John & Rana got everything ready to
go a couple of days in advance then on the morning of departure John
hooked me up to the coach and we headed for South Dakota. It was a
cool June day but very windy; in fact we would be driving into a 30
mph headwind for most of day. I was working quite hard towing into
the headwind and John really didn't push too hard and just waste
fuel; holding 60 mph took 85% throttle all the time. Some miles west
of Sioux Falls a retired couple towing a travel trailer pulled up
along us in the left lane of I-90 and were trying to tell us
something was wrong. John slowed down and the retired couple pulled
in front of us and then onto the shoulder. We stopped behind them
and the driver told John that the roof on the coach was bellowing up!
John said it was very hard to hear or understand this guy because of
the wind and the gusts that were blowing everything around. After
looking the roof over from the ground John thanked the couple and
decided that there wasn't anything he could do along the shoulder of
the interstate. We proceeded West at a lower speed to keep the
bellowing to a minimum until John pulled into a rest area just a few
miles down the road. A true blessing.
Rana went inside while John climbed
onto the roof to survey the damage and determine what to do next.
Rana reported that the front (bedroom) vent was broken and missing
the cover, fan and mounting bracket. John confirmed that the front
vent was pretty much gone but there were no tears or holes in the
rubber membrane. It was only stretched or pulled back from the front
cap of the coach as well as loose in the center. After discussing a
couple of ideas with Rana, they decided to use two ratchet straps
wrapped around the front of the coach to prevent the rubber membrane
from catching the wind. Once the straps were installed we then all
hit the road again to make it to our overnight stop in Chamberland,
SD. In the campground John rechecked the straps as well as the roof
and he said there was no further movement. Hooray!
We were up early the next morning and
back on the road to Gillette; with all of us feeling more confident.
Since the straps were working John & Rana saw no point in
stopping at a RV repair place to repair the roof which would take
days. As we arrived in Gillette (Cam-Plex) the rally organizers had
a registration trailer setup and staffed. John & Rana were given
a bag of goodies, lots of smiles and then asked what the red straps
were for; we told them the short version of our adventure, then
headed to our site. As I pulled the coach down the long rows of Big
Horns and Landmarks people were looking at us like we had been to
hell and back. As John centered the coach in site 91 five or six
Heartland techs descended on us wanting to climb up on the roof.
Before John could unhook me from the coach the techs were up on the
roof looking at what needed to be done to repair everything. Word
had spread fast that our roof was coming apart and needed immediate
repair. John talked with the techs and it was agreed the techs would
come back the next morning to repair all the damage so they had time
to work before dark as well as get parts.
8:00 AM arrived and the Heartland techs
were raring to go! Within fifteen minutes the front cap was off and
the membrane peeled back. All vents, antennae and other protrusions
were removed as well as side trim. The techs cleaned, prepped the
roof decking prior of spreading out new adhesive. The techs laid the
rubber membrane out over the new adhesive, the trim reinstalled or
replaced and then cap was refitted and caulked. While all this was
going on a tech was inside replacing the front vent/fan with a new
Fantastic Fan. This had to be done because the techs found a small
tear in the membrane around the front vent and instead of trying to
use caulk or sealer to fix it they wanted to install the Fantastic
Fan because it has a larger mounting flange that would cover and seal
the small tear. Four hours and a whole lot of spectators later the
job was done! You can't tell there was ever a problem. Way to go
Heartland!!!
After all that excitement one would
think the rest of the rally would be boring. Nope; John & Rana
were busy sun up to past 10:00 PM everyday with seminars, classes,
dinners or just simple get together with new friends. “The evening
prior to everyone leaving was kind of sad” John said but they were
really looking forward to meeting everyone again at the next rally.
The next morning everybody was busy getting everything unhooked and
put away prior to a small breakfast together and then final goodbyes.
It was now off to Rapid City, Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills.
May the road you travel be a smooth
one,
Max
