TC travels, 2014 TR, Pg 904, 2015 TR pg 964

Dale L

We've learned what a great effort it takes on the part of everyone in addition to $$$$$ to make this work.

We have been very lucky to have all of the friendly pieces fitting together.

Little did PJ know what a task he'd taken on when he decided to have Mike Lentz RV work on his 2005 Lance 1161...

first.. the hold up waiting on Lentz to recover from a a business totaling fire and the rebirth of their business as Southend RVRepair

then keeping up with the heart wrenching tear down of his camper Ashe watched areas of rot that he'd never suspected.

So many people would have given up.... but not PJ. He and M loved their 1161 and never looked back... they kept their eyes on the finished camper.

PJ visited and documented like others would have with a sick child. He shared everything with his friends and truck Camper family on the truck camper forum.

We had been friends for years and watched with curious interest, thankful that we would never have major problems like that.

I had been stopped in my tracks by medical problems, hospital time etc. for quite some time.

Our 1161 sat under our huge carport waiting.... with the front left corner of the cabover needing a little help. And maybe fix that rear passenger corner a little.... Oh heck! Maybe that area between the slide out and the propane locker.... but I needed fixing first.

As I recovered I marveled at PJ's repair and decided that we should take our camper to the same shop. We'd been all over and seen a lot of poor repair facilities encluding national chains... no, PJ's guys were the best.

I phoned PJ and lots of emails....

but knowing that I couldn't deliver the camper. I wasn't that recovered.

But how could I get it there... maybe get one of the camper delivery transports to take it back when the made a delivery from a manufacturer in the north west... the way I reasoned it though it wouldn't work. We'd have to ship it empty... and later we'd have to drive the truck up. We wouldn't have the stuff that makes our TC's home.

I mused some more... what if someone would deliver it on their vacation... Janet was thumbs down. "I don't want people we don't know in our camper, what about liability?"

I was still communicating with PJ... and had talked with Mike Lentz.

I came up with the one person in the world that had all of the qualifications to do it... but he had already scheduled his travel for the year... and he lived in England. I was determined and broached the subject with him a little at a time. But we'd have to wait a year. We started making plans and reservations for 16 months away.

I could have handled it this year but the plans were made, Steve would be flying in from India by way of London. How could I mess with that?

By this year another friend had slipped in and PJ was the eyes and ears for Harold who was a couple of thousand miles away. That turned out to be good for me and Harold... he got his 1161 repaired and Dave the chief rebuilder got even more experience ferreting out nasty areas of rot and ruin, cracks and breaks.

Without the Blessings of PJ, Steve, Dave, and Mike I wouldn't be sitting here waiting on PJs next report... I no longer hold my breath... but we get mighty excited.