TucsonJim

Great Trip so Far, but diversion required.

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We left Tucson on the 9th of June. We headed west into California for several days, then north to Oregon to visit family. From Oregon, we turned east, and headed through Idaho to see our son and his family in Salt Lake city. From Salt Lake, we headed east into Wyoming, with the intention of heading north and up over the UP of Michigan towards New England. But unfortunately, our plans were waylaid by a significant failure with our Reflection.

The 337RLS has been remarkable, and mostly trouble free with one glaring exception. Before we left, we found out that the Atwood refrigerator did not work on AC power. We would have had to significantly delay our departure if we took it to the dealer for repairs, so we elected to hit the road since it was working well on gas. About five days ago, it became intermittent on gas also, and the temperature of the food became unsafe. After calls to GD and Atwood, it was determined the best course of action was to divert our trip and head towards Indiana in order for the Atwood factory representative to either repair the refrigerator or replace it. We'd tried to get to a couple of Atwood repair centers, but when we talked to them, they don't stock parts for our unit, or they couldn't get us in for several days. So, we drove 850 miles in the last two days in order to be here to meet the Atwood rep (Monday) morning. I'll keep you all posted on the outcome. Evidently, this refrigerator model has been experiencing lots of bugs.


While on Interstate 80, we saw six different Reflections. In fact, I met a guy in Illinois today who picked up his 303 just yesterday. I made sure to tell him about the forum. We have yet to see a Solitude or Momentum.

Even with all the mountain driving out west, we have averaged about 11.3 mpg towing our reflection. We've now passed 3500 miles on our trip, and we've had no towing problems at all. Our fuel prices ranged from $3.61 (Nebraska) to $5.19 (California). The Westlake tires are holding up good, and I've only had to add air one time due to a leaking valve stem on one tire. I use a TPMS system to make sure we don't get any surprises.

Hopefully, we'll be on the road soon with a fully functional reefer, and get back on track towards Maine, with many stops along the way. If we get done soon enough tomorrow, I'll give the GD factory a call and see if we can get a tour of the facility.
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Comments

  1. Justaguy's Avatar
    Man, I sure hate to hear about those problems with the fridge. We are keeping an eye on ours. Let us know what the rep says.

    Where are ya staying? The Amish countryside is sure beautiful there and the produce is outstanding. We got several 2 and 3 pound tomatoes from the stands on the side of the road.
  2. TucsonJim's Avatar
    We're staying at the Shipshewana South RV Park. I'm hoping the repairs will be speedy and we can get some time to sight see and buy some of the local products.

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