Another long trip is in the books. Over the winter in the RGV, I’d done repairs on both the RV and the truck and we were just hoping for an uneventful trip. HA! said the universe.
It started out well enough. On the first day northbound, I thought there might be a problem with the inverter (necessary to keep the refrigerator running while traveling). By the second day I was 100% certain. After checking breakers and fuses, Mary started calling around to find a new inverter. We found a few places that would work, for a cost of around $200. We made it to our second overnight stop and had to make a decision about the inverter. During the long drive, I had plenty of time to think and finally recalled a similar problem I had a few years ago with the inverter. When we got to the RV park, I completely disconnected the battery connected to the inverter, waited a minute or two, then reconnected it. Lo and behold, the inverter was working again. $$$ and time saved.
On we drove, ever westward. Going across New Mexico on I-40 we started hearing an unusual noise while braking. By the time we got to our scheduled casino RV park stop, it was very noticeable. We’d stopped early enough to start looking for a mechanic. Google is really great but sometimes the listings are real outdated. I called 3 or 4 nearby mechanics. I got voice mail for one and dutifully left a message (they never called back). One said they were very busy but he would check with his boss and call me back (he never did). The others came up with invalid numbers. By that time, most businesses were closed. I started looking further away, at a Dodge dealer, and settled on that for my last resort option. I also looked a little closer at the maps and found a few more options in a nearby town. Early the next morning, I called a small shop and they could see me right away. Within 2 minutes of arriving at the shop, me and my truck were on a lift. They’d pinpointed the problem and I had new front brake pads installed in under 30 minutes at a very reasonable price. We did a quick restock at Walmart and stayed another night at the casino just to rest up a little more.
While driving towards Albuquerque the next day we decided to skip one stop in Arizona. Between the price of diesel and the wind direction, it just wasn’t worth it. We did, however, stop at a small native American owned trading post (with RV park) long enough to tour the Grand Canyon for a day and enjoy a couple of good meals in their restaurant.
Now we’re heading northwest, over halfway to our final destination. Made it to our next stop in Utah without problems, although we were getting tired of the monotonous scenery. Because of the short driving day, we unhitched the truck to get some cheaper diesel and a local pizza. This particular park was mostly full of permanent RVers, much like many of the parks we’d stopped at. Getting out of the spot required some thought and consideration but we made it without any scratches. Then about 2 hours later a passing car notified us that we had a problem. Pulled over quickly at the end of an on ramp and walked around the RV. Well, halfway around. That’s all it took to notice a broken spring hanger and 2 tires touching each other. This was the same spring hanger that just got rewelded in San Antonio last December. Good Same Roadside Assistance was worthless in this situation. I Googled mobile welders and found one nearby (in Ogden) who responded immediately. Looks like he did an excellent job welding the hanger and even stayed to help me reattach the leaf spring. His price was very reasonable and we made it to our next scheduled stop without losing a day.
This should have been our last 1 night stay prior to arrival at our summer gig. We were all looking forward to fully setting up and settling in. We were heading north in Washington when we noticed another strange sound, this one coming from the transmission area. I just had the clutch and flywheel replaced a couple of months ago in Texas so this came as a real surprise. We had to backtrack about 20 miles to a Dodge dealer. After inspecting underneath the truck, they couldn’t definitively diagnose the problem further than a fluid leak. I found a nearby RV park that had room for us and setup there for a night with plans to return to the dealership when they opened the next morning to at least fix the leak. Dropped off the truck the next morning and while walking back to the RV park got another call from them. They admitted a mistake in the source of the leak, needed to order another part that would arrive the next day. That part was the most expensive repair of the trip but it arrived early enough in the day for the truck to be ready to go by noon. They also advised me that the guy in the RGV did NOT install all the parts he charged me for. I’m fighting over that now.
Anyway, after 12 days and 3000 miles, we finally made it safely to Copalis Beach Washington where we’ll settle in until the fall.