Bummed in Brockville

Posted on Aug 29, 2015 in From the Road, Travel Tales | 0 comments

We are stuck in Brockville, Ontario till Monday. Our truck started losing power 2 hours from our stopping spot at Camping Transit in Quebec. Camping Transit was awesome with their customer service. They called the Dodge dealer and translated for us and got us in that afternoon. And, we were fortunate that there was an English speaker at the Dodge dealer in the service department. They ran diagnostics on the transmission and truck and discovered that Canadian Tire put the wrong air filter in the truck so they put the correct one in.Everything seemed to be going fine when we left yesterday morning until we were about 2 hours in around Montreal. We were on the freeway and suddenly on a little overpass the truck speed dropped down to 60km. No power. On the freeway! No where to get off either. We finally pulled off an exit near Châteauguay.

Found the Dodge dealer was only 10 km away and after sitting for 2 hours, decided to risk it. Got there and fortunately there was a large empty lot right next to the dealer. These are such tight streets. No where to turn around or park. I went in and said in my perfect French, Is there anyone who speaks English here. Again I was lucky. One of the receptionists did and she took me to the service department. The service manager also spoke English but very reluctantly. They send their mechanic home at noon on Fridays. One mechanic! Of course it was 1pm now.

I was kind of panicked. We were only an hour from the Ontario border and English speakers. I said to Don let’s just go. Take the risk. If the truck blows up, it blows up.

Well, it ran perfectly for the next 200 km and we got to our stop for the night in Brockville. Unfortunately the dealer couldn’t look at it till Monday but we are in a safe, good spot, hooked up to electric and water and have sewer too so we are good here for 4 days. The park is called Happy Green Acres RV Park. It is a beautiful RV park. Very spacious and green.

Unfortunately we had to postpone our reservation for Niagara Falls till we find out what’s what.

We drove into Brockville after unhooking and the truck is working fine. But it used a full tank of gas for the 5 hour drive. Should only have used half that. We actually went into Brockville for gas on reserve.

I don’t know what’s going to happen on Monday. The dealer says they won’t let Lubrico pay them. We have to pay upfront and then get refunded by Lubrico. I don’t know how much it will be. Merlin says it sounds like it is fuel related. Starving for fuel going uphill. Could be the lift pump, turbo booster or a multitude of other related things. We thought at first it was the transmission because when it loses power, it won’t shift up. Merlin says that’s because it is starving for fuel. No fuel, no shifting.

Merlin says we should just tuck in here for the winter. 🙂 I’m tempted.

I don’t know if we will go to Niagara Falls or just head back West. Depends on Monday. It definitely will be Wally World all the way back.

Upper Canada park is 50km away from us. We may just try to do the tourist thing tomorrow to try to forget and enjoy ourselves. That is if we think the truck won’t break down on the 401. That is a scary highway. 18 wheelers about 3 feet from your bumper doing 100km or more. This part – freeway driving – I really don’t enjoy. White knuckled all the way for me. Don’s more comfortable with it but when the truck isn’t working properly the cab of the truck fills up with blue smoke (his swearing!).

We do have TV reception here. Very close to the US border so are picking up 7 channels. I have exceeded my data usage for wifi but the next gig is only $10 so I’m going to spend that $10.

We heard Sooke is due for a major storm this weekend. Kind of early for that. Hopefully our house will be ok.

Kind of Bummed in Brockville.