2-11-09, Another update on truck

Here is the latest in the saga of bad fuel from a local gas station. Milstead finished up the repairs yesterday around 10AM and we went and picked the truck up. We paid them $1,024 for the repairs done, and this didn't include the wrecker fee, the price of the fuel that they had to discard or the cost of another fuel filter change that they recommended in 5000 miles. We went directly to the station and presented them with the bill which totaled $1,14 which the clerk got approved by his boss to pay. He wrote us a company check out for the total bill without any questions.

We decided not to try to go on the road with the trailer until we test drive the truck some more. Stella needed to go down to Eric's office and to the clinic to drop off some papers and to pick some more up, so we loaded up and left. We got to I-45 @ Bay Area Blvd. when the truck lost power and we pulled over to call a wrecker. The Milstead wrecker came down from the Woodlands and got us and brought us back to the park and took the truck to their shop. By the time they got us dropped off, it was after 5 and they close at 6, so they didn't get anything done today.

Stella fixed some sort of a pasta casserole that she had in the cabinet and we just stayed at home in the trailer. The wind came up and blew hard all evening and later, after bedtime a huge storm blew through with more high winds and rain. I'm glad I got the trailer washed and waxed!

I woke this morning (Wednesday) and went to coffee with the guys at the park. We talked a lot about my fuel problem and I showed them the gunk that had been removed from the tank. I learned that we have to move from site #54 because there is a large rally coming in today and tomorrow, and Melissa said that there were no open sites. Ricky had moved from his permanent site #105 into an overnighter in site 59 and I went to help him get his trailer backed into storage. Wow, what a job to back that long trailer into a narrow site! It took us almost an hour but we got 'er done.

When I got back to the park, Melissa said that she had found me an open site, in fact, she had two to choose from. I had the choice of #95 which is a premium site or #59, where Ricky had moved out of. I took #59, so Ricky and I moved us into our new site. We decided not to attend the Sweetheart rally in Kerrville because of all the problems with the truck. We just couldn't justify getting on the highway with the truck acting like it had been, so I called Jim McGee and the park to let them know we wouldn't be coming. I did get to talk to Bobcat, who also tried to get me to come on up to Buckhorn, but he understood why we couldn't. I had a little chat with Jim B and explained why we couldn't come to him too and he said he didn't blame us.

After Ricky and I got the trailer moved, I noticed that one of the tires on the trailer was very low, so Stella called the Good Sam Road service that we pay for. They called Milstead wrecker and a nice guy named Phillip came out and took the tire off and dropped it off at their shop for repair. I'll have to put the tire back on and take the spare tire off when we pick it up.

I later talked to Gabe at Milstead and learned that the bill for today is $555.00 plus the cost of the wrecker service. I am not happy about this because I feel like they should be responsible for some of the costs because they didn't get all the gunk out of the tank and fuel lines, but my argument fell on deaf ears. I know that there are going to be additional costs for fuel filters change-out and such, and can only hope that the station continues to pay for the repairs.

Until next time.....