Buckeye to Eloy

Oct 4^th

By 7:00 AM I was up, walked and fed the dogs and called RV Master Techs in Goodyear to get an appointment. Tina was up by 7:30 and we were on the road by 8:30 pulling into the repair place just before 9:00 AM.

The service manager assigned a tech to work on our rig and he was hard at work by 9:30 AM trying to diagnose the problem. While he worked on the fridge we disconnected the car and went to breakfast at the Black Bear Diner. We both had omelets and they were very good.

An hour later we returned to the coach and Greg had narrowed it down to the cooling fans which are located above the top of the fridge and help pull all the warm air out from the fridge compartment. He ordered two new fans and a sensor. They were supposed to arrive by 1:30 PM.

So we took the dogs for a walk, read and just past noon decided to go to lunch. We took the kids and drove to a Carls Jr. and drove through so we could come back to the coach and eat. About 1:30 Greg came out to the coach with the new fans and said “Rain coming’ we’re going inside”. Whereupon he told me he had disconnected the trailer and he drove the rig into one of the service bays. 

In the service bay at RV Master Techs

While we were inside the sky opened up and unleashed a torrent of rain. It came with swirling winds and forced Greg to close the bay doors. Ten minutes later the rain quit and by 2:30 PM he had finished installing the fans and sensor and moved the coach back outside. I went in and finished the paperwork. $450 later and a promise to “cool it” ha, ha, we headed for I-10.

Driving into the dust

Since we knew it was going to be late, I had found a place only 30 miles away in Scottsdale but after talking it over I suggested going down I-10 toward Tucson and find a place. Tina grabbed the Trailer Life Directory and found a place at exit 203, Desert Valley RV Resort. As we drove further along I-10 we kept seeing warning signs, “Blowing Dust, Visibility Low”.

Can you say dust storm?

By the time we got to exit 160 it was really evident that we were driving into a dust storm. You could see it on the horizon and the wind kept picking up. Then we saw a sign that said, “I-10 closed 30 miles ahead due to a bad accident”. Well we decided to keep rolling but within a couple of miles I was doubting the wisdom of that decision. We were enclosed in a thick blanket of dust and it was seeping into the rig through every crack and crevice. It was so bad we felt like were eating and breathing dust… Ugh!

Oh yeah, let's go shopping!

As the dust closed in we went slower and slower and slower until we were only doing 3-4 mph. Cars and trucks were pulled off the road all over the place but the wind and dust was so bad I couldn’t see pulling off to try and wait it out. At the same time, visibility at times was no more than 20 feet ahead. We kept moving and eventually (five miles later) we were through the worst of it even though the wind was gusting to 20 or 25 mph directly from the side forcing me to “crab” the rig along to stay in our lane.

On the pad at Desert Valley RV Resort

We never saw anything of the accident at Mile Post 190 but it turned out that we passed a horrific accident in the westbound lanes where the visibility was worst. The police attributed the accident to people driving too fast for conditions. We were lucky. Tina called the Highway Patrol and they said that I-10 was closed in both directions at exit 210 so we decided to go to Desert Valley RV Park for the night and get an early start.

Tina fixed dinner and I worked on the blog and photos. By 7:30 PM with the wind still rocking the rig we turned on the TV and kicked back for the rest of the evening.

Miles for today, 100. Total for the trip so far, 1,833 miles.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Blythe to Buckey, AZ

Blythe to Buckeye, AZ

Up early as I had trouble sleeping thinking about the problems we were experiencing with the coach. After walking and feeding the dogs and having my breakfast, I called Ramsey and got an appointment for 9:00 AM. At 8:00 AM I called the RV shop and they said they needed 24 hours to diagnose the problem and couldn’t get started until later in the day.

We got everything secured and headed over to Ramsey to let them check the radiator and all the fluids. While we were there I asked the service manager about our fridge and he recommended a place in Quartzite instead. So I gave the people at RV Lifestyles a call and they said to come in as soon as I could and they’d look at it.

Ramsey spent an hour checking things out and gave us a clean bill of health - $110 and we were on the road for Quartzite. Twenty miles later we took the first exit into Quartzite and pulled into RV Lifestyles. They put a service tech on the job right away and within a half hour he reset the computer chip and the fridge was working again.

On the pad at Leaf Verde RV Park

Back on the road we made the rest of the trip to Buckeye with no problems making one stop for diesel and lunch pulling in to the Leaf Verde RV Park by 2:00 PM. Once we got set up I put on my swim suit, grabbed a towel and my book and headed for the pool. A little later Tina joined me and we spent a relaxing hour at the pool.

We had dinner around 6:30 PM and watched a movie. Around 7:30 the fridge beeped at us and shut off. We re-set it but at 9:00 PM it shut down again so we turned it off and went to the web to find another RV Repair place for tomorrow. Oh boy, this is really getting old. After the movie we spent some time discussing our options and decided to try and sell the rig when we get to Florida.

Then we watched another movie and called it a night.

Total miles for today, 120. Total for the trip so far, 1,733 miles.

No photos today.

Day off in Blythe

Oct 2^nd

Today being Sunday, we decided to go to breakfast at the Sunset Grill. It was well recommended and it lived up to the billing. I had a California Omelet with Hashbrowns while Tina had a Han and Egg Skillet. Both were excellent.

We got back to the coach around 9:30 AM and did a few chores, but mostly we hid from the heat and read our books. Sometime in the afternoon the fridge started beeping. Tina re-set it and we thought nothing of it until it happened a second time and we couldn’t re-set it.

I got the book out and looked for the error codes – it was telling us it was out of coolant. Hmpfff! Since it was Sunday there wasn’t much we could do, so Tina put as much as we could in the freezer and we got the name and phone number of an RV Repair shop in Blythe so we could call in the morning.

We got out our trip plan and made a couple of changes adding a stop in Buckeye, AZ since it was only a 120 mile drive and we didn’t know when we’d be able to get on the road. Especially as I planned to stop at Ramsey International and let them check out my front radiator to make sure we didn’t overheat on the rest of the drive.

That pretty much wrapped up the day – no photos today.

San Dimas to Blythe

Oct 1^st

Another beautiful day! Up at 6:30 AM, I put on the coffee then took a shower before the kids got up. After our morning routine the kids came in an had their breakfast. I made a great sausage and eggs scramble with spicy Italian Sausage (lots of Cayenne)!

We got everything stowed and disconnected by 8:30 AM. Before leaving, Tina helped me refill the hydraulic reservoir for the jacks – took half a quart. The we pulled out, connected the tow dolly, secured the car and headed for I-10.

We pulled off I-10 for diesel about 30 miles down the road and made a second stop for lunch about 80 miles west of Blythe. Once past Indio, the traffic was light but there were a lot of trucks out there for a Saturday morning. The drive was uneventful and we pulled into the Blythe/Colorado River KOA and were set up by 2:00PM. 

On the pad at the Blythe/Colorado River KOA

It’s 100 degrees and sunny even though we’re right on the Colorado River.

Swimming Hole on the Colorado River

I changed into my swim suit, grabbed a towel, my book, camera, phone and some money and headed for the pool. Along the way I stopped down by the swimming beach and took some photos of the river then went over to the office/store and bought a pop for the pool.

The "Pool"

Lots of young people were enjoying a brief break in the pool so I took a brief dip and grabbed a lounge chair and set up in the shade to read for a while. Before long I had the pool to myself and got absorbed in my book until Tina stopped by with the dogs. By now it was 4:30 PM so I gathered up my stuff and headed back to the coach.

Mike and Tina at the races

Tina was relaxing, trying to stay cool. After feeding the dogs we had our dinner and watched the news. At 6:30 PM we left for the Lucas Oil/I-10 Speedway at the Colorado River Fairgrounds just east of Blythe (http://www.i10speedway.com/) to watch the stock car and modified cars race on a one third paved low bank oval. It was an exciting evening. We had seats in the grandstand about 8 rows up and 25 feet from the finish line. 

Signing autographs for the kids

The races started at 7:00 PM with a series of Trophy Sprints, five lap heat races for the Pro Stock, Stock and modified classes, with the winner getting a trophy and a small check plus preferred placement in the Main event. The stock cars were really impressive, managing to stay on the track at pretty high speeds with no suspension or tire modifications. 

Winner of the "Modified" Class Main Event

But it was the modified that really were fun to watch. After the heat races, the Pro Stock had a 30 lap main event. This was followed by a 75 lap main event for the modified class (about 15 cars were entered) and a 15 lap main event for the stock cars. The races, including winner presentations after each main were over by 9:00 PM and we were back at the coach 15 minutes later.

What a lot of fun!

Miles driven today, 205. Total for the trip so far, 1,616 miles.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Lunch in Rancho Cucamonga

Sept 30^th

Today we had an opportunity to meet Joe and Marsha at the Victoria Gardens Shopping Center in Rancho Cucamonga about 20 miles east of San Dimas. This is a really nice area developed like a town center but focused on retail with residential density all around it.

Joe and Marsha Ganem

Marsha works for Estee Lauder as the West Coast Executive for fragrances. Her territory ranges from Seattle to San Diego and east to Denver, so she travels a lot. Today she took time out of her schedule to come out and visit several of the stores that carry her products then meet us for lunch.

Admiral Tina and Captain Hotshot

We all gathered at the “Yard House” and found a table with shade on the patio. We really enjoy our visits and we spent the next two hours chatting over lunch then walked around looking at shops eventually ending up at Sur La Table. Tina and Joe, the chefs in our family’s enjoyed browsing all things cooking!

We finally said goodbye as Marsha had one more stop and they had a dinner engagement back in Long Beach. Like our friends Don and Diane, we always enjoy spending time with Joe and Marsha!

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski