The time finally came to travel to Missouri for the month of January. We had been planning this trip for three or four months and we were anxious to get on the road for a change of scenery. Although we had sold a ton of stuff at our garage sale back in September when we moved out of our rental house, we still had some stuff that we wanted to hang onto, so we placed it in storage. Since our plan is to live in our RV for several years, we did not want to rent storage space long-term. Our solution was to purchase a storage building to place our family country property in Missouri. So, this trip to Missouri was to not only be a family visit, but also move our storage items.
Robert’s Dad and brother traveled down to Florida to help us drive the UHaul and RV. It was nice to have them so we could take turns driving. First thing Wednesday morning, we packed the UHaul and by the afternoon, we were on the road.
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Our travels were pretty uneventful, up until we were only about 180 miles from our destination. We decided to sleep for a while in Hayti, MO so that we didn’t arrive in Springfield in the middle of the night. We were at a truck stop resting and woke up about 2 a.m. to get back on the road. We topped off the fuel tank and took off. After being on the road a bit, something seemed wrong with the RV. It wouldn’t accelerate properly and was extremely sluggish. By the time we arrived in Poplar Bluff, we decided it would be best to pull over. We saw a 24 hour self-serve diesel station and a Freightliner sign next door. We thought that would be the best place to pull off and get off the road. Robert thought the turbo quit working. He and his dad got out and checked the water separator in the fuel filter. There was some water that he drained, but then the engine died. It seemed that we got air in the fuel line. We had no idea how to prime the system. We got out our manuals and took to the net. We really were at a loss as to what to do. We called our roadside assistance. It was only 6 a.m. and the service technicians arrived at 7 a.m. We slept and called them back in an hour.
The roadside assistance technician was helpful in steps to try to prime system by turning the ignition on for two minutes then cranking for a couple of minutes. It didn’t work, so we decided to have him call a local technician to take a look. Luckily, the technicians were just walking distance away in the Freightliner service center. They came out and got all the air out of the line and suggested a new fuel filter. Since they didn’t have one in stock, instead of waiting until the afternoon for one to arrive, we decided to risk it and be on our way. We would replace it during our stay in Springfield.
Even though the RV wasn’t acting completely normal, at least it had more power to get up the hills. We finally made it to Springfield and pulled in my parent’s driveway (our new home for the month) at about noon on Friday.
We wanted to turn in the UHaul as soon as possible, so first thing Saturday morning, we were off to unload our stuff in our new storage building in Stockton at our family’s country property. What a beautiful day, sunny and cool to accomplish our task.
It has been a very busy past few days and today has been so relaxing. Although we’ll miss our Florida friends, it is so good to be back on our old stomping ground and look forward to seeing our friends and spending more time with family.
