Day 7: Another Day at Cummins

We have been on the road for a week already.  How time flies when you are having fun and new adventures.  Even the Cummins experience has been an adventure, and a taste of what to expect and anticipate whenever there are real issues with the "boy parts" that need to be repaired while on the road.
Other than the inconvenience of spending two days at Cummins here in Kenly, ours was an easy experience, compared to other stories I have heard from folks who have had to have repairs while on the road.  The most recent story was from the lady working at the check-in office at Cherry Hill RV Park in Maryland.
She and her husband retired from teaching and bought themselves an older model RV.  On one of their very first trips, they broke down and they had to be towed for many miles to the nearest dealer.  This happened on a Friday, and the repair shop was closed over the weekend.  They spent three nights waiting in the the repair shop parking lot, hooked up to an electrical outlet in the shop, which at least provided them with electricity to run the fridge and lights.  Fortunately they had water in their tank.  But other than that, there was no wi-fi or TV, or anything else in that industrial part of town.  On Monday, they found out the engine could not be repaired and the only alternative was to replace it. That took several more days before they were finally off. The replaced engine has been worry free since then, and they have been full-timers now for 15 years!  Yes, they had sold their house, have some things stored with a couple of children, have never regretted their decision and love what they are doing.  But it certainly was a trying introduction to RV-ing for them.

We had a great experience at the Cummins dealer by comparison.  Even though it was a bit tedious having to wait the two days for the service to be completed, we had a place to park overnight with water and electrical hookups, a place to stay during the day in their comfortable lounge, a place to eat lunch at the Denny's located within strolling distance, and great weather. Oh, and did I mention complimentary wi-fi as well. 

Today we also had a companion who joined us in the lounge for a few hours while his truck was being worked on.  He was a most entertaining fellow who had bought a food truck and was about to launch his business.  It reminded me of the movie Chef, and I mentioned this to the guy who agreed that it was exactly what he planned to do.  His specialty is going to be creating pita sandwiches with anything you wish in it.  He was so excited about his new venture and his truck that he almost begged me to take a look at it.  He calls his business SoomSoomPitaPockets.

There was one other companion in our lounge today, an older gentleman who had come to pick up his older RV.  He and his wife were heading to the beach for a week, with the RV fully loaded, when it broke down and he was towed here to the Cummins dealer.  His repairs took a whole week to be completed and he was here to pick the RV back up again.

We have no complaints after only two days!  The technicians at Cummins are skilled, knowledgeable, helpful and courteous. They took time to chat with Michael and go over all his concerns and explain things.  The only slight hiccup that was unforeseen but speedily fixed, was replacing a part on the fuel pump. Our technician, Mike, worked hard all day to get the part replaced and get us on our way by day's end.  
Thank you Cummins for taking care of Alpine and us.

Our next destination was Chapel Hill where we have friends we planned to visit.  We also had a couple of items we still needed to find at Walmart and Camping World, both of which were conveniently located on the way to our friends.  
Walmart came first and by the time we pulled into the parking lot, it was already dark and had begun to rain, and it was also too late for Camping World which was already closed. 
For the last many years that we have been RV-ing, we have known that Walmart encourages RV-ers and truckers to park overnight in their parking lot. Tonight was a good opportunity to have our first Walmart overnight experience!  It was also our first boondocking experience, without any hookups.   And it turned out not to be at all bad.  In fact it worked out to be quite convenient.  We were able to shop without rushing (they are open 24 hours), return to our coach, make dinner, and sleep comfortably.  And it is free.  Well, not quite free if you consider that we dropped several bucks inside Walmart first!  But of course Walmart plans on that, and for us it was just as convenient to be able to shop there.  We were the only RV though there were several truckers parked as well.

Flying J's also welcome RV-ers to overnight in their parking lot.  In fact, after we left the Cummins dealer, we stopped at the Flying J Travel Plaza down the road from Cummins to fill up first.  It was surprising to see the number of RV's parked there until we realized that they were actually all parked there for the night.  Mostly they seemed to be older couples (like us!), several hanging about chatting with one another, others taking pets for a walk.  It seemed to be more like a parking lot party with all the activity going on.  

If for some reason we are unable to find an RV park as we continue our travels westward, Walmart and Flying J are certainly good alternatives to keep in mind.