A Tornado, A Train, and A Flood – “OH MY!”

How this whole motorhome thing got started

Article and Photos by Greg Rickman, Tiffin Ambassador

I grew up camping.  You know, the old timey kind, sleeping in a sleeping bag on the ground while fishing with my dad and grandfather.  My dad used to put a rope around my sleeping bag and tell me it would keep the snakes away.  Of course I believed him, otherwise he wouldn’t have got any sleep.

Then we went through the progression that a lot of American families go thru, that is to move up to bigger and better RV’s.  My dad got a truck camper, then a travel trailer and finally a fifth wheel.  I never thought about buying a motorhome back then, but it was something my dad always dreamed of.

Fast forward to 2010.  I decided I wanted to introduce my wife Tina to the wonderful world of camping.  After all, she is very social and makes friends easily and she loves the outdoors, so what could go wrong, right?  So I bought a brand new popup camper with the giant tents on the end.  Well after 3 hours setting it up and waking up with a big wolf spider lying next to her, she decided that was not for her!

I would spend countless hours at the Tiffin exhibit while at the Tampa show, soaking up everything I could about the product and my selected model.  The Tiffin employees there were so warm and inviting, answering every question I asked.  One employee, Danny Inman, who is now retired, spent several hours just sitting inside one of the show models educating me about motorhomes.  I even got to drive two different models to help me make my decision.  NONE of the other manufacturers offered anything like that and were only interested in a sale.  I couldn’t even get a knowledgeable answer to a question.

With retirement at hand and our selection made, we ordered our new Phaeton and began our wait for it’s build.  Our house sold and we moved some belongings to my folks’ home in east Tennessee.  And then, COVID reared its ugly head.  But we decided to push forward and prayed it didn’t affect anything in the build of our new motorhome.  If you’ve read this far, I think you know the outcome of that.

So what about the tornado, the train and the flood you ask?  I’m getting to that.

Our new motorhome was finished at the end of March, 2021.  We had to break our first appointment to pick it up at the dealer because my elderly father became ill.  We were about to leave for our second pickup appointment when my wife started complaining about pain in her side.  A sudden trip to the doctor revealed an about to burst gall bladder which required immediate emergency surgery.   Bummed out does not describe it.  I was beginning to think this wasn’t going to happen.

So the surgery is a success and with stitches still in place, we finally headed to Mississippi to pick up our brand new motorhome.  I could just picture it sitting on the lot, beaming in the bright sunshine, maybe an aura of bright light raining down from Heaven and a glorious chorus singing.  Maybe throw in a red carpet leading up to the door.  Oh what a wonderful day this was going to be!

Wrong.  What I got was over 12 inches of rain over the past 48 hours, which flooded the dealership, including the front offices and shop.  In fact, it was raining so hard when we pulled into the lot, I nearly ran into the front of our brand new motorhome because I couldn’t see it!  Then I get more good news:  because of COVID, there were no technicians to PDI the motorhome with us as they had all quit.  Yes, quit.

So, the sales person recommended we stay in the motorhome on their lot for the first night to test all of the systems for proper operation.  Don’t know how that would have made any difference with no technicians to fix anything, but oh well, lets give it a shot.

So we signed over the bank check and prepared for our first night.  The dealership closed at 5PM and it finally stopped raining at 5:30PM.   We decided to run out for some dinner and groceries.  As I walked toward my Jeep, my phone started blaring an unfamiliar noise.  About the time I noticed it said “TORNADO WARNING, TAKE COVER”, I heard the sirens going off.  Now my wife, who being from Florida had never heard tornado sirens before, asked me what was wrong.  As I scanned the horizon, I turned to my left and there was this gigantic dark cloud with a tornado descending from it and moving right toward us.  We ran to the Jeep and quickly parked between two other motorhomes but it was already upon us and we watched as this huge tornado went directly over our brand new motorhome we had just purchased one hour before.  I was beginning to think we had made a bad decision.

Still shaking from that experience, we got ready for our first night.  After finally getting to sleep around midnight, imagine our surprise when at 1:30am we were scared awake by this extremely loud horn that sounded like it was right next to our bed.  Turns out it nearly was, in all of the earlier excitement, we failed to notice a train track located about 30 feet from the side of the motorhome!  I don’t think I have ever jumped out of bed so fast.  Then at 5:30am, another one went by and did it again!  At this point, I was ready to abandon ship and ask for our money back.

The next morning, with sleepy eyes, our sales person recommended we take the rig to Red Bay as there was some issues.  I literally got a 5 minute orientation about the motorhome and was handed some keys.  We left and drove the small back roads, flinching at every truck that went by us, until we reached the Tiffin Service Center.  Thank God, I thought, these people will help us.

So we checked in, filled out all of the paperwork, and proceeded to site #39.  Now keep in mind, I only had a 5 minute orientation so I had written the setup procedure on a small piece of paper.  I pull into the site correctly, ok that went well.  Now put the transmission in neutral, pull airbrake, done.  Then I told Tina to stay outside while I leveled.  I then hit the auto level button for my first leveling and I hear this loud BOOM come from the basement.  It sounded like an IED had went off.  My first thought was, is that normal?  I mean after all, this is our first motorhome.  At that time, Tina begins to scream “there is something pouring out of the bottom!”  I came outside to find hydraulic fluid pouring out of the basement.  The boom I heard was the hydraulic pump blowing both O rings at the same time.  Now I’m starting to panic.  After all, this was the biggest purchase we had ever made and obviously, things were not going well.

But a very kind man, who was also at the service center, (wish I remembered who it was) assured me everything would be fine, that I was in the right place for this sort of thing.  He told me what to do and who to speak with.  Next morning, I met with the service manager and that’s when I got my first taste of the outstanding Tiffin service that I had heard people speak of.  As soon as this issue was brought to their attention, I was in a service bay within 30 minutes.  It turned out to be a pretty simple fix.  My stress level dropped a couple of notches.

After a few days there, we left and headed toward east Tennessee.  I wanted to spend Father’s Day with my elderly dad and show him the motorhome.  We pulled into a rest area 90 miles from home and when we tried to leave, the step motor had broken and the steps would not store.  After several hours of working with the roadside service company, it turned out to be only a wire that broke.   We finally made it home at 1:00AM, weary, tired and scared of what we just bought.  But my dad was waiting in the driveway, very proud that his son was able to buy what he had only dreamed of.  Sadly, this was my last Father’s Day with him as he died two months later from COVID.

A shake down weekend followed after that and that’s when we started to notice different things wrong with the motorhome.  We returned to Red Bay with a list of things to repair.  Most of the things were cosmetic like cabinetry and furniture, remnants of the COVID plague when parts and skilled labor were in short supply. 

But there were some other serious issues that prompted me to have a sit down meeting with Mr. Bob and the service manager.  It was at that meeting that I began to feel better about the situation.  Because Mr. Bob looked me in the eye and promised me that he would make this motorhome right no matter what it took.  He gave me his word on it.  And that is exactly what he did.

He instructed his electrical engineers to get involved.  A manager was assigned to oversee the issues and get them corrected.  Senior technicians were assigned.  Turned out to be something as simple as two ground wires installed incorrectly which loosened and shorted out and a Spider connection that was wired wrong.  They said it would probably turn out to be the simplest thing.  And they were right.

 Yes, it took me multiple trips to Red Bay to get these issues addressed.  Yes, I was thinking I should have never bought it.  But I was promised as long as I didn’t give up, they wouldn’t give up either.  So I didn’t and they didn’t and together we figured out what was causing all of the problems.  And what I learned is that these things are man made and will have problems from time to time.   Believe me, we had way more than our fair share, just ask any of our friends.  But I also learned that sometimes a handshake and a promise can go a long way.  Cause just as I had heard, Mr. Bob was true to his word and delivered on his promise.  And for some reason, I never doubted it.  And that’s how this whole motorhome thing started.