Chasing That Horizon!

Nashville was amazing. Between touring the Country Music Hall of Fame, RCA Studio B, walking on Broadway, eating fabulous BBQ, buying boots, and attending the Grand Ole Opry, we were immersed in Music City, USA. We also saw part of the riverfront, and visited Ernest Tubb's Record Shop. An exciting and vibrant town, Nashville is certainly on the map as one of few places that we would return to for another visit. There is so much rich music history there.

Getting into Kentucky, we toured Diamond Caverns, followed the next day by a tour of the Corvette assembly plant, and the National Corvette Museum. On Saturday, we visited Mammoth Caves, taking two different tours of this huge underground network of underground passages. Moving east, we camped at Beech Fork State Park, followed by Blue Stone State Park.

It was raining today as we completed breaking camp and got underway. Not much more than about 20 miles up the road, climbing a long freeway hill, we began to smell an odor reminiscient of hot crayons. Then the rear air system alarm went off, meaning that we were losing air pressure. Cresting the hill, we pulled off at the exit to check things out. After removing the bed mattress, we were able to open the engine cover to examine things. We discovered the exhaust pipe had detached itself from the exit of the turbocharger. Closer examination revealed a broken muffler hanger, which allowed the muffler to shift its weight and pull on the pipe enough to disengage from the turbo. And then...there was red fluid dripping down from somewhere. Oh no, are we having a transmission problem too?

With a little muscling, we managed to fit the exhaust pipes back together enough to allow us to start the engine. Climbing underneath the running engine, we found a ruptured air line. There was a campground just down the road, and after getting just enough air pressure to release the parking brake, we limped to our new campsite for the evening. The manager knew of a truck service that paid visits to the campground quite often, and we set up an appointment. Anthony's Truck Service was onsite in 30 minutes, and was able to install a quick coupler on the air line. They found the red fluid was not from the transmission, but from a ruptured line in the hydraulic leveling and room slideout system. And with the muffler hangers being unavailable locally, they were able to secure the muffler back into place with baling wire. Hopefully, that will hold until we get back to Deltaville, Virginia.

While crawling under the vehicle, after the service truck left, Keith searched for the ruptured hydraulic line, and found it had melted. When the muffler hanger broke and separated the pipe and turbocharger, extremely hot exhaust gases melted a number of hoses and plastic fittings, most notably the hydraulic line and air line. We will need to have a closer look when we are able, and make the necessary repairs. The hydraulic lines need to be identified and ordered. A new muffler is already on order and will be awaiting us when we arrive in VA. We still need to figure out the hangers, as the originals are nearly impossible to find.

Other repair items to be addressed include a new burner and solenoid for the LP refrigerator. There is also a PC board for the data collection center that has bad solder connections and causes false low pressure warnings in the front air tank. And, the right front hydraulic jack cylinder needs replacing, also on order. It is a good thing we have tools, because it would cost a fortune to have repair shops make the diagnoses and repairs. But worse, is the wait time for them to return a call and get you on their list. Not a good thing when you are trying to go places.