[Richard]

Lessons:

Run with at least 1/2 tank of water. Even in the mountains.
If you get Non Volatile Check Sum error. Get the DDEC replaced ASAP.
(Since our son is a hotshot computer coder, let me translate that message into plain English) Non Volatile means something that is NOT supposed to change. Check Sum means the computer code is corrupted, kind of like my own brain. So the really important instructions in the computer are scrambled.
If you are not off the road in the first four hours, get a tow. I was overconfident in my ability to fix it.
If you are on the road, disconnect the car, back it up 150 feet and turn on the flashers. Let them hit the car, not you.
I am a fan of “when you hear hoof beats think horses, not zebras” . That usually works, but in this case in 15 years of Newell forum stalking, I have NEVER heard of a fuel pick up tube fracturing. In this case the problem turned out to be albino Pygmy Unicorns not horses.

Last and most valuable lesson of all. Marry the right woman. Rhonda was perfect. She never asked my unanswerable questions. She was patient. She was adamant when I might have jeopardized my own safety. And she was a fantastic sounding board when I needed to talk about strategy.

The last issue is which problem came first? Fuel pick up tube or computer. I think it was the fuel tube for one reason. The fuel bowl was empty when the coach first stopped. If the computer had died first, there would have still been fuel in the bowl .

Of course, when we return home, the tank will come out and a truly robust fuel pick up tube will be installed.

And a programmed DDEC IV computer and a programmed Allison computer are going in the spares collection.