Pictures
July-Aug
'06
Early July we ordered a new Brake Buddy as per the insurance
people. They allowed us to trade the old one in plus a lot of bucks. It arrived
and the gauges had come loose and fell into the main box. I could take it apart
and redo it but did not want to ruin the warranty. Called them and they would
send a new one with a return slip for the first one. 2nd Brake Buddy
arrived and it was the same way. Called them again and they sent out another new
one with a return slip. 3rd one was OK. Now we can hit the road.
As I was doing my pre-get ready stuff I noticed that one of
the rear jacks was up. Called HWH in Moscow, Iowa and
got an appt to have it checked out.
As we were leaving Effingham the electric step would not come
in. I unhooked it. Bungied it closed and off we went to HWH in Moscow. When we
arrived I tackled the step got it working. Next day HWH fixed the jacks with a
new control box. Price wasn’t bad considering it took all day. At noon the
owner takes all the customers down to the local restaurant and treats them all
to lunch. Good food.
We left there and spent the night at a Harrah’s Casino
parking lot in Council Bluffs, Ia. Next day got as far as Chamberlain, SD.
Stopped in an RV park for the weekend. I took a shower and the drain backed up.
Found a plunger at the office and after a few tries it opened up.
Made our way to St. Regis, Mt and stayed at the St.
Regis RV Park. Nice, quiet place, nice owners and it had wi-fi available.
They had cut some trees about 4 ft off the ground
and someone did some great chainsaw carvings
on the stumps. They are all through the park.
Next on to the Coeur D’Alene RV Park in Post Falls, Id. for
6 days. We picked this park because
it was very hot out and it was the only one available that had 50AMP service
which we needed to run both A/C’s. That
night we went to the Hotrod Diner for supper.
They happened to have a car show going on. Mostly Mustangs but a few
others also.
We visited with Dick & Sandi Ackerman (always a fun
visit) that we had met thru the RV.NET forums and then up to Sandpoint, Id to
visit Kay’s cousin Paul and his wife Jan. They have just built a
beautiful house. Awesome!!
I noticed some diesel fuel on the front of the truck. Crawled
under the MH and found that it was leaking around the area of the fuel filter
and lift pump. Called and made an appt at the Cummins Coach Care facility for
the next mon. I am not familiar with diesel engines and it was in an area where
I couldn’t see everything.
Saturday evening we went over to Dick & Sandi’s house
for supper. The food was great as it was the last time we stopped & visited
them. They are great people and we look forward to our visits with them.
Mon—the Cummins place could not find the leak although they
said it definitely had been leaking. They tightened some hoses, pressure washed
the engine, let it run for an hour and didn’t see a leak. We paid and left.
Traveled
along the Columbia River for a little bit and
spent the night in Moses Lake, Wa.
Next day
(Tues, Aug 1) was our ‘check-in’ day at the Ft. Lewis, Wa RV park where we
were booked for 2 weeks. It is located centrally for the wedding happenings.
Nice park, large spaces.
We went up
to Shelton, Wa to visit with Linda & Willie Gularte. They sold their
property in Nice, Ca and bought a place on a lake in
Shelton. Had a nice visit and wanted to go up there again but Linda had to fly
back to Illinois to help with her mother.
One day we
were coming out of the PX and there
was a beautiful sight in front of us—Mt. Ranier.
We hadn’t noticed it before and it is awesome. It was about 70 miles away with
a slight mist around it. Ghostly.
Art &
Lisa (bride & groom) came by the park for a visit and let us know what was
going on and when. Later in the week we went over to Lisa’s folk’s (Bob
& Anne Moderelli) house. Nice place and from their back deck you can see “Galloping
Gertie” or at least it’s replacement.
This is the Tacoma Narrows bridge made famous in
old news footage as the bridge that started swaying and bucking in the high
winds and finally collapsed.
Most of
her family was there that day/evening and we had a lot of fun visiting with
them. Wish I could remember all their names but…….
Friday we
had the rehearsal dinner at their Country Club. Then on sat—the wedding.
The
wedding was outdoors at the Fair
Harbor Marina. Some of us went by a boat that
was charted for us. It was about a 1 hr ride thru some of the most beautiful scenery
I have seen. The ceremony was performed by the bride’s
father, Bob. The reception was held in the clubhouse. The pics will probably
say more than I can. The boat ride back was uneventful as it was dark.
Sunday we
had a brunch at the country club and we said our goodbyes then as we were
leaving on tues.
When we
arrived at Ft. Lewis I crawled under the MH and the leak is still there. We
wanted to stop at the Cummins Coach care in Coburg, Or to have them check it
out. We have been there before and they do good work. BUT, they were booked up
and we ended up stopping at a Cummins shop in Roseburg, Or. The tech crawled
under and tightened a fitting that the previous place missed. We paid and left.
Next stop
checked again---still leaking. It is not a bad leak so we didn’t worry anymore
about it. At least til we got where we would sit for awhile.
We stopped
at the 7 Feathers Casino campground in
Canyonville, Or for a night. This is a new campground and it is very nice. They
did it right. Next night we stopped at a casino parking lot in Redding, Ca. Next
day we arrived at the Aurora RV Park in Nice, Ca for a few days to visit with
friends. Dave, Trish & Kevin Gross & my cousin Rick. This time I took
pics of his antique store.
Kay
noticed a leak around the front hub seal. I tried
to remove the filler plug and the seal shattered. I finally found a new one and
replaced the broken one. Looks like the UV rays did the damage. I’ll replace
the other side in Merced. As we were leaving the steps again-wouldn’t go in, I
disconnected them, bungied them, and headed out.
We headed
to Merced and along Hwy 20 between Clearlake Oaks and Williams it is pretty
desolate, hilly & curvy. A semi passed us going in the opposite direction,
kicked up a rock and dinged the windshield. It was bad enough that I wanted to
get it fixed soon before it started cracking. Kay started calling around when we
got on I-5 and found a place in Sacramento that would get us in and fix it right
away. Of course they had to check and make sure it wasn’t in my line-of-sight
or they would not legally be able to fix it. Got that done and back on the road
to Merced again. Arrived at Bill & Norma’s house, set up and kicked back.
When Bill got home we had a few (?) beers. As always it was good to see them
again. Next day I worked on the steps. Took the linkage apart, took the motor
out and checked it on my truck battery. Looked good, worked fine. Cleaned it up,
put it back on and it has been working fine. Found another hub seal and replaced
the other side. One fri we all went to the stock car races to watch Tim &
Denise’s son & daughter race. Tim comes from a long line of local stock
car racers and his kids are keeping up the tradition. His son Ryan is a real
competitor. Placed second and this was his first year in modified class.
Later