Leaving Russel Cave, I went south to Arab, AL (pronounced A-rab) for the night. Rigadoon was making a curious ticking noise so after Googling a bit I decided to get the oil changed in case sticky valves were part of the issue. For some reason Walmart thinks the truck wants 5w- oil but the manual suggests 10w- or 20w- and I hoped thicker oil might help. Post oil-change the truck was making the same noise and after consulting the WM auto guys (who clarified that they weren't qualified to comment) I decided to drive to Cullman, the first town big enough to have a mechanic.
Well, in the metropolis of Baileyton, a place not even large enough to be called a wide spot, the dash lights came on and I pulled over into the edge of someone's driveway. Popped the hood and discovered the shreds of the alternator belt calmly NOT spinning anything anymore. Well, I can't fix this and I have no cell reception so kindness-of-strangers here I come.
Lovely older woman opened the door and invited me in to use the phone when I explained the problem. Her husband was also there and had some kind of dementia. He kept politely but firmly demanding to know who I was and I kept politely explaining that I needed the phone for a toll-free call.
Except their phone didn't work. After multiple tries that only resulted in a dial tone the woman explained that the phone had been acting up lately.
Okay....
I thanked her and went back to the road to ponder waiting for someone to stop. Decided that was a waste of time and pointed my feet back in the direction I came where a road branched off the little highway and some houses were visible. And a business! Woot! Mimi's Hair Salon (run by Madge, I think) is in the back room of her house and she was kind enough to let me in while doing a color-and-cut and let me use her phone.
It took more than an hour, but Progressive located the flat bed I wanted (remember the pic of the rv in Virginia? wanted to keep my valves and tanks in one piece). They also phoned the potential auto shop to verify they could work on my vehicle since I didn't want an rv shop.
I thanked Madge and trekked back up the road to wait for the tow which was 90 minutes away. I played on the ipad and the cats napped while we waited. When the guy showed up he was awesome. I fussed about smooshing the back end and he nodded and said he would be careful. The guy watched the back end as he winched the truck up and when it got close to the ground he put boards under the wheels to give it enough lift to keep from hitting the ground.
The entire area has no street names, only numbers, and the tow driver had to call someone to get directions. He was at least 80 and the inside of his truck was held together with duct tape in places but it ran and and he seemed pretty sturdy as well.
I was a little nervous when we made it to the shop but I guess combining home and business is common in that area and the owner came out with a big grin, saying that his uncle had the same camper. Well, not quite the same, his uncle's is a V6 but the guy knew what he was doing anyway.
I had him replace all the belts since they all had to come out anyway and another of them was all cracked and ready to break on some other deserted rural highway. The only belt in good shape was the AC belt - and I don't use the AC (not updated). Ah well. Alabama did herself proud taking care of hapless traveler.
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