Breakdown at Mystic Forest

After a long 6 hour drive from Eugene up and over the Siskuy mountains we arrived at dark at Mystic Forest Rv park. A really hard drive in the bus over the mountains. Mona is lacking power in the hills. and was not able to go over 20 mph on the climbs. And we had at least 6 different summits to go over! Then is was a windy tight drive on highway 101 at dusk to reach the park. We pulled in after sunset and my nerves were shot, Inanna slept most of way in her room and Aura kept yelling from the back “too close”, “too close” when I went around the bends in the road. Man, I was trying to beat nightfall because my eyes dont work good driving after sundown. The lighs from oncoming traffic blind me and it gets resally hard to see the road for me. Betty, our trusty navigator decided at the last minute to take us on a short cut that would save us a few minutes on our arrival time, man I wish she would talk to me first before she makes those management decisions! So the last 15 miles we drove some rual backroad that was not meant for a 40’ school bus and trailer. Needless to say we arrived and Christina had our spot and she was all set up and all was good.

We had a good rest and recovery for 3 days and decided to leave and start heading north towards Astoria. The plan was to take our time and mosey up 101 stopping at beaches and forests to camp. However, the morning we were set to leave the bus started, ran for 2 minutes then shut off. I tried to restart but just kept cranking and cranking…I tried a few things and poked around the engine a bit but nothing seemed obvious. AAhh I thought, this might be the check engine light. After 18,000 miles of always starting , this had never happened. I really needed a scan tool to dignose the code to at least give me a starting point. But the closest one I could get was 4 hours drive north. So it made sense to call a mobile mechanic and see if they would come , there was another camper waiting for us to move out of our spot, this was peak season for the park and I was starting to feel the pressure. After I made about 9 phone calls to potential mechanics I realized we were on our own. There was not one person within 100 miles who could come and help with this. Dang. So I told the owner of the park our situation and he was great. A French - Canadian from Montreal, he had that easy going , calm demeanor that it will all work out in good time! So the other camper was re-directed to another Rv park down the road and we were able to stay one more day to figure this out. So the next step to take I figured was to call a diesel shop in Crescent city and see if they could look at it . I called around and found Mor-Jon . A shop that works on RV’s and diesels and she said sure”we can look at it if you can get it here”. So then began the search for a tow company that could tow a 40’ bus. The closest place was Eureka which was a hour away and an outfit in Grants Pass, two hours away. The quotes were for 2,000 to 3,500 dollars! Holy shit, I say. That was when the realization sunk in completley that the real cost of travelling around the country in a huge piece of machinery can reqiure some more thought. HHmm, but wait I say hold the phone! We have AAA and didnt we upgrade to RV coverage in Canada before we left and dont I have the card right here in my wallet that says so! hooray, we did think this through we did cover our assess, phew . We were being responsibe adults, ok lets call them. So, after waiting on hold 3 differnt times and being cut off twice and finally getting an agent on the phone and then being put on hold so she coulf veerify that we indeed did have RV coverage on our policy and that she would need to put us on hold to call up to Canada and talk to some people up there , she finally said “YES” we did have the requirted coverage and if I would just give her the make and the model of the “RV” she would begin the process. Well I said its a 2000 Bluebird. Then there was a long pause, uncomfortably long. She took a quiter tone and said, “Is the RV a converted school bus?’ UUMM, yes I said . The next thing I heard was , I’m sorry we are not able to provide service for any conversions at this time,” My heart sank, but we have a policy, when did this change? She informed me this has always been their policy and she was not able to help us, we would have to cover the cost of towing out of pocket! I hung up the phone.