MARV Has Had a Few More Issues

Apparently,  the bad sensor issue, that cost Liberty On Tour valuable time and cash, was just a bit of foreshadowing of things to come. Recently, MARV has been experiencing a spate of mechanical problems as outlined by Pete on their latest blog post at the main Liberty On Tour site:

• Last Thursday after shooting content for a couple of stories in St. Louis MARV died in an intersection. The next day we were back on the road with a new crank shaft sensor and $550 less in our budget. And at their request, we left the folks at Tom’s Truck Repair with some literature from LOT and our advertisers.

• On Friday night, after a panel discussion at the Show-Me Institute and a meetup down the street, we drove 30min. and parked at Harrah’s Casino to put us closer to our next stop – Denver. But, when Adam attempted to exit MARV to play a few hands of poker while I slept we found that the door wouldn’t open. A metal piece inside the lock had sheered off. The next morning, after taking a cue from Dukes of Hazzard to enter/exit MARV, we picked up a new lock mechanism for $76 from an RV place just outside of Kansas City.

• Last night, after joining a fruitful Liberty Restoration Project meeting and grabbing a bite with Brad Spangler, we hit the road – eager to put a dent in our 10hr drive. But that wasn’t in the cards. One of our rear tires blew out almost as soon as we left town. This morning we creeped a mile and a half to Dale’s Service in De Soto, KS, borrowed a 20-ton bottle jack and impact wrench and swapped out the then-mangled tire with the spare. Dale requested $3 – his cost to dispose of the tire. We offered him more (as it was a huge help) and he finally agreed to take enough to cover a meal. He agreed that government was too big and invasive.

• As I write this MARV is at D & D Tire Inc. in Lawrence, KS getting two new tires (another of MARV’s rear tires, which we had gotten last year, isn’t in good shape and we have to replace the spare).  We decided it’d be a good investment to get new tires. And it’d provide us with a piece of mind and keep LOT on rolling. Per the prices we were quoted I’m guessing this will be about $450.

Those of here in Vegas are hoping that talk Adam and Pete had with MARV will keep and there will be no more unscheduled stops at repair shops. We'd also like to remind everyone that they can help offset these new, unexpected expenses by donating and/or purchasing an LOT t-shirt.