[VAC] Re: Caravan major breakdown.

["Terry Tyler" <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim, (JSmith1805@aol.com)

The caravan that Sandie and I went on last month occurred in the United States and as we have said
before, we know our 23 year old truck (almost 300,000 miles of severe service on it) will need
mechanical upgrades - period. At inconvenient places? Absolutely! Without a doubt!  

You know from reading our caravan log, the Van required service during the caravan. Fortunately,
none of the upgrades were of the magnitude you experienced. If we had a problem as significant as
you had AND were in Mexico, I might not have fared any better than you did. But, then again, I might
have. 

From what you wrote, it sounded to me like you felt abandoned when the leader didn't check on you
nor did headquarters offer any assistance. That may not have colored your thinking, but it would
have affected mine AND my decision making skills. I'd have been ticked off at myself for allowing
myself to have mis-read the relationship I thought I had with the company offering the caravan. 

I'd have been annoyed at myself for allowing myself to have false expectations and for failing to
put together enough resources (before the caravan) to reasonably deal with such a situation. Even
though I may not have known how to prepare those resources, I'd still be ticked at myself for not
trying. 

But, to answer your question "How is a major breakdown handled in your caravan?" On our caravan, if
I had a major breakdown, I would have called my emergency road service and I would have arranged for
towing to a garage where the problem would be solved. I would have called the Caravan Leader to
update him and assure him we'd be along as soon as the work was done. Bottom line. How would it have
been handled? I would have handled it. Just like you did.  

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net