Tales from the Tiki Bar: Awesome People
We've had an interesting couple of days with our rig. I say rig. It's a rig to us. But I digress. Already. Anyway, we discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. Not a big one, but big enough to do damage if we didn't get it fixed right away. We were getting ready to pack up and move from McAlpine Lake campground to near YOSEMITE -- yay! Glenn investigated and determined where the little leak was and that he couldn't fix it. So we had to take a side trip to the nearest Camping World since we have a comprehensive warranty. $50 at any CW takes care of it. Called the place and they're booked and can't fix it for a few days, so we drive there anyway to see if we can get any action or even parts to try to DIY. The desk guy said, oh, no, you have to take it to where you bought the camper. Albuquerque, NM? We can't do that. So you want to talk to the supervisor? Um, yeah. Enter Max Hayes, the service manager and our hero! He just jumped in and said, come on, let's take a look, pull it in over here. We took off the outer cover and he looked at it and proceeded to send someone out to get some parts and fixed it himself in an hour and a half. Charge? $20. Even. What? Are you sure? Yep, $20. Max Hayes at the Camping World in San Martin, CA! CHEERS!
This on top of another great experience the day before. Our battery was acting kind of hinky like it might want to strand us somewhere when we least need that to happen -- like ANYtime. Just a bit of hesitation when starting up. So after leaving the beach in Santa Cruz we stopped in Scotts Valley, CA, at Batteries Plus to get their free battery test/evaluation. Bryan Parker was ever so helpful. He took his handy-dandy battery widget out there and tested whatnot, showing us what was going on with the battery. He got us a very reasonable-priced battery and proceeded to wrestle in the hot sun with our Montero, who didn't want to give up its battery. He worked like crazy to get the problem solved and the new battery in and the connections all cleaned up. A very personable and interesting fellow, we had a great conversation as he worked. When it was finally extracted, we discovered a 4-year-old battery on its last legs. We are glad to have met Bryan who gave us excellent customer service. SAAA-LUTE!
I love being on the road. The people you meet tell the most interesting tales and are the real gems of a big trip. There are still people out there who care what happens to strangers and go out of their way to just be nice. "It's not my job" did not apply here, and we are oh, so thankful!
So now we are ensconced in a wonderful camp 24 miles south of Yosemite, crown jewel of U.S. parks waiting for the weekend crowds to go home!