Finally we are starting to leave the cold weather behind. With the temperature in the mid 40's it was actually quite pleasant to take the dogs out for their morning constitutional. I didn't even put my winter gloves on!!
With an offer of coffee and donuts from the campground managers we walked over to the clubhouse around 8:00 AM only to find the donuts hadn't arrived and the coffee, though hot, left much to be desired.Disappointed we returned to our coach and made our own coffee. With a bowl of cereal and cup of coffee we watched the news then cleaned up. After putting everything away we disconnected from shore power, water and cable then hit the road. Driving through downtown Deming we eased our way out to the freeway and continued our drive along I-10 headed for Tucson and the Crazy Horse RV Campground (http://www.crazyhorserv.com/ ).
We stopped for fuel in Wilcox Arizona. What an experience. We pulled into the big T/A Travel Center service station and stopped in the big rig diesel fueling station. I went in to the service counter and handed the lady my Shell CC and asked for a fill up on pump 19. She said since I was an RV I should go to the other side of the service area and fill up at the RV Service island.
Grumbling at the inconvenience of having to move, we drove out of the station and around to the RV Service island. As I was about to get ready to pump, a service technician came over and asked me to move to a different pump as he was just about to change the filters on my pump. Wonderful.
So for a second time we pulled out of the station, went around the block and re-entered the RV Service station at the island he recommended. Once we were finally stopped, back inside the office I went to ask the lady who still had my Shell card to turn on the pump. Then it was back out to the pump to start fueling. They must have had a restrictor on the line as it took more than fifteen minutes to pump 46 gallons of diesel.
After completing the fueling operation it was back into the office to pay. That's when the fun really began. The lady who was helping me couldn't get the card to work. The other sales lady tried and she couldn't get it to work. So the first one called in to the Shell credit card people for an authorization. They denied the request. So I had to get a different card out to finish getting our fuel. By the time we finished and got back on the road it had taken almost 45 minutes to fill up, a task normally done in less than fifteen from start to finish. Oh well, I'm sure a good time was had by all, heheheh!
From Wilcox we drove across the flats then started up and over the Dragoon Mountains. Just before topping out Tina noticed a smell coming from the back. I looked at the gauges and saw that the temperature gauge was in the "Hot" range. As the smell continued to get worse, we got a break in traffic and I was able to slow down. Then a real break, as a mile further on we pulled into a rest stop to let the engine cool down. Apparently I'd been hot footing it up the hills maintaining too much speed. Once the engine cooled down a bit I took the bikes off the rack, removed the bike rack and took down the ladder. Then I opened the door to the engine compartment to see if there was an identifiable problem. The coolant overflow tank showed fluids at the correct level and the oil seemed okay so I closed the door and reloaded the ladder, bike rack and bikes.
When that was done we fired up the rig and gently eased back onto the freeway where I held our speed between 55 and 60 mph for the remaining fifty miles to our campground. With a careful eye on the temperature gauge, everything stayed in the normal range but it was a lesson to remember, keep an eye on the gauges!
With no further problems we registered and pulled into our site. It's a beautiful afternoon with the temperature about 70. After lunch we took the kids for a long leisurely walk through the cactus and mesquite scrub. Then with all the windows open we aired out the coach and relaxed before dinner. The campground was hosting a dinner at the clubhouse at 5:00 PM. They were serving Jambalaya so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out!! It turned out really nice. There was plenty of food for the forty or so people there and the deserts were awesome! We walked home in the warm setting sun to watch another night of the Olympics.
To see all our photos, click on the following link:
Distance for today, 205 miles. Total for the trip so far, 5,966 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment