Home again, Home again, Jiggety-jog.

At 8 a.m. on Monday, when K&J Chevrolet opened, I called the service department and asked if my part had come in (squeaky wheel gets the grease).  They found out that it had arrived at the Nissan dealer in Centralia.   The parts driver told me later that he was on the road to Centralia by 8:10.

At 2:25 p.m. the service department called and told me that my truck was ready.  By 3 p.m. the parts driver picked me up at the campground in my Nissan, and I drove him back and took care of my bill.  It was just over $1000, and almost $800 of that was for the part.  There was no charge for the two trips back and forth to the campground, which was a good 25 minutes each way from Carlisle.  

I was originally hoping that the service department could repair the shifter, but I think that was probably unrealistic.  After 139,000 miles, it was plumb worn out.  Vibration had caused screws to back out, and brackets to bend badly.  It was an expensive part, but I feel better knowing that I probably won't have to worry about the shifter assembly ever again.  

I would recommend K&J Chevrolet to anyone needing service in the Carlyle, Illinois area.  The part delay was out of their control.  Once it arrived, they took care of me, knowing that I was in a difficult position. 

I was so sick of Lake Carlisle and the campground after 8 days of not being mobile.   But last night, the temperature was dropping, and the lake looked beautiful (now that I had my truck back).

I cooked the last of my hamburger (an 8 ounce patty) with Swiss cheese and a stale bun that tasted fine toasted and enjoyed knowing that I could leave any time I wanted.

This morning, I was up at 5 a.m. before first light.  After a quick breakfast, I made a thermos of coffee and hitched up.  We dumped (Callie watches carefully) and were on the road by 6:30 a.m.  It was a 7 hour drive home, and I could have broken it up into two days, but I was anxious to finish the trip off.  Allie is home for a short visit on her way to Montreal with college friends, and she will be leaving tomorrow morning.  

Tonight, it's rib-eyes, portabella mushrooms, and a glass of good red wine. 

Step One

 I’ve been stuck in this campground for eight nights now, and we’re feeling a little claustrophobic. The good beer is all gone, and most of the cheap beer is too.

Callie: “Not Miller High-Life?”

I called the auto service desk this morning when it opened, and they were eventually able to confirm that my part arrived at the Nissan dealer twenty miles away. Their driver has to go get the part, and then the service department has to work it into the schedule for replacement of the broken shift assembly. With good luck, I won’t need to pursue contingency plans for an alternative way to move the trailer by Thursday when my campsite is reserved for someone else. I’ll update this post when I learn more.

Stuck in IL

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.

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.