Well, it just seemed like a good time to head East. To Texas to visit my Mom who is getting older (I'm not allowed to use her age just say North of 20 x ___)
I have been in Arizona since Feb 6th ish and now April is upon me. Time to move on. Other than the weather there is no longer any reason to go to Arizona. Seen most of it, no one left to visit, and weather is getting warmer so East it is.
It was a nice morning, still coolish, and very pleasant. One stop then on the road. Eastbound and down.
It took 3 days of driving to get through Texas and in West Texas was a HUGE windmill farm. Miles and miles as far as the eye could see. Some think its a great thing some a boondoggle. But there were a lot of them and a lot of Federal dollars spent in that wind farm. I could hear the blades making a whoop whoop sound as they turned in the wind.
Finally made it to my Moms. Did some sonny-do chores and visited some family. It was a fun trip. Took my Mom to the hospital in Tyler for some chemo, dug a leach line, bought her a lawn tractor since she insists on cutting her three acres of grass. It also lets her go the 1/2 mile to the mailbox etc. She doesnt admit shes a tad older but ,,,, 10 days later it was time to head West again. Westward Ho to Oregon this time.
Going West through Texas was more fun as I fought a crosswind all the way for 3 days. This duststorm was a lot thicker than the pic indicates. There were a few of them across the miles.
After what seemed forever I made it to Arizona. I would turn on the GPS just to watch the blue dot move across the screen because it didnt seen like I was. Was taught a lesson in Humility in Lordsburg NM.
A couple was there in a very delapidated old C-class towing a full size van. I watched as they worked on it. Then I noticed a man at the entrance to the truck stop with a sign "out of gas". Not putting the two together I judgementally thought scam so I just sat and watched. After a bit I saw him walk to the old c-class in dejection so I got out and walked over there to find out they were both deaf. So I had him pull over to the pumps and filled thier tank. They left and not 5 min later a cop pulled in, went inside, then came out and asked me if they asked for money and where they went. I said no and I had no idea then laid into him for coming all that way to harrass a couple in deparate needs. Then I sat down and realized I had been just as judgemental and was happy to have been taught a lesson in Humility.
Stopped in Catalina at the RV Park where I had been staying in Arizona for the night. Dumped some tanks, filled some others, and had a good nights sleep then westward Ho again.
I crossed into California twice on this trip.
About 100 miles East of the POW!!!!! california line the right fron tire blew out. This is the first of a pocketful of blessing I received in the next couple of days
I stepped out of the box to see what had happened and fell five feet to kiss the gravel with my nose.
I saw that the automatic step had not extended indicating an electrical problem. And being so use to it extending when the door opened I just stepped right out 2 feet down at my feet but 5 at my nose due to the slope. LOL
After laughing just about as hard as you are right now I checked the damge and saw that all the wiring on that side was wrapped around the axle. Including the main wire to the RV meaning NO electric.
I called roadside assistance and they were going to send a tow truck to repalce the tire as I said Id deal with the woring issue. As soon as I mentioned wiring it became a tow issue and under collision so now my $500 deductable kicked in.
While waiting for the tow truck I decided to hike back down the highway and clean off all the tire peices i left along the shoulder. About 100 yeards back I found the large major wire for the whole system and picked it up.
After sitting awhile in the dark with a dead phone 1 foot off the white line with semi's zooming by at 80 mph I finally wised up and started the Jeep to charge the phone then pulled it a bit down slope with the headlights lighting up the RV and its flashers on.
The tow truck appeared and was driven by Leroy a very nice guy. 100 miles later he left the RV outside the yard so I could sleep in it rather than get a motel room and even brought a cord out for power.
The next morning Leroy towed me to a shop he recommended for repairs. An equally nice shop as Leroy was a driver. The Front End Shop in Parker AZ.
The insurance was playing so many games paying the $1,200 for the tow then wanted me to have the shop do an estimate, fax it to the adjuster in Tucson who by maybe Wednesday (5 days later) may authorize repairs all this time Im supposed to stay in a motel which were $100 a night then pay the deductible as well. So I talked to the shop and we decided to keep it between us. He even let me stay in the RV in his lot the one night. So $1,300 later, 2 new tires, new wiring, new brakes, etc. I was once again on the road. I made new friends and know of some reputable tow and reapir facilities in Parker AZ.
Here's my pocketful of blessing from these couple of days.
By having a blowout I was stopped at the perfect place rather than further down the road where it could have been a worse experience.
By it taking out the wire out I was towed rather than simply replacing the tire which allowed the shop to see the second tire that would have blown out 100 miles later.
Then the brakes were repaired as the brake cyclinder broke while there
and I met two people who did not try to take advantage of a poor traveling old guy.
As I said I had to enter California twice this trip. Once on the freeway but the second time I took a different route crossing the Colorado River 50 miles upstream then a small two lane down to the interstate. (afterall I had two new tires and new front brakes LOL)
After returning to the interstate all traffic was stopped. On the CB they were talking about an accident 20 miles ahead of me. I waited an hour before we started moving then it took an hour to reach the accident site.
At the next truckstop I saw a FedEx driver and asked him about it. Seems a semi was on the side of the road having been stopped by CHP and a FedEx truck pulling doubles had moved into the left lane to pass. Unknown to the Fedex driver the semi had been released and was pulling back onto the road. Also unknown to the semi driver the Fedex truck was coming back into the right lane to exit for a rest area. The cab of the semi hit the front edge of the rear double on the fedex truck opening it like a sardine can. Here you see thousands of shoes that came from that trailer. fortunately no one was hurt but someone in California had a late shoe order.
The trip was somewhat uneventful from there on. I was worried about snow in the mountain passes up ahead. Mt. Shasta you see here was predicting snow down to 2,900 feet and I was crossing at over 4,000. But fortunately no snow. It was midday as planned so if there had been any I was hoping it would have melted off. Also decided to keep driving as the temps were predicted to be quite low that night in southern Oregon. Did 576 miles that day, 8)
I did hit snow in Southern Oregon but it was heavy squalls that didnt stick just slowed me down a bit. Traveling through there with the clouds snow, and rain made for some beautiful sites to behold.
Made it to Albany Oregon that evening and am trying a new RV Park. Actually it is a small mobile home park that lets RV's stay.
It's a quite place and really kind of nice. Conviently located to about everything. And the lady next door brought me homemade snickerdoodles the next afternoon.Welcome to the park. 8)
My second day I went up to Beaverton to see Shane and Suzy. But Shane has a new job with an electrical outfit so I saw Suzy, Nate, Jerry and Jane. Will go back and see Shane on a Sunday and attend church with them
Be here until May 9 or so then Northwards to Marysville Washinton.
