Nailed in Nashville!

We left early for us this morning, getting on the road by about 8:30. We decided to go south out of Nashville and eventually pick up the Natchez Trace. We were in some traffic and we were navigating some intersections new to me in the motorhome. I was concentrating pretty hard on what was going on and people were driving absolutely crazy. I figure most of them were on their cell phones. Where the interstates I-40 and I-24 meet we got tangled up in some traffic. It was stop and go, but people were trying to change lanes and slamming on brakes, etc. I mostly try to keep a good distance because I don't want to have to make any panic stops.

All of a sudden I start hearing some noise and thuds behind me and at that point I see parts flying through the air off to my left. We were about 6 lanes wide; I was in the third lane from the right. I hear this really loud thunk and feel something hit high up on the motorhome. Just then an SUV, a Ford Excursion I think, comes careening down the far left lane headed for the barrier. His right front tire is laying over almost flat to the ground. I'm thinking, "Nascar!" I see more parts flying, but I was looking straight ahead. You never know when someone would decide to just slam on the brakes to stop and look. There was no way for me to stop anyway to look at whatever damage may have occurred. Nothing had hit the toad and everything seemed intact, no driving difficulties, etc. Later when traffic thinned out we pulled to the side and Terry got out to inspect the coach. He could not find any knick, scratch, or dent! He found one mark on a window frame where he thinks it's possible a piece of rubber might have hit, but we aren't sure. I intended to get up on the roof when we got to the camp to check out the roof, but I didn't do that. Will have to check it out tomorrow.

We got on the Trace about 100 miles south of Nashville and drove to our favorite lunch spot, the rest area on the north side of the Tennessee River. What a great spot to sit for a bit. We both got out this time and checked the coach and could not find any spot where it was hit. So we are glad for that.

Once lunch was finished we watched the news a bit, then drove on to Piney Grove, just off the Trace near Burton, Mississippi. The camp sits on Bay Springs Lake which is on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway and we later saw a barge going through the lake. That is the first time we have seen that, although we knew there was barge traffic here.

We did have a problem though. As we turned onto the road back to the camp, we were still about five miles out. I noticed a loss of power and looked down to see the "check engine" light on. Yuck. I told Terry, checked all my gauges, everything was perfect. We continued on but couldn't get over 1200 rpms. After a bit, the light went out and I instantly had more power. Once again before we got back to the camp, the light came on again, but eventually went out. Terry ended up calling Freightliner and they told him it sounded like one or both of the fuel filters. He told us to drive it on to Red Bay, our next destination. He thought it would make it there, but if it "redlined" it would shut down and we would have to be towed the rest of the way. Red Bay does have a diesel mechanic who can fix it. So we shall have an interesting drive on Monday.

We are here for Terry's family reunion which is Saturday.

Till next time. . .

Dale