Update – We made it home !!

Didn’t want to update anything until we were safely home, just didn’t want to jinx anything.  We left Flagstaff on Saturday the 9th and arrived home yesterday.  We were on pins and needles the whole way home, but our ‘beast’ gave us no more trouble. 

We have just about unpacked all of our stuff.  Today I’m going to go and blow out the lines and when I can get to the store I’ll do the antifreeze part.  She still needs a good cleaning, then we’ll take her over to the dealer and get anther transmission flush (the fellow in Flagstaff recommended we do that) and also the coolant.  An oil change and an oil change and filter for the genny too and then we’ll store her for about 2 1/2 months. 

Thanks all of you who wished us luck and sent words of encouragement, it was greatly appreciated.  We were really in the depths of despair with this rad problem.  

As we’re not going anywhere for a couple months, there will be no more blogs until then.

**Sorry I missed a new follower..welcome Rick and Paulette.  I’ve been following your blog for a long time and really enjoy it.  Thanks for signing up, but I won’t have any new entries for a while.  Enjoy your new 5er.**

 

Until much later then…take care.

Another Update

Just a quick note to say that we arrived in Albuquerque today at around 4 PM.  It was about an 350 mile drive from Flagstaff.  Ken and I were on pins and needles the whole trip..waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. 

We had a relaxing evening watching TV and catching up on e-mails, blogs etc.  No cable here but we were able to pick up a signal from our Bell ExpressVu satellite.  I have found that the further south we go the less % of a signal we get on the transponder.  I suppose because the ‘bird’ is over the Canadian skies.

Tomorrow our destination is Amarillo, Texas.  Next set foot in Texas in my life.  But then there were alot of states on this whole trip that I have never set foot in before.  That was the idea of the whole trip.

Prior to today, yesterday we had to vacate the hotel by noon.  Ken had driven over to the rv repair shop and they said there was another delay on the repair of the rig.  It had been promised for noon.  Ken asked him what we were supposed to do because at this point we had no where to go.  He said we could wait in their (terribly dingy) waiting room.  So that’s what we had to do.  We had all the stuff we had carted over to the hotel in there, plus the dogs.  I put Arthur in the car, cracked the windows, put in his litter box, food and water and bed.  Fortunately it was not a hot day, very comfortable.  I checked on him often and he usually was laying on the floor on the drivers side.  It was a terrible wait, poor dogs, poor Maggie, she’s an old gal and it was hard on her.

The repairs were finally completed at just after 6 PM, they took the rig out for a test spin.  We went to pay (they do not take credit cards on any bill over $1500, fees I guess) and their silly debit machine did not recognize our Canadian debit card.  So Ken had to drive over to a bank machine and get the money to pay the bill.  By the time we were out of there it was 7 PM.  Ken had driven over to a RV campground earlier in the day because we knew we would not have it back till late and booked a site.  So we drove to the campground, setup in the dark, something we absolutely HATE to do.  We were all exhausted.  I gave Maggie one of her pain killers, put the heating pad in her bed and she proceeded to crash for the night.  As did Jackson and Arthur and we were not far behind them. 

This morning we left the campground and made out way to Albuquerque. 

So until later..take care.  Wish us better luck and an uneventful trip home.

Update

First I want to welcome a new follower, sorry if I missed you before.  Welcome Cruzin2some and thanks for joining.

Ken dropped by yesterday morning at the RV repair shop and the fellow we’ve been dealing with said his ears must have been burning because he was just going to phone us.   The rad had arrived.  YAHOO!!  and that we should bring it in at 8AM the next day (today).  So we had to make a wild scramble to change (once again) our reservation at the hotel.  We went over and checked in.  It’s really quite a nice place and includes a full kitchen which is just dandy.  So we packed up what we thought we’d need from the rig and carted it over to the hotel.  Then went back and got the critters.  They settled in quite well, Jackson a little more emotional but of course he is a very emotional dog.  Arthur (cat) settled in just as if he’d always lived here.  He is a remarkable cat. 

So very, very nice to be out of the rig.  The bad weather had kept us indoors for 3 days, and while I love the sound of rain on the roof of the rig, I was sick to death of hearing it.  And if you’ve been following the news those tornadoes in Flagstaff were just 15 miles down the road.  The weather forecast for days was giving warnings of tornadoes, flash floods, hail, severe weather, wind.  It was very depressing knowing that we couldn’t get away from it.  The Camping World that we were going to go to and pick up a few things got hit bad.  Alot of their RV’s were damaged or destroyed.  A couple that was there in their rig awaiting some repair had their rig blown over on it’s side.  Fortunately they were not hurt. 

So this morning we got up early and went and got the rig, it was still parked at the KOA.  We had closed it all up yesterday and just left the electricity plugged in for the fridge and so that the heat pumps could work.  It’s gotten quite chilly here at night, around freezing.  We delivered it to the shop and now we wait again.  If all goes well then we will leave tomorrow morning heading home.  For now we are all very comfortable here at the hotel, they even offer free full breakfasts and suppers with wine and beer.  Think I may just stay here for awhile…NOT. 

Until later then..take care and wish us luck.  Thanks.

Still Stuck

Just a quick note as an update.  We are still here in Flagstaff.  The rad that was ordered was put on the wrong delivery type.  Instead of expedited, it was sent the regular old way.  So it’s not expected here until Thursday.  It was supposed to be here tomorrow.  The mechanic said that as soon as it arrives they will work on the rig until it’s fixed.  Originally they said 6 hours, and so far they are sticking to that, but with our luck on this trip who knows.  Some nasty gremlin has put a curse on us for this trip.  It’s certainly been ‘the trip from hell’. 

We went to the farewell dinner last night, it was very nice and tough to say goodbye to everyone.  I guess they are all on their individual way home.  Makes me sad to think that. 

Anyhow will update if any significant happens.

Lake Powell, Arizona

This maybe my last blog.  Or I may just do a quickie now and then on our way home just to keep you updated as to our progress home.  We have left the Caravan.  When we arrived at Lake Powell campground I noticed that under the engine part of the rig was a puddle, a large puddle.  I felt it and noticed that is was slightly oily.  It appeared to be coming out of the engine coolant jug.  Engine coolant isn’t oily.  Asked our tail gunner to take a look at it and he said that it appeared that (not sure if I have this right) transmission fluid had gotten into the coolant.  Could be wrong about that, but some fluid that gotten into our engine coolant and this is a definite NO NO.  Anyway, long story short, our Wagon Master phoned a few contacts, we phoned Coach Net, they wanted to tow the rig to Flagstaff.  All the owners of rigs in the caravan said that if you can avoid having your rig towed, then do so, not good for the chassis.   One of the mechanics we spoke to said it could be driven, if we did this and that.  So we did this and that and drove it to Flagstaff, where a part has been ordered and should be in beginning of next week or is that this week?  Our tail gunner stayed behind us all the way here, 134 miles, to make sure we were ok and finally went on their way to the rest of the caravan after they saw us safely into the KOA campground here.  What a super bunch of people they all have been. 
The farewell dinner is Sunday night and they are only 57 miles from us, so we are going to drive the car down for the dinner.  Have to say a proper goodbye. 

All of these problems has really gotten me down.  There were others in the caravan that had problems too.  Not quite as major as ours, but problems, an alternator went, a blow out, a fridge down, chipped windshields a couple other minor things.  Hopefully ours can be fixed in 6 hours as they promised.  But I’m not going to write that in stone.  We are going to book into a pet friendly motel for the day, cause what do you do with 3 animals for at least 6 hours. 

On a brighter note.  We took a 6 hour boat cruise up Lake Powell.  It was created by the damming of the river and creating Glen Canyon Dam.  We wanted to take a tour of the dam but of course we were tied up all day with figuring out what to do about our problem.  Parts of the river are 400 – 500 feet deep.  Makes me sad to think that under all that water are buried homes, artefacts etc.  But I know that electricity is important and water.  It used to be just a small river prior to the dam being built.   The tour took us up to Rainbow Bridge, a natural arch in the stone.  This is considered an spiritual place by the Indians, and when the dam was built this was preserved.  It is now a national monument.  It is 275 feet across and 290 feet high.  It is nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty.  The Indians believed that they should not walk under the bridge and the park asked that you respect their beliefs and also not walk under the bridge.  I didn’t see anyone walk under it.  Also one of the big tourist attractions in Arches National Park, an arch, just collapsed one day.  Imagine if you were under that. 

Until later…take care.

Put mouse over picture for a description, click to enlarge picture.

Here is our whole Caravan