July 11, 2009
We were on I-94 west of Fargo and 55 miles east of Jamestown ND when suddenly we hear snapping and clicking sounds under the engine cover, called the “dog house.” A few miles more, the battery charging light goes on and the alert buzzer started going. I lost power steering and soon the engine coolant was boiling over. We pulled over on the side at milepost 310.
This experience is unnerving, especially to a non-mechanic, and we had to gather our wits about us. The first thing we did was call the Workhorse road service. Immediately the man answering the call said. “It sounds like the serpentine belt to me; can’t be anything else.”
“Don’t drive your motor home, because you can seriously damage the engine,” he added.
He gave the names of two towing services and recommended we go to the Chevvy dealer in Jamestown ND. I called Interstate Towing in Jamestown and he was there in two hours with a new belt. Unfortunately it was not the right size so he hooked us up to the wrecker which is a massive PeterBilt shown in the photo. We were towed to the truck stop in Jamestown, arriving just before midnight.
We were allowed to hook up water and electricity (30 amps) and we both had a good night’s sleep. That helps because a good sleep takes up time. Breaking down requires a lot of time and patience. As I write this, the breakdown occured about 24 hours ago and no one has knocked on our door. It is Sunday afternoon and the services are just not available. We’ve read the Jamestown newspaper from cover to cover and now we are getting into deeper material. All this helps to develop the virtue of patience.
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