hit the border going south right at 8:30 and get through with little time wasted. We roar down to the Campsite, collect Harvey and head back to the border for 12:30. This time it was almost an hour to get through, but we still had time to get to the appointment in North Van for 3:00. Fighting Vancouver traffic is no fun in a car, and with Harvey it was even less fun.

But, right on time, I pull into the Kal Tire shop. I found the Manager -- I'm sure he wasn't hiding from me, but he did look awful guilty when he spotted me. "Oops", says he, "I ordered the wrong size of tires". But, "no worries", says he. "I can get the right size by Wednesday".

As the other appointments I made had to be made weeks in advance, I could see my carefully crafted house of cards falling around my ears!!!!

I went just a little nuts ....

The upshot was after me telling him about the carefully crafted appointment schedule I had created, he phoned his boss and arranged to have the correct tires delivered to the KalTire store near Finning in Surrey where our tomorrow's appointment was set up. This meant that if I could get him to Surrey by 8:00, they said that they could have the tires installed and balanced by 11:30. All I would have to do is persuade Finnings to accept us 2 hours late for their appointment and still have Harvey ready for us to take to the Allison Transmission Shop the next morning. A quick phone call to Finnings, and it was setup. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat!!!!

Up really early the Tuesday morning to fight the rush hour traffic over the Second Narrows bridge, along the Trans Canada highway to the Port Mann Bridge and, still fighting heavy traffic, on into Surrey. On schedule at 8:00 we pulled into KalTire. Sure enough, the tires were there!!! Have we beat the RV Gods this time???? Ahhh ... not quite.

Sadly, the Manager told me that their tire balancing machine had broken yesterday, and they had to wait for parts which would not come until tomorrow. I guess I am getting cranky in my old age because as he said that, my blood pressure must have jumped 40 points. Seeing my face at that moment, he rushed to assure me that once they have the old tires off, and the new ones on the rims, they would immediately take them to a "nearby" KalTire store and have them balanced there. It would only be a 30 minute extension....

Yet another call to the folks at Freightliner .... "no prob" ... they were really helpful people!!!!

Well ... we got the new tires on ... got Harvey to Freightliner 2 1/2 hours late ... left him there over night . Early the next morning, we took him to Alison Transmission Shop... got that done ... and then off to Chilliwack. As it was going to take 1 1/2 days to install the new Satellite System and the flat screen TV, we were to pick him up Friday morning for the return trip to DogPatch.

I guess the Gods got tired of harassing us because everything else worked according to plan. What a week from hell...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now ... when the weather cooperates, we can wash and wax Harvey and head up to our yearly visit to Vernon with a rejuvenated machine!!!!