[A/S] Good Sam Roadside - an honest businessman - a small miracle

["lefty frizzell" <leftyfrizzell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, had a breakdown on I65.  Called Good Sam Roadside and they handled the
situation pretty well.  I'm happy and told them so today.

The wrecker arrived within 45 minutes.  The company name was Ranger Towing.
Driver was named "Bumpy"   OK, my name is "Lefty" so I can't throw any
stones. Nice guy.  When he wasn't sure how to handle the situation, he
called his boss who surveyed the situation and took charge.  In less than an
hour I was towed, fed, worked on, hung down, brung down, axle ordered,
gassed up, sandwiched up and escorted, via back roads to the local KOA. And,
I spent the time while he ran my parts down showing cars to his customers.
Idle hands, dontcha know.

The Louisville KOA was a little pricey.  You pay for a water hookup, you pay
$2 a day for cable, and you pay for sewer.  But, it's the only game in town.
I spent nearly two weeks here over $400 in campground fees. However, they do
have free wireless internet which, I guess, works out when you figure $7 per
day at other KOAs.

The axles arrived from Inland RV at a price that merely made me SCREAM!
That's a subject best handled off list.

Started working on my trailer at about noon and I drove out around 10pm with
both axles installed.  My brakes adjusted, a new leveling jack installed on
the right rear, a broken  frame fixed on one side a buckled frame fixed on
the other, a trailer riding nearly 10 inches higher, no more tail droop or
floor separation at back.  Brakes checked from truck to trailer.  Brakes
worked fine until you hooked them up to the truck.  No trailer brakes.  OK,
I'm staying right next to a Camping world I'll buy one tomorrow.

Spent 45 minutes checking out the troubleshooting guide at the controller
site.  Every possibility that they said was going to cost more $$$ than I
have available.  Sigh.

Went out to the trailer and unhooked the umbilical cable from the trailer
and reseated it.  Shazam!  BRAKES!!

I learned a lot from this...

0.  OCCASIONALLY, buy some contact cleaner and spray the connectors once in
a while.  Double sigh...

1.  Inland RV is NOT the only place that you can get axles.  Dexter will
make you a set for nearly 1/2 of what I paid for what I got.  Any mechanic
that knows what he is doing can get you set up. Especially the boss at
Ranger Towing.

2.  The shocks can be replaced with the rear shocks from a 1984 Corvette, if
you don't need them until tomorrow.  The boss at Ranger ran those down too.

3  That while everyone wants to make a good living, the people at Ranger
don't think they have to make their entire yearly profit from one stranded
victim.  They gave me a ball park figure and came in nearly on the money.
And, the quality of work and their willingness to help me out would have
made it cheap for twice the price.  They charged me less than 1/2 of what
camping world quoted my daughter, who wound up paying for this mishap.

4.  Kindness, compassion, pride in quality of work can be found in
Clarksville/Jeffersonville Indiana.  The boss at Ranger showed me that too.

5.  He just told me that the wanted to be fair and not stick it to the out
of towner.

If you get in truck trouble anywhere within their service area, give them a
call.  You cant do anything any better. I am sitting here floored by the
hospitality and help I received during my two weeks stay over here.  The
people in this area are the greatest.

 
 
Lefty Frizzell
http://home.earthlink.net/~leftyfrizzell