That American Spirit Will Prevail

When the differentials in the drive shaft were going out in Yakima, it was amazing how quickly a 28-year veteran mechanic diagnosed the problem and had us back on the road to continue our journey. His name was Tony and he knew how disparate our situation was.

We had no place to go. No place to sleep but the motorhome. 

In his service shop there was no service bay available at the time and that didn’t stop him. He got down on one of those scoot alongs, and went under the motorhome. In less than 20 minutes he had the differential out and on the bench. 

In another 15 minutes he ordered the parts and had them delivered, and while they were being delivered he removed the old parts and showed us they were devoid of grease. He had one hell of time replacing them but got it done and back under the motorhome in an hour and a half. He only charged me for one hour service time. 

The second breakdown was outside the little town of Ritzville. This was a town that had stopped in time ...1910. Each building with any age, had a plaque to tell the history of that building. But there were so few people in this town, one could have shot a canon down main street with no fear of hitting anyone.

Still the auto repair shop was busy. The owner ran the tow truck on the night shift to make ends meet. He cussed like a Army master sergeant but he had the replacement parts for the new fuel pump and fuel filter delivered in 15 minutes.

When he got off the phone, they knew he meant business. Once again there was no service bay that would lift this motorhome, but he just drove her up on lift blocks and went to work on a scoot along. We were back on the road in two hours. 

When he towed us in, the shop was closed so he let us park in back of the shop and dropped an extension from the business to the motorhome so we had air conditioning and lights; everything we needed. Our’s was the first job the next morning. 

We were disappointed because of having to have repairs, but there was no disappointment with the service. It was the best we could find anywhere.

When the transmission went out in Redding, that was no overnight job. However the service manager kept his shop open at least an hour overtime and wasn’t satisfied until we had a rent a car and checked into a motel. The next day he told us the sad story. The transmission needed a major overhaul and he was booked solid for a week. 

Somehow he squeezed us in, and in four days, we were told the transmission work was done but other problems were apparent. The motorhome was taken to another shop a block away. We got a call from them and the news was Kathy’s Hylton needed new belts and pulleys. We gave the go ahead.

The day we arrived and took the Hylton for a test drive, there was a sound we didn’t like. Once again the owner and his son stopped what they were doing to check it out. The balance wheel on the fan was out of balance and needed to be replaced. Then the belt housing was bad.

Two hours later, the balance wheel had been replaced and the belt housing which could not be found new, was pulled off another Ford van, just so we could transfer it to our motorhome. The clock was past six when the hood snapped in place and the owner said “She is good to go!”

To all those wonderful people, we write this editorial, because this is why we are proud to be an American.