I had the best of plans to blog about our lovely stay at Thomson’s Causeway while I was staying at my next stop in south-central Illinois. But I fell into a bit of a funk, and here’s the post that explains why.
My next reservation was not very well thought-out. I basically went there to take advantage of my senior pass discount. A few minutes after unhooking my Scamp, I went to pull the truck forward, and then couldn’t get it to shift from drive to park. I worked until well after dark to diagnose and fix the problem. Nissan has had trouble with vibration causing problems with the Frontier shift assembly. Taking everything apart and tightening a screw can sometimes fix the problem.
Unfortunately, my screw was missing, and the insides were badly bent. I am a long ways from auto service. The Nissan dealer couldn’t have the Nissan mechanic even look at it for over a week. If I had the truck towed there, no loaner car or shuttle service back to the campground was available. I would have had to hitchhike little-used secondary roads with temps close to 100 and Callie to deal with.
I had the truck towed to a Chevy dealer in the opposite direction who promised me that I wouldn’t get stranded there, although no loaner cars were available there either. Rentals were not available in either town.
At the end of Monday, it was decided that the shifter assembly could not be repaired, and a new assembly was needed. No one had the part locally, including the Nissan dealer. It was ordered from Nissan on Monday night, shipped on Tuesday. Estimated delivery is 3 to 5 business days. It’s not here as of Friday mid-day, and it looks like I will be here into next week.
To make matters more unpleasant, there is very little to do here. A heat dome has settled over us the entire week with the heat index as high as 120. The biting horseflies are as big as hummingbirds. There are lots of other insects: mosquitoes and several smaller varieties of flies and gnats.
On the plus side, my neighbor Bill has been very helpful, taking me to Walmart for groceries and supplies, and providing companionship in an otherwise depressing, claustrophobic circumstance. He has moved on to his next destination, but I have enough food to get me well into next week. The AC in the Scamp has been a life-saver, although we had a several hours long power outage this morning. It’s cranking cold air again, and I pray that continues.
Internet is limited to one bar LTE so I will keep photos to a minimum.
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| Carlyle Lake |
I have this spot reserved until next Thursday morning. Someone else has it reserved that afternoon. I can only hope I’ll be gone by then.
Comments
One El, an avid astrologer, would say, "Mercury is in retrograde." The statement implies that Mercury will, eventually, NOT be in retrograde, but over the 25 years we were together, not *once* did she announce it was OUT.
Is there anywhere to rent a U-haul? Their trucks often have trailer hitches. Come Thursday you could at least move the Brewhut.
Can you give us an update?
Though I have no idea what kindd of plug U-Haul uses, here's a link to an adapter. Though this might not be what you need, it suggests there may be other options.
https://www.dsiautomotive.com/curt-7-way-led-trailer-light-adapter-adapts-to-4-way-flat-or-5-way-flat-trailer-connector-57004#:~:text=CURT%20offers%20an%20array%20of,a%20trailer%20with%20LED%20lights.