As promised, the trip home from Bar Harbor was definitely eventful. We started packing up from Bar Harbor Campground and a friendly couple stopped by our site to “reserve” it, we still had a few days left on our Acadia Park vehicle pass so we passed this off to them as well. Once we got on the road and off Mt Desert Island, Kristen realized that she couldn’t find her purse anywhere. At the first gas stop we checked the camper and sure enough the purse could not be found. She started calling the campground and local Bar Harbor businesses to see if it turned up anywhere, but we couldn’t really venture into downtown Bar Harbor with the trailer attached. We decided to keep heading home and hope for the best, in the mean time she put a stop on her cards to be safe and scheduled an appointment for the MVA to get a new license when we got home. We left on a Wednesday and were planning on getting home late Wednesday night or Thursday, the plan was to be home by Hope’s birthday on Friday. Our in-laws left the night before us to avoid traffic and take their time, planning on getting home around dinner on Wednesday evening.
Aside from the lost purse, we made it south passed Boston without any issues and overall were making good time. All of that was about to change when we were getting off of Rt. 290 onto Rt. 90 and the truck (2007 Nissan Titan) lost all power. Luckily I was getting onto the ramp so I was able to coast and not block traffic, instead of merging onto Rt. 90, I kept coasting on the exit to Auburn, MA. The truck was still running and we were able to move at an idle, but pushing the gas pedal didn’t get us any power. We ducked into a gas station to get off the road, but unfortunately their garage was not open. We decided to pull the camper up the street (at 10mph with the hazards on) to a Monroe service station and they were kind enough to run a diagnostic test on the truck. The computer said that it was the throttle position sensor but the garage was about to close and didn’t have any techs available. We dropped the camper (along with my mom and the kids) at a vacant mall parking lot and decided to drive the truck to a nearby O’Reilly’s. I bought the allen wrenches and new throttle body (Nissan Titan has to replace the whole throttle body since the sensor is made into it) and was able to make the switch in the parking lot as it was getting dark. Unfortunately this didn’t fix our problem, even after following the re-learn procedure, and we had to limp back to the mall and plan on camping out for the night. When we got back, mom informed us that the mall security guard was not cooperative and we had to move the camper before 11pm. Kristen called the local police to find out our options and they were super helpful, they recommended a vacant Bed, Bath & Beyond where we could park overnight. Towing the camper with no power was a little nerve racking, but we made it the short distance and set-up in the empty parking lot for the night. Meanwhile, my in-laws had just arrived home and decided to turn around and make the 6 hour drive back up to MA to provide help….family is amazing!
The next morning I drove back to the garage and they said it was a different sensor, this was passed my comfort level working on the truck so I decided to drive it to the Nissan dealer that was a couple miles away. I dropped it off and gave them my sob story and hoped that they could get back to me asap, by the time I ran back to the camper my in-laws had arrived from their overnight trek back to our location. We joked that our campground for the night had great amenities, there was a grocery store and McDonalds next to the vacant BB&B and there was a high school with a track and playground area for the kids. It’s great to have a positive attitude and while I normally would have been the first to lose my temper, we made the best of a tough situation while waiting for the dealer to get back to us. The kids were absolutely amazing throughout the whole ordeal and even with the threat of missing her birthday, Hope treated the whole debacle as a new adventure…we really do have amazing kids that are very adept to travelling.
A couple hours later the dealer called with the damage…a broken tailpipe that I should have fixed sooner had melted the rear wiring harness…$4,000 to repair. I don’t think the truck was worth that much so we started looking for alternate options. There was a dry storage place about 8 miles away where my in-laws could tow the camper (wouldn’t trust their camper to tow ours much further than that). I talked to my local garage and they said they could fix the wiring harness and tailpipe for about $1200, so now we just needed to get the truck to them. After a quick google search we found “Road Runner” auto transport and scheduled them to come pick up the truck. We hid the key on the truck and all piled into my in-laws camper for the drive to dry storage and ultimately home.
We got home late on Thursday night (really early Friday morning), Hope was happy that we made it home for her Birthday :). I got a call from Road Runner on Friday letting me know that their driver was delayed and they wouldn’t be able to pick up the truck until Monday. At this point I did more research and found out that the auto transport business is much shadier than I originally realized. Apparently everyone guarantees fast pickup but then comes up with reasons for delay, ultimately it takes significantly longer to get your vehicle transported. The other big issue I had with Road Runner was that they charged me up front. I called them back on Friday afternoon and cancelled the transport and got a full refund, I finally decided on a company Saturday morning that said they could pick up the truck within an hour or two and deliver by Monday. They only charged a small deposit once the truck was picked up and the remainder due on delivery. Prices ranged from $250-$700 for the transport and the company I settled on was about $450 (Road Runner originally wanted $600). The cheaper companies wouldn’t guarantee a pick-up date, stating that it could take up to a month to pick-up. Since the truck was on a vacant lot with the keys hidden I didn’t want to risk leaving it there too long. We ended up going with USA Auto Shipping and they were great, constant communication throughout delivery and sent a picture once truck was loaded.
Once we had truck delivery squared away, Kristen and I knew we needed to get back up to Auburn to pick-up the trailer. Since it was Hope’s birthday weekend, she had a sleepover on Saturday night and we all went to HersheyPark on Sunday. After dropping the kids off at my in-laws Sunday we grabbed a couple hours sleep and headed back to MA around 4am Monday morning. The trip there was quick and we got the trailer picked up around 9:30am. After being on the road a few miles we thought something sounded funny with the weight distribution hitch. Sure enough, the hitch had bent on the trailer frame and wasn’t staying attached the way it should. We called around to local dealers/service areas and found one a few miles up the road willing to squeeze us in that afternoon. Hemlock Hill RV Sales & Service, and especially the service manager Josh, were knowledgeable, extremely helpful, and fast on getting our repairs done. They also went the extra mile to take pictures and email our normal service center (Chesaco RV in Joppa MD) and tell them that the old weight distribution hitch was installed wrong and we should get a refund. After a couple hour delay we were back on the road and made it home around 10pm Monday night. Still arguing with Chesaco about a refund. but our garage was able to fix the truck for $1300 and all of our belongings are finally back in MD.
Several days after getting the camper home and the truck back from the garage, we restarted the search for the missing purse that my wife thought was in the camper somewhere. The Rockwood MiniLite 2509s has a queen murphy bed and we found an access panel behind the outside storage area that lets you see into where the bed folds up. One phillips screw takes off the panel and we found her purse down behind the bed…a little silver lining after all of the drama from the past few days! After a couple months, multiple emails, and phone calls with Chesaco, we were able to get reimbursement for the weight distribution hitch, so that at least covered a little bit of our extra expenses from this trip.