We were are a remote campsite in the Inyo Nation Forest below White Mountain at 8530' elevation, temperatures were soaring into the mid 90's. We had no transmission, no forward no reverse. We made a flowchart of our tow options, and ideally what we would like to do is, Go Home! We have three forms of insurance that offer towing in some form. AAA Premier RV, National General, and a post card that came with the packet of literature on the Airstream, Coach-net complimentary insurance from Airstream. The card reads, “Unlimited towing for the trailer and the tow vehicle.” It sounded too good to be true but we decide, that’s our first call. Only one more problem, no service on our cell phones.
We were told we may receive a cell signal at the top of the hill overlooking the campground. "If you get to a place where you can see Bishop, you will probably get a signal."
We hike up the mountain, bright and early. The ground is a loose slate like rock, that’s it. Virtually no soil just this rock. It is not hard to notice the thin air at this altitude. We take breaks and drink water. We pause looking down we can see over the campground, our truck and trailer are little dots. To the left is DeathValley to the right a snow capped Mt. Whitney. The highest and lowest elevations in the United Sytates. We get a partial signal, 1 bar. We tried our call, signal failed. We head up higher. We make our way to a small ridge. Two bars then we hear our phones start to ping. The familiar pings and bings that emails and notices are being received, we have four bars! We make our call and secure a tow. I only go to this detail as it was very simple to deal with Coach-net and secure the tow. We did not have a consistent signal and really could not waste dickering with an insurance co. Coach-net was really responsive. Thank you Airstream!!!
On the bright side, it was really a beautiful hike we would not have otherwise taken I took photos of the flowering plants growing out of this rocky shale. I am thinking no soil, no water, no air, and yet beauty!
A couple of hours later our tow arrives. The truck went to our local Honda Dealer and the trailer was expertly parked in our backyard. A couple of days later the verdict was in on the Honda, the fluid was burnt. Nothing a double flushing with new fluids couldn’t cure.
I recommend Coach-net!
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