On our way home, we had a breakdown on the road and tested out our roadside assistance. We were cruising along California 58 heading for Barstow to catch I-40. We were just west of Boron (home of the 20 mule team). just after passing Kramer Station Rd the highway made a wierd jog to the right to cross over to the south side of the railroad tracks. I could tell it would be a rough crossing so I let off the pedal to cross the tracks with as little banging as possible and once I crossed I stepped on the accelerator and felt no power. I looked down and the tachometer is reading zero but I had oil pressure! I shifted into neutral oil pressure dropped to zero and coasted along until I found the widest level area I could find to stop on the side of the road. Once stopped I put it into park and tried to start the RV. It cranked over just fine but no sign of life, had to be no fuel or no spark. I checked fuses as best I could but most were hard to see, hard to get to or would not come out with my fingers.

Well that takes me to the part where I am pleased to say our roadside assistance took really good care of us and they made sure we got towed to a place that could work on a large RV and do so right away. We were 30 miles west of Mojave and got towed back there where the only Large Truck/RV service center is located within 100+ miles. If we had to break down, this middle of the desert location turned out to be the best possible place it could have happened (didn’t seem when I pulled over). The shop is http://www.deserttruckservice.com/index.html

The shop found a blown fuse for the engine computer. After replacing and after blowing the 15 amp fuses, they tried a 40 amp and it was instantly toasted and they realized there was a really bad short. They spent four hours trying to trace down the short and found it under the cruise control bracket that had broken and vibration led to 4 severed wires. After repairing the wires, they welded up the bracket and saved me a bunch of money and time compared to ordering a new bracket. We only lost one day of travel and I am so glad they were able to get us going this fast given the scope of the problem and the amount of work they had going on.