A trip to Florida Redux I....
So far, it has been uneventfully eventful.... Got the truck from the U-Haul drop off and pick up point, drove it, loaded it, slept, got up on Saturday morning and left about 9:30. About 11 o'clock my brother and I were going through the toll booths for I-90 in Albany, and when we started from the toll booths the truck it was not responding to helm properly, in that seemed to rev but not move as quickly as we thought it should.
Here the trouble began.
Pulled of to the side of the toll plaza, noticed that a little amber light was on with a gear and a wrench... Do you think that something is wrong with the transmission??? Maybe servicing is in order??? We cycled power, the light went off and we were on our way, for a few miles. After a period of time, Not yet one exit on I-88, we noticed that the light came back on and the shifting was not operating properly, so we took the first exit and went to the Pilot station there, my brother calling the wonderful operators at U-haul.
Did you know thjat U-Haul has fully embraced the information age? Apparently the U in U haul also means that U do everything:you call, you go to the link, you file your complaint online, you sit waiting for a mechanic to show up for 2 hours.... twice. God forbid you try to get any of the operators to actually do anything. It is not their fault; it is protocol.
Oh, shit. I was telling a story.
Anyway, The operator said that we should get some transmission fluid and was kind enough to tell us the exact kind to use. We went into the truckstop, no luck. We went to an auto parts store, no luck. They had never heard of it, but they did tell us where the local U-haul was and they gave us detailed instructions on how to arrive there, it was all good and off we went in search of the elusive transyn.
When we got to the uhaul place the people there gave us the blank stare when we mentioned the type of fluid that we needed, but the nice fellow behind the counter called his manager, who told him to give us as much fluid as was necessary and that Dextron III would be fine.
We finally got Back on the road and everything was just going swimmingly (it was raining, after all) when 45 minutes to an hour later the transmission started not shifting. Pull off the road, run through the gamut of operators trying to send us link to follow to get something done, finally, we find out that they are sending a mechanic. He is an hour away.
This is already an hour into the stop.... Wait....
The guy shows up, checks it out, says that he had consulted with the maintenance manager in Albany and that he thought it was a communications problem. Unfortunately, the problem only occured after driving for an hour or so, so they could not see it. So, after plugging and unplugging and wiggleing on some wires, he shook our hands and bade us farewell.
And an hour downthe road..... it happened again.
During all of this my brother was extremely polite. I think I would have told some people off by then, but anyway...
Do the whole thing, with a different caste,
Good things from this? the sun set on the clouds last evening from the parking lot at the Great Bend Pennsylvania Welcome center.... and we got a free nights stay at the Days Inn in Scranton courtesy of U-Haul.
The not so good things are it is now 3:00 pm and we are still in PA. We should at least be in GA if not over the line and into FL. And it helps when you have media in your camera.....
We had to transfer the stuff ourselves from pone 26ft u-haul truck to another in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I was not pleased.
Thanks Mike. We were going to go 77 through Charlotte, but if we come through that area, we will be sure to at least honk our horn as we go by...
Virginia skies
ha ha ha. U Horror stories. Don't we all have a story about the sorry U Haul company? I was helping a friend of mind and his new wife move from Albuquerque to Houston. Loaded the U Haul truck and got out on the road and it wouldn't go more than 45 mph - even floored. Stopped at the next U Hell place and they said it had a governor on it. Crap. Then after a few more miles it would only go 35 mph. Called U Hell. It's the governor, they said? ONLY 35? Yup, they said. Drove it a few more hours and it goes down to 30 mph. U Haul wouldn't help us at all. Nada. 30 to 35 it was for nearly the whole 881 freakin' miles. We complained, they didn't care in the least.
I hope you and Mike get to have supper together. That would be a great couple of hours. I'm envious.
Does Anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Does Anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Yup, there's something wrong with that sign. I'm supposing: Day's Inn wouldn't need to have the sign and be reassuring their asses off if the place was as good as they want you to believe it is. It sorta sounds like they know things might not really be up to reasonable standards if they have to work that hard to convince you that they are up to standard.
oh dear, oh dear, poor Brolly!!!! The only light I see for you is a meal with Mike in GA and then when you make the U turn and reach the other end of it! No wonder it is "U" Hell, you know. I am glad you still see humor in the horror - but then, you always do! Good luck, Brolly!
The picture? I need my sunglasses...wait a minute!
So, the first day of our trip we did an average speed of just more than 18 mph. Bicycling comes to mind...
The next morning we did manage to get a replacement truck, but we had to drive to wilkes-barre, PA to pick it up. They said they would have someone there to transfer the load... waiting.... waiting.... Okay, got tired of waiting, we transferred the load, all 26 feet, by ourselves and were on our way by about 1 ish...
Made it there, unloaded, returned the truck and flew back. Got in this (wednesday) morning at 1;30... Classic thunder run