Community Forums

bamaboy473 · 11-16-2014, 10:12 AM

Our first trip through rural country and mountains begins next week. No toad.

If the unthinkable happens, is there a certain process that beats hoofing it or dialing *47?

I haven't heard much about the Good Sam roadside assistant (we have it) if we're in north GA and western NC, so is there a link to places that service RVs that might be along our route?

dvmweb · 11-16-2014, 10:30 AM

Depends on where you are of course. You will be surprised the help that board members here can give. And, they can often tell you about a service near where ever you may be.

2013 FleetWood Expedition 38B

Timay · 11-16-2014, 11:01 AM

Give Good Sams a call, I'm sure they can advise you. I think they can service a vehicle just about anywhere in the US...of course, you can hide...that's one of the perks to having an RV

Tim

bamaboy473 · 11-16-2014, 12:56 PM

As time passes, I'm using Mr. Google to find truck and RV repair sites along the way, and adding them to a spreadsheet of, "what if", kinds of resources.

IMO, a Good Sam agent would make contact with a shop in the area...or close...and if I have the info already, time gets saved.

I can say that this is the kind of thing that makes me wish that we used the MH more often and could justify having satellite service for phones and internet

Diesel Diva · 11-16-2014, 02:01 PM

If it helps any, we have had to call Good Sam for roadside assistance on several occasions. We've never had to wait more than a couple hours for a service tech to arrive. And Good Sam does call back to advise you on the tech's ETA.

OLYLEN · 11-17-2014, 07:10 AM

Me thinks someone worries too much. I have no idea the cell service in your travels, but in the wide open west we are very very seldom without service. Now even through Canada to Alaska there was always help along the road either passers by or pro help. I'm sure you have your RV serviced once a year and that in itself makes break downs more seldom if there at all. Take bikes along,there is a down hill way for help LOL.
RELAX ENJOY PLAN THE NEXT STOP!

LEN

Fred1609 · 11-17-2014, 09:23 AM

RV Service Reviews might help you with looking for good service centres......these reviews are written by RVers......similar to RVparkreviews.

bamaboy473 · 11-18-2014, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLYLEN

Me thinks someone worries too much.
LEN

The coach breaking down would be just the Start of the worrying

The admiral's reaction wouldn't be pretty, and that part of the country is where they filmed, "Deliverance"....so there's that to worry about, too

Firebug5 · 11-18-2014, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

The coach breaking down would be just the Start of the worrying

The admiral's reaction wouldn't be pretty, and that part of the country is where they filmed, "Deliverance"....so there's that to worry about, too

Their is a thread on the Full-timers forum discussing changing the wife's cell service to Verizon, and the husband keeping his with ATT/Cingular. They said it increased their cell coverage while traveling across the country by having 2 different cell providers.

Oh, maybe you should take a banjo, too. . .

Bruce

777Rich · 11-18-2014, 02:22 PM

I live in the western U.S. for a long time and had several brake downs and Good Sam Service was better and quicker than AAA. I have had good and reasonable service from Good Sam.

baraff · 11-18-2014, 05:59 PM

Ask yourself: What did people do before cellphones? Before Good Sam? Before CoachNet?
It wasn't that long ago. And vehicles in general were a lot more unreliable prior to 1985 or so.
Plenty of people were RVing and traveling in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
The point is, you can worry yourself to death over what could happen. Your chances these days are a lot better than they were back then. Better reliability, cellphones, roadside assistance. All you really need to do is make sure your rig is well maintained and just GO! Have fun!

Arch Hoagland · 11-18-2014, 07:14 PM

If your cellphone shows no service....go ahead and dial 911. There are lots of small carriers around the country and everyone of them has to respond to a 911 call by connecting you to the 911 emergency center.

Found that out one time when group of us had four different cellphone services and none had service. We had an unsafe condition with a disabled vehicle so I went ahead and dialed 911. I got connected right away and they dispatched a tow truck to us.

mojoracing · 11-18-2014, 07:38 PM

Paddle faster!!! I hear banjo music!

bamaboy473 · 11-19-2014, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baraff

Ask yourself: What did people do before cellphones? Before Good Sam? Before CoachNet?
It wasn't that long ago. And vehicles in general were a lot more unreliable prior to 1985 or so.
Plenty of people were RVing and traveling in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
The point is, you can worry yourself to death over what could happen. Your chances these days are a lot better than they were back then. Better reliability, cellphones, roadside assistance. All you really need to do is make sure your rig is well maintained and just GO! Have fun!

I may have given the wrong idea about bein' skeered, but more akin to doing something and wanting to be prepared. Heck, with the way Sandy packs, we could likely boondock on the side of the road for a week before starting to fidget

Your post is well-directed, and then we read post #12 and learn something new

so all is well.

Given that the coach only has 12K miles on her (and 4000 of those in the past six months since we bought her) I'm as comfortable as can be about the mechanics. This will be the first time travelling on rural roads for 1200 miles, so there's that element of newness that prompts the questions.

OH! ...and we don't let anybody offer assistance that doesn't have at least 4 teeth in their mouth, and both eyes looking in the same direction