Petersburg

by

Petersburg VA to St Clair PA

Miranda was packed by 8:00 this morning. I handed the key to the lady in the office in case the mechanic was ready to work on her before I got back from returning the rental car. I got to Enterprise at about 8:20 at the same time as the guy who was going to drive me back to WS Campbell. Everything was fine with the rental and the insurance is picking up the full tab! I got back to the shop at 8:30 and Miranda was still outside. I took back the key and got her into the garage then went to the office to settle up the bill.

My adjuster at Aviva continues to impress me. She told me that the axle repairs alone would be $5,600. Um, no. That was for everything. The axle repairs came in at just under $3,000, so with the towing bill the invoice was $3202 and change, which was actually less than they would have thought because they didn’t need to replace all the parts they thought they needed to replace. I signed off on the repairs and faxed the invoice and credit card receipt to Aviva.

There was a truck blocking the pull-thru exit of the garage, so I had to back out. I always take it as a compliment when I am left to my own devices to do such manoeuvring. 🙂 It was an easy out, though, as I had a big empty space to back into and get pointed in the correct direction.

Before we leave WS Campbell, here’s the view I had from my desk the last two weeks:

It’s 5KM to the I-95/South Crater Road junction and there is a Shell just before the turnoff. It would have been a bit tight with the toad, but it was easy access with just Miranda. I had a quarter tank of gas and I was staring at the cheapest fuel prices on this trip ($3.49/gallon), so I had the pump pre-authorized for $125 and that filled the tank to the brim.

Now, I’m going to give more detail about my route than I usually do because there has been some discussion about it in the comments.

Just a few miles north of where I got on I-95, at 9:20, I took I-295 to by-pass Richmond and got back on I-95 north of the city. I grinned as I passed Ashland, awed that the last time I took this route, I drove straight from there to Gatineau in a day!

Traffic got thicker and thicker the further north I drove. I was happy to exit to route 17N just past Fredericksburg. I knew that the next bit wasn’t going to be easy as I would have to drive through a shopping district with lots of traffic lights, but it was better than going through DC. I followed the signs for route 17N to I-66 west.

My GPS continues to make me wonder who programs routes for it. I was heading for a destination just off of I-81 and right up to the I-81/I-66 junction, it was adamant that I drive through downtown Washington to get there! Whomever comes up with a GPS that automatically routes around cities is going to get my business for life.

I’d been too nervous to have breakfast before leaving (but not so nervous that I didn’t take the time to have coffee!) and the knots in my stomach had gotten pretty tight along route 17. But I began to feel better when I hit I-66 and I planned a lunch stop just before I-81, where there is a Walmart and a bunch of restaurants, so it was pretty convenient in an RV. I think it would a been a bit tougher of a parking lot with the toad, but with Miranda alone it was fine. I went to Applebee’s, of course. 🙂

It was almost 1:30 when I was done with lunch and I had three more hours of driving to do. I was getting tired and starting to jump every time a vehicle passed me, causing Miranda to shift in the lane. Had I left a couple of hours later, I would have stopped for the night in Chambersburg, but that option was a Cracker Barrel and 3:00 was way too early to stop there. I decided that I could handle another couple of hours and made a point to stop at the two rest areas I passed.

The day’s calamity struck at the first one: I could not get my key into the lock for the house door! So I need to troubleshoot the deadbolt when I get to MTL. *sighs with tongue firmly in cheek* It is a huge hassle to get into the house from the cab. I can get the door unlocked from inside, but cannot relock it from outside.

It was going on 5:00 when I got to the exit for St. Clair. The Walmart is about 6 miles from I-81, further than I usually like to go from my route, but I was hoping to get a few things that were on my shopping list for this trip and which I held off getting until I knew how things would end up with the insurance claims.

The last bit of the driving day was brutal as the 6 miles turned out to be straight down a twisty 6% grade. I was really glad to find a scenic Walmart that was happy to have me overnight.

Today’s drive took me from Virginia, back to West Virginia, up through Maryland:

and into Pennsylvania:

At Walmart, I picked up a frozen pizza for dinner and a bunch of bags of shredded cheese in anticipation of returning to a country where cheese is a luxury (snark, snark). I also got a slow cooker! I’ve been wanting one for ages and did some online shopping looking at reviews for little ones. The Rival brand didn’t look like much on the shelf, but I’d read reviews that said they make decent appliances. So when I found a four-quart model for less than $10, I snapped it up! Right next to it was an adorable six-cup rice cooker for $13. My beloved rice cooker is much too big for my needs and sticks badly. I can store both my new appliances in the space the old rice cooker took.

The next part of the day wasn’t much fun and I was pretty cranky by the end of it. I had a bag of used cat litter by the front door waiting for me to find a garbage can and a certain black cat decided to do her claws on it! I spent what felt like ages sweeping the mess and then disinfecting the floor. But my day wasn’t over.

I’m out of propane on the on board tank and haven’t had any luck finding some today. My fridge and freezer are full, so I had to haul the auxiliary tank outside, find my pigtail, and get everything hooked up so I can keep the fridge on tonight. Someone needs to create a propane fill directory! The two places I found today only deal in bottles; they don’t fill truck/RV tanks.

For tomorrow, I’m listening to everyone who told me to avoid the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre uphill climb at all cost. So I’m taking I-80 to I-87 and am going to research the toll to see if I need to have cash (I’m completely out but there’s an ATM in the Walmart). The only remotely decent place to overnight between here and my mother’s is the casino in Saratoga Springs. From there, it’ll be about three hours, plus the border crossing, to arrive for lunchtimeish on Thursday.

 

by

Getting Pretty Giddy About Departure

I barely slept a wink last night, but I feel really good this morning and excited about getting back on the road! I’ll be heading out shortly to return the rental car while the mechanics do their final check.

Two weeks at a repair shop hasn’t been the most fun I’ve ever had, but at least it was scenic. There was a lot of noise from the interstate, but it’s been steady enough to not be annoying. I notice the chirping birds a lot more. My cats have loved this location because of the amount of wildlife that crosses the meadow adjacent to the property.

I have adjusted my goal for today from Chambursburg PA to Hazleton PA. It’s a few hours further away, but will mean a shorter day tomorrow. I’ve identified a couple of Walmarts and Cracker Barrels between those two cities and will pull over whenever I’m tired. Reader Lynn gave me a heads up about the road between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, so I will probably get off I-81 tomorrow and use I-80 to get to I-87. But I need to look at that route more closely, so I’ll worry about that night. Today’s route is going to be fine and I cannot wait to get back out there!

by

Update on the Aviva Claim

A supervisor at Aviva just called me back. He was a lot more forthcoming than my adjuster has been. A lot of what he said to me should have been explained by my adjuster. For example, the $1,000 she ‘authorized’ for a ‘hotel only’ can also include meals. I need to pull out all my receipts and can be reimbursed for up to $100 per day. Anything beyond that, they can submit to the moron’s insurance and see if they’ll pay.

What he had to say about payment on the repairs is not what I wanted to hear, but it was fine and perfectly logical. They can’t pay until the final invoice is presented and I sign off on the work. If I wasn’t in a time crunch, then I could sit here for a few days until the cheque is cut and go on my merry way. Instead, they will make the cheque out to the credit card holders and send the reimbursement to them directly. So that’s all well and good.

Now, I’m just grateful that I keep all my receipts when I am in the US as I need to prepare my claim for some recovery of the chaos my life has been the last two weeks.

by

Praise for WS Campbell Towing & Repair and Anger at Aviva Insurance

The mechanic at WS Campbell dug through a salvage yard today and found the correct part for Miranda. Nothing is jury-rigged. She’s in as good a shape as she was before the moron rear ended me.

Once the part was on, it didn’t take long to get her road ready. I was asked to move her into the repair shop for some checks and then take her on a test drive. It felt SO GOOD to be back behind the wheel!

They want her to sit overnight (LEVEL AT LAST) so that the grease has time to work its way through everything. Tomorrow morning, they will make their final checks to the repair,  top up the air pressure, and check all the fluid levels. Enterprise is waiting for me at 8:30 to return the rental car. I should be on the road by about noon and will be able to take a reasonably leisurely place to Montreal.

But this is only possible because I can pay them for the repairs. Or, more accurately, I can pay for the repairs with a borrowed credit card and repay the loan when my car settlement comes in. There was no way (understandably) that they were letting me leave without the bill being settled.

This is where Aviva comes in. My adjuster, whom I am biting my tongue not to name, is consistently unreachable. I always have to leave a message. She wasn’t in again today. I went through the phone maze and got the Aviva claims department after a number of attempts. The lady who answered transferred me to another adjuster who transferred me to a supervisor who had already left for the day. It was 2PM in Vancouver for crying out loud.

My adjuster has been absolutely unsympathetic to the fact that the repairs are time sensitive and that Miranda is my home (never mind that I have a full-timer’s policy). She has barely made any effort to reach the third party insurance company, her excuse for the delays in processing the payment. I have tried to be patient and fair and understanding, but I have had it up to here!

My experience trying to get someone else to help me tonight gives me the impression that this is how Aviva operates. So heads up everyone. Yes, you can get insured as a full-time RVer in Canada, but good luck if you have a claim. If they are this bad for a not-at-fault claim, I’d hate to see them dealing with an at-fault one.

by

Officially Pissed Off

The mechanic has decided to search for the discontinued axle part. I could be here for days and days and days and days.

I am thinking of having the rental car contract changed so I can take it to Montreal and back. I could drive up with Tabitha and Neelix and leave them at my mother’s while I come back here and get Miranda. I could do the drive in a very full day in the car. I am just concerned about leaving my home in the US and then coming back for it.

I also thought of requesting air fare, but there is no way I’m taking my brood on a plane and I am not leaving them behind.

Finally, I am wondering about the possibly of having Miranda transported back to Canada and having the repairs finished there.

Thoughts?