Greeting everybody...
Michaelle and I have landed in a new home. We're in Las Vegas.
Okay... here's an update on our ongoing travels and travails..
o Picked up the Jeep on Tuesday, July 12th, the day before we were scheduled to leave. Front bumper wasn't exactly as I wanted it, but it works. Rear bumper has a couple of D-ring mounts that I wanted on the front bumper. Howrever, they are danged purdy and just the color I wanted. Paid too much. Shoulda put it all in writing before hand. My bad. Not all the lights on the Jeep work when hooked up to the motorhome as a toad. Blown fuse under motorhome dash which seems to have blown the module that controls the lights on the toad.
o First thing Wednesday morning, had to track down and replace the module that controls the lights on the Jeep when it's being flat towed. Left rear brake light on Jeep wouldn't work. New module... everything's okay. Drop off bumper and shackles with Remi. He check's out the new bumpers. (Don't give away the secret dude!)
o Top off with fuel. We leave Los Angeles about 1:00PM
o Five miles from Ludlow on the eastbound I-40, motorhome's check engine light comes on, engine loses power, revs fluctuate, engine dies. Mercifully, the generator works and we have air conditioning from the two roof units as well as plenty of food and excellent cel phone coverage. Call the extended warranty company who notes our problem and tells us to take the coach to a repair shop, but they are no help with a suggestion of *which* repair shop. Call AAA. In the meantime, I call Good Sam Club. Hell... I'm a member and I figure that they should be able to help out. They don't have any member shops in the Barstow area so she searches the Internet and asks if I'm near Hemet. Oy! I hang up with her and call the manufacturer of the coach. They are closed but have an after hours call-back service so I leave my number. AAA finally calls taking almost two hours to find a tow truck to come get us. They are sending a tow truck out of Barstow. Estimate that it will take four hours round trip at $175 per hour. AAA will cover $200 total. Great! Michaelle suggests that I check to see if the engine might start again. I've already tried three times, but just to appease the wife, I try again. darn thing starts right up and we drive off. Call AAA back and cancel the tow.
o Make it into Laughlin at 8:30PM. Maunfacturer's emergency after hours called during the trip and gave us the number of Ford Emergency Roadside Assistance 800 line who gave us the 800 number for Ford CoachNet. Motorhome hiccuped a couple more times, but made the trip just fine.
o Checked into hotel. It was expected to be a 122 degrees in Laughlin that week. Weather service issued emergency heat advisory. The only way to run both air conditioners on a 30 amp motorhome is to run te generator, Neighbors in coaches with 50 amp services get kind of grouchy when they have to listen to your generator running all night long, so most RV parks have "quiet hours" starting at 10:00PM. Considering that Laughlin's weather forecast calls for lows in the triple digits, we decide to check into a hotel. RV park = $25 per night. River Palms Resort = $19 per night. No brainer here.
o Get woken up by call back from tech from Ford CoachNet. I explain the symptoms and he figures it's a bad fuels pump that's turning the gas to vapor right in the tank. Says that job is relatively simple to do, but labor intensive as it requires dropping the fuel tank. Call warranty company. New fuel pump is covered. Yay!
o Two days later, we check on the coach only to discover that the refrigerator isn't working. Check propane levels... nada. Okay. Visit the three gas stations on the Nevada side only to be told that they don't have the extra employee needed to pump propane. Drive over to Arizona. Get the propane at $0.40 less per gallon. Sure worth the five minute drive. Nevertheless, dumbnutsme didn't restart the fridge properly and by the Sunday morning, we have several science projects and many new odiferous wonders to behold. Nothing quite like the look of bad milk or the small of bad shrimp. Oy!
o We leave for Las Vegas Sunday afternoon. Generator won't run because we have less than 1/4 of a tank of fuel. Anything less and the generator won't run. Safety measure so that one doesn't suck out all the fuel while camping, leaving none for traveling home. Stop in Searchlight to get gas. Radiator overflow boils over. Lose a gallon or so of coolant. Top it off with water and move on.
<note to self: don't turn off engine immediatelly after completing five mile uphill climb in desert heat.>
o Two miles away from our destination, just as we were exiting the northbound 95 at Russell Road, engine dies AGAIN. It's 3:30PM and really couldn't be any hotter... unless you count the next two hours. We are stuck right at the limit line of the intersection. We are also blocking the left turn lane as were right in the middle between the wall on the left and the island on the right which devides left and right turning traffic. Some trucks run over the island, but most passenger cars just line up behind us an lay on their horns. Not only are the emergency lights on the coach flashing, but since the Jeep is hooked up and the new module is working, its emergency lights are flashing too. More horns. How nice. We disconnect the Jeep and roll the Motorhome back away from the pork-chop shaped island freeing up traffic to freely turn either way.
o Two hours later, I finally send Michaelle on to our friend's home to help scour the Yellow Pages for RV repair shops in the area. Shortly after, I get a visit from the Neveda Highway Patrol. Checking up on me, he leaves me with a phone number to call if I need help. At this point, I'm still hoping that time will once again work to my favor and let the engine fire up. It does, but doesn't stay running long enough to get me past the limit line. Each time, I have to coast back to free up traffic.
o After waiting 2 1/2 houra, I call AAA again. Mind you, I'm stuck in Henderson, but they send a tow truck out of North Las Vegas. $175/hour... North Las Vegas... Oy! Another hour close by and I get a call from the AAA. The tow truck they sent overheated. They don't have any other contracted stations to call. I'm on my own. Good luck Mr. Steiner.
<note to self: ditch AAA RV service. Find another *real* emergency roadside assistance program designed for RVs.>
o Call *NHP on the cel phone. Highway Patrol gives me three numbers of tow companies, First one that I call is annoyed that I'm calling on a priority police line. Well duh! They gave me the number. They make me call back on another number only to go through three levels of voice mail to get right back to the same person who answered the phone the FIRST time! She transfers me to the department that tows motorhomes. Excellent! I give them my information and they give me the news that they won't have a truck available to 5 hours. Goodbye! Call the sencond place. Same result without all the voice mail. 5 hour wait. Goodbye! Third place takes my info including credit card number and says that will have truck to me with in the hour.
o Ten minutes later, I try the engine again. It's starts and keeps running. I make it to our friend's house. We spend the night and visit. The coach goes into a truck shop Tuesday. They have a week backlog before they can even look at the coach. Fortunately, we have another friend's who lives in SoCal, but keeps a house near Summerlin. He's going to rent us his house for $500/month. We think this might make for a nice base while we find jobs, look for better and more permanent housing and look for permanent employment. Monday, we drive the motorhome over there and unload all of the food and all of our clothes.
o Vacation isn't quite over yet. We have friends who have a house in Lake Havasu City. They've invited us there for a long weekend. We go on Wednesday.
o Return from Havasu and spend the week trying to become Nevada citizens. First priorty... cable TV and Internet service. Get renter's insurance. Transfer AAA coverage to Nevada. Need to go back to Cailfornia to get our our birth certificates for the Nevada DMV. Get a POD
www.pods.com and fill it with the remainder of our belongings to be shipped to Vegas. Michaelle fies back to accomplish that, close out the safety deposit box, pick up our Chevy which we left with friends and load the pod. She's driving back as I write this.
o Here's a few teaser pics of the heep. It's done done. I've got some more goodies to add and some more painting to do, but the lift, tires new wheels and especially the new bumpers are on.
--
Andy
"Purple is the new chrome"
I miss youz guyz!
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give my best to Michelle