Need for flexible travel plans

[Red RT-S]

We left Newport, VT on Wednesday, Sept. 9 for the Ozarks. Nice trip through KY with a stop at Mammoth Caves. Got to Branson on Tuesday the 15th. Went to the hospital at 1:30 a.m on Wednesday morning with pneumonia. :( Got discharged late Thursday afternoon ;)and decided to cut the trip short and head home rather than go to the Outer Banks as we had planned. Trip home was going fine until this morning when I got several error messages. Got the E in the gear indicator, flashing Reverse & Nuetral lights, the check engine light and finally check transmission error. We made it to Pioneer Motorsports in Chaffee, NY shortly after noon. They were very helpful and started to work on it while we had lunch. After lunch came the bad news. They tried to re-flash the ECU and it froze. After an hour on the phone with BRP it was decided that BRP would overnight a new ECU to Pioneer, but by then it might have been too late to get the part out today, but they would try. Tomorrow we should know if they got the part out in time. If not we will be spending 2 more nights here because Poneer is closed on Wednesday which will mean they will not get the part until Thursday, then still have to install it. Pioneer has been very helpful, giving us a 2015 RT-S loaner and helping us find a motel. (they are scarce in this area) We had planned a couple days at a casino in MS, but gave that up when we decided to head home. My wife, however, found there is a casino not too far from here, so if we are stuck here 2 days she may get her casino time afterall. She did, however, say she would rather be home than here at a casino. Never thought I'd hear that from her.

[rpatsh]

We left Newport, VT on Wednesday, Sept. 9 for the Ozarks. Nice trip through KY with a stop at Mammoth Caves. Got to Branson on Tuesday the 15th. Went to the hospital at 1:30 a.m on Wednesday morning with pneumonia. :( Got discharged late Thursday afternoon ;)and decided to cut the trip short and head home rather than go to the Outer Banks as we had planned. Trip home was going fine until this morning when I got several error messages. Got the E in the gear indicator, flashing Reverse & Nuetral lights, the check engine light and finally check transmission error. We made it to Pioneer Motorsports in Chaffee, NY shortly after noon. They were very helpful and started to work on it while we had lunch. After lunch came the bad news. They tried to re-flash the ECU and it froze. After an hour on the phone with BRP it was decided that BRP would overnight a new ECU to Pioneer, but by then it might have been too late to get the part out today, but they would try. Tomorrow we should know if they got the part out in time. If not we will be spending 2 more nights here because Poneer is closed on Wednesday which will mean they will not get the part until Thursday, then still have to install it. Pioneer has been very helpful, giving us a 2015 RT-S loaner and helping us find a motel. (they are scarce in this area) We had planned a couple days at a casino in MS, but gave that up when we decided to head home. My wife, however, found there is a casino not too far from here, so if we are stuck here 2 days she may get her casino time afterall. She did, however, say she would rather be home than here at a casino. Never thought I'd hear that from her.
Good luck with the repair and the rest of your trip. Hope everything else goes as planned.

[Bfromla]

Sounds like it all will work out:2thumbs: You can take advantage of casinos (they love out -of- towners) hopefully pneumonia was the worst of it & your past that:thumbup: Curious as why you would try a trip feeling as you must have (not a quick onset,for most) but enjoy all you can Mammoth cave was great last time I was there for sure.

[Brentc]

The good news is that you have exhausted all of the bad luck. Nothing left but good luck before you hit the casinos.......if thing go bad let me know. I'm only an hour from where you are and if I can help out I will. Have trailer if needed.

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: Wow! This sure has been some adventure... nojoke
Some of the best travel tales come out of trip plans that have blown up... Look at it as fresh entertainment material to use on your friends. :D

And the best of luck to you both in the casinos... :yes:

[SpyderAnn01]

Sorry to hear about the troubles on your trip but it sounds like you found a good dealer. I hope they get you fixed up tomorrow and back on the road.

[PrairieSpyder]

I'm glad you're feeling better and that your wife's luck will be good at the casino. Like Bob D said, you'll have some good stories of woe to tell you friends.


The good news is that you have exhausted all of the bad luck. Nothing left but good luck before you hit the casinos.......if thing go bad let me know. I'm only an hour from where you are and if I can help out I will. Have trailer if needed.

That's a nice offer. Spyderlovers are the greatest! :thumbup:

[Ex Winger]

Shure hope things turn out ok.Sucks to break down on a trip.Keep us posted
Bill

[Red RT-S]

Sounds like it all will work out:2thumbs: You can take advantage of casinos (they love out -of- towners) hopefully pneumonia was the worst of it & your past that:thumbup: Curious as why you would try a trip feeling as you must have (not a quick onset,for most) but enjoy all you can Mammoth cave was great last time I was there for sure.

I felt fine when I left home. No sign of any ailment until I had a sore throat on Tuesday morning (6 days inot the trip) that cleared up during the day, but by midnight I was having trouble breather so went to the ER. Came on very quickly I thought, but prompt treatment seemed to clear it up pretty quickly too.

[Red RT-S]

The good news is that you have exhausted all of the bad luck. Nothing left but good luck before you hit the casinos.......if thing go bad let me know. I'm only an hour from where you are and if I can help out I will. Have trailer if needed.

Thanks for the offer of help, but I think we are all set. When the bike started acting up this morning I thought we might need it, but she held together until we got to Pioneer Motorsports. I was praying that it didn't quit, at least until we got within the towing limit of our BEST warranty or my AMA towing limit.

[ARtraveler]

Glad to hear that most is working out now. Keep us posted on your safe return home. :yes:

[Red RT-S]

BRP did a great job of getting the new ECU to Pioneer Motorsports, and Pioneer installed it Tuesday morning. We were back on the road shortly after noon, but not without more problems. After getting on the NY Thruway near Rochester we again got the check engine, check transmission, E in the gear indicator and flashing reverse and neutral lights. They cleared up quickly, however, and we made it to Watertown, NY for the night. Wednesday morning we stopped at the Akwesasne Casino in Hogansburg. (Had to give the wife her casino fix.) When we left, however, the shifting was very odd. The bike stumbled with each shift but again eventually cleared itself and ran normally. Stopped at Roberts Sports Center in Malone. Their diagnosis was that the new ECU had not been initialized. They initialized it, and it ran perfectly the rest of the way home. Can't say it was the most enjoyable trip we have taken, and we missed Spyderquest to take it. Next year it will be back to Spyderquest. But I will say that I was very impressed with the effort made by BRP, Pioneer and Roberts, even if there was a slight oversight on initializing the ECU. We were never left stranded, and now things seem to be normal.