Wow was it cold this am! We are so grateful that our furnace and tank heaters work well. We also had good advice from the RV park office to keep our faucets running just a little bit so that the lines didn’t freeze overnight. And so, the overnight and early morning pack up were uneventful. In fact, we left with a beautiful sunrise around us as we drove through a few coastal towns and then through yet more Florida backroads. What a week plus it had been in Florida! Many great memories and at least one return trip planned. So many straight, long roads. When it rains, it pours. But thankfully all uneventful driving.
And then we got to Alabama.
Shortly after crossing the border, Rick noticed the RV was acting sluggish. Really sluggish. Which is understandable lugging 11,000 lbs up on a hill, but it wouldn’t recover. I am grateful that we both remain calm when things happen and we were never directly in danger. That being said, he pulled over to shut it down for a minute on the side of the road… not only did he feel no change, but then the engine light came on!
I jumped into action and found a Mercedes dealer just a few miles up the road. We called them, Rick shared all of the info and they welcomed us in for immediate service.
Our route to the dealer took us into downtown Mobile, and through a tunnel under the bay. While we made idle chitchat, all we could each think about was the engine dying in the middle of the tunnel. We couldn’t say it out loud, but we were both thinking it would be the worst possible place to break down . Gratefully, we made it to the dealer without issue.
I can’t say enough good things about our experience. We were quite a site with both the Needy Bichon and A Cat in the middle of the waiting room (A+ for their behavior). And thankfully, the only identified “issue” was the EGR valve which apparently won’t kill our engine, but manages performance. I am not at all mechanical, but they assured us we didn’t cause it, gave us a couple of simple remedies if we have another issue, completely encouraged us continuing as planned, and we were on our way within 3 hours.
So we made it to New Orleans a couple of hours later. Gone were the plans of strolling the French Quarter and getting a Cafe du Monde this afternoon, but we intend to do that bright and early tomorrow.
For now, we are in a super cute and secure little corner of the world just outside of the French Quarter. We are so glad to be continuing our journey, relaxing with the animals this evening amid the sounds of a big city.
Adventure awaits us in the morning, and the rest of our trip is so very exciting with wonderful people to visit. Have a great night and stay warm wherever you are…
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