Last week, in the Festival town of Stratford, Ontario, I parked the traveling rig too close to a concrete light standard on a residential street and went to dinner.
You already know the rest…..
Getting back into the truck I forgot about the pole and forgot to sharp-turn into the street, instead easing away from the curb and crushing the Zip Dee awning and breaking the beautiful vintage grab bar at the door.
That made a BIG BANG that got me out of the cab in a hurry and neighbors running out to see what had happened.
At first I couldn’t see any damage commensurate to all the noise so asked “ What did I hit?” “ The pole” a resident on the street yelled, pointing, “ look at the paint on it”.
Then I saw the damage, piece by piece: One awning flange pulled out, the other snapped. Both arms bent. The vintage grab bar destroyed.
The grab bar made me really sad; I was sure it was going to be hard to replace.
Luckily I had a spare bungee cord aboard and was able to secure the broken arm for the trip back to Winter Quarters at Aylmer.
The next day I headed for London and Can Am RV, wondering how much damage I’d really done and how long it would take to get the parts from Chicago.
When I pulled unannounced onto the lot there was the usual crowd of admirers wanting to take photos of the rig, the more so since this was an Airstream dealership. Nobody noticed the damage.
But the friendly staff didn’t just look; they wanted to help. A parts lady quickly went to fetch somebody from the shop to assess the damage. The nice young man gave her a list of the parts needed and suggested a work-around on the handle, one that would avoid tearing out the inner skin.
Can Am had EVERYTHING that I needed IN STOCK. I even got their last remaining vintage handle and was on my way within the hour.
Thanks to Can Am and my friends at Wiltsie Truck Bodies my beauty will be back to her pretty self by next week.
Would that everyone was lucky enough to have an Airstream Dealer this good.
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