Breaking Down is Hard to DoMurray the vintage motor home is starting to show his age. Houses weren't meant to move around, and cars weren't meant to be comfortable places in which to live. Certainly, blending the two together is probably not the best idea, mechanically speaking. Murray, our home, is only 25 years old, and by most "home" standards, that's hardly broken in. But most homes haven't "traveled around the world" three times. No, Murray hasn't circumnavigated even once, but he has over 100,000 miles under his wheels.
Granted, the GMC motor home is a classic and arguably the finest symbiosis of automobile and house ever to come along. But even Murray has his bad days. With at least one major breakdown every day of the first eight days on the road, our journey became not so much about getting to Rob's brother's wedding on time, but making it to Avon Park, Fla., in one piece. We discovered a gasoline leak exactly halfway through a 100-mile stretch filled with beautiful Utah scenery and "No Services."
Passing through Kansas City at night, we lost all electrical power, including that which provides sparks to the engine, lights to see and be seen, and blinkers to warn of our frantic dash across three lanes of traffic. It was as if Murray's soul was suddenly summoned to the great beyond in some automotive rapture, while we were left to wrestle his earthly remains to the side of the freeway. With patience and a full toolbox of emergency supplies, however, we finally limped past Avon Park to Okeechobee, Fla., the mechanical Mecca of the GMC Motorhome, Sirum GMC.
A great motor home mechanic must be the best of any tradesman that has ever crossed your threshold. Time spent at a seminary should also be a qualification, because, sadly, an exorcism or last rites are often the only fix for a motor home. We found Sirum GMC where we find most of our best discoveries—on the Internet. Surfing GMC websites, the name "Sirum GMC" kept coming up; message boards and chat rooms were full of "Alex and Jeff Sirum"-this and "Alex and Jeff Sirum"-that. This experience is not unique to GMC owners. Almost any make of car has a large group of devotees online who can tell you exactly where, when, and how to service your vehicle.
We're back on the road, and while new problems come up just about every day, we love knowing that there's a place in Florida where our mechanic will make it all better.
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