Serendipitous

Well dear readers, I am back in the land of internet, Mickey D's and asphalt. Unfortunately, on the way to clean up, wash clothes and shop, Jesabel (our motorhome) blew a radiator hose. Over 8 hours later; completely unsettled by passing traffic, a tow truck finally showed up. The best he could do was take us to the nearest truck stop in Pearsall, Texas. The next morning we discovered the blown hose and that it was a proprietary Freightliner part. So we ordered the part from Freightliner in San Antonio. You didn't really think they kept them in stock, did you? When we made the 125 mile plus round trip to San Antonio, we discovered that Fed Ex bungled the shipment and we had no hose. We were steered to a nearby NAPA distribution center (I could spend days in there looking around ( -: ) and a very patient and knowledgeable counter person came up with a flex hose substitute. We had now missed the deadline to make our next gate assignment and, worse yet, the motorhome would not start after the hose was installed.
It has been just over a week since I started this post and I now know what we are facing. We were able to get Good Sam to move us from the truckstop to a RV park. The 24 hour running of the generator; much less living in the truckstop, was just not something we could continue. We finally got a mechanic to come out and tear into the engine. Our hopes of a hydro lock were dashed once the injectors were pulled and the @#$%^&%$# engine still wouldn't turn. Removing the oil pan and then some bearings further verified the worst, since it still wouldn't turn.  Finally, we removed the head-man that thing is heavy-and found the cause. The engine had gotten hot enough to melt the pistons!

Well, if we thought getting a mechanic to get us this far was difficult, getting someone to change the engine was going to be next to impossible. Good Sam has been very helpful; but in the oil patch mechanics and garages (especially ones that will take this on) are VERY difficult to find. Good Sam also probably won't tow us again, since we've been moved twice. We finally found a garage and mechanic to do the job. Now we have to find a long block and gather the funds (about 5-7 K) to make it happen. Ideally, I would love to find a wrecked RV and just plug a used engine in. That would be cheaper and quicker than a rebuild. It also irks me to put that much money in a motor home as old as this one. This coach is our home and we love it but... Another problem is finding housing while the operation takes place. The whole back of the motor home has to be disassembled to get the engine in and out. They did not mean for these things to come out during its lifetime. Hotels just aren't in our budget since we are scraping bottom to get the engine in the first place. A hovel in the oil patch is like a shack in Malibu these days-and you won't get the view or the beach thrown in. Any of my dear readers who know where a relatively cheap trailer can be rented, give us a shout. Our boss has been a jewel, checking on us daily. He has even gotten us occasional gigs relieving gates. Anyway, my plan is to update everyone when I know more or something important occurs. Keep us in your thoughts-or prayers-or both.