Sunday, we were getting ready to leave on a little vacation time at an RV Resort in Coldwater, MI. Just time away in the RV was the plan, eventually we got loaded, not in any real hurry as check-in was not scheduled until 2:00 PM. Drive time was under 1 hour.

After deciding we were loaded and ready to hook-up the little TOAD, I tried to start Tatanka. She responded with low batteries. Strike 1! Now the batteries are 2018, making them 7 years old. Just bite the bullet and replace them. Head to Sam’s Club, they have two of the necessary batteries. Head back home to install them only to find out that the battery post size is different (too small)! Tried our local hardware for necessary nuts, strike 2. Hop back into the car to the bigger city and checked out 3 automotive parts stores all of them told me you need a hardware store. Strike 3!

Now I am going to Menards to Save Big Money, LOL. I discovered Menards has two batteries with the correct size post. I purchase those, then we go to Sam’s to return the first two batteries. If you have never purchased batteries from Sam’s Club, think about it a minute. They claim they don’t return batteries. They do if you have a Customer Service Team Lead, this took 30 minutes or better to find one and a non-team lead had to teach them how to do the return. By the way, I needed my original batteries too so I could get my core money back from Menards. What I also learned during this experience, Sam’s Club core charge $20; Menards core charge $10. If you don’t have a battery to turn in, go to Menards.

Home again and installed the new batteries. Tatanka reluctantly started up! Success, we can now move the motorhome and hook-up the TOAD!!! I should have stopped when I smelled the smell from the back side of the motorhome. Kind of smelled like burning and skunk. But remember I am female, and no nothing about mechanics. I pulled the motorhome to the driveway, we connected the TOAD, tested the taillights and we are ready.

Winnie is now in the motorhome and ready to go, buckled up and we head down the road….

Yes, you got it all figured out; we made it one mile down the road to the school. I pulled into the school because Tatanka was overheated. I barely made in off the road and the motor died. Guess what, you cannot steer this giant breadbox without the motor running.

1-800-Phone-A-Friend, Larry is awesome; he came right away with a couple of testing tools. But they were not the ones we needed. It was ok, because I do carry tools with me. Eventually, the broken serpentine belt was found. Now decisions come how to get the beast back home. TOAD was disconnected and driven home.

The Sister drove me back to the motorhome, we took two items back with us:

1. Box Fan

2. Extension Cords

The goal to get Tatanka home was to use the Box Fan to cool the radiator. With the use of pool noodles (not just for swimming) and bungee straps, the fan was positioned to cool the radiator. We started the generator and plugged in the fan. To get the motorhome to the house, it took two stops along the road to cool back down. The good news Tatanka is home!

A new serpentine belt is on the way. And the A/C pump motor is seized. The search begins to find the proper part. Once that is found, the local body shop will come to the house and complete the work.

Sorry to report, I don’t have any pictures of our adventure. I could go recreate the box fan setup… it is just too darn hot to do any such thing.

Now Tatanka is grounded until she can play nice again. Best we get this out of the system now before our adventures to Alaska begin in 2026!