Mechanicals and Beautiful’s

We are now safely bedded down in our spot in Durango at my daughter’s little spread, Tomboy Farm. This is the site of our Critter Sitting episodes. We were supposed to arrive here on Sunday, wanting to see a few sights along the way but, I wanted to get a few things done on the motorhome and Lorelyn and Travis promised to take us to Weminuche Grille, one of favorite restaurants up in the mountains, so here we are!

For the most part all is good.

This can be compared to that old aviation saying,

“Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing”

I alluded to several issues with Miss Biggie that have popped up recently. These issues have given us reason enough to alter our plans and further our Travels, adding an additional Eastbound Leg to what was supposed to be a Final Stop in Texas.

Explanations, repairs, and some general additions to Posts of the Past will be the subject of today’s report.

I’ll start with the fact that wherever we go and visit, I usually snap around 100 to 150 photos. Some are terrible, some are ok, and some are Post Worthy. But with that number of pics to choose from, even of just the good ones, leaves too many other good ones “laying on the cutting room floor” to borrow a phrase from the movie industry. In addition, some of the places we’ve been to deserve their own Post and an in-depth one to boot! So…. I will present to you, in no particular order, some additional photos, and information about places we’ve recently visited.

But first, let’s get caught up on our Mechanical Mayhem.

The Big Slide-Out. This issue has not changed, and we elected not to take any chances on it totally fritzifying itself (meaning getting stuck in the “out” position) and we have not extended it since leaving Seeley Lake, Montana several weeks ago.

This is not a Life-Changing Event.

We can certainly survive with it in, we just don’t have much room and need to slink by each other as we walk from front to rear. It has also made our already “One Person Kitchen” into a “Half-Person Kitchen”.

So, on to New Jersey for repairs.

Everyone has been asking, “Can’t you get it repaired somewhere closer?”

The answer to that one comes with its own set of caveats.

The answer is Yes.

                        But……

                        Finding someone that works on what are called Super-Slides, (our slide-out is 28’ long) is extremely difficult. We could go back to Clear Lake, Iowa, the home of Winnebago and have them work on it.

                        Their next available appointment is sometime in the latter part of November.

                        That particular situation has been repeated as these places are booked solid for months and even though Paula and I are (relatively) good people, that in itself does not move us up on the List!

Enter Country Classic Auto Body in Sussex, N.J.

These guys only repair motorhomes, fifth wheels, pull-behinds, etc. They are specialists in RV/ Motorhome bodywork and if you are ever unfortunate enough to get into an altercation of mass proportions and need it fixed, these are THE guys.

Fortunately, I have a very nice relationship with the Cecchini family as they were at the top of the list of customers at the Chatterbox.  Our Saturday Cruise Night was organized in part by the Lou Cecchini, the dad of Mike, the owner of this enterprise.

So, this has some bearing on what they said to me when I relayed my tale of woe to them, “Just give us two days’ notice and we’ll get you fixed.”

Now you can understand why we’re headed back to New Jersey to get it fixed. But here’s the best part…. if you go on Google and read their reviews you will find a perfect 5.0 with over fifty verified reviews. This is in a category (auto repair) that someone always finds faults with.  ‘Nuf said.

                                    This was the impetus behind altering our Western Schedule that had included several National Parks in Utah that we have yet to visit. But we did decide to slide back into Texas in time for Maddie’s 8^th birthday so that sweetened the trip East a bit! We will “hole up” at the Texas hide-out for a spell (enough time for some doctor’s appointments and a haircut) and then Three-Day it to Jersey.

                        That was all well and good until a few days ago when that “Suspension Problem” unveiled itself in the wilds of the Oregon forests. Before I describe this problem, I will tell you that our wonderful local, family owned, Texas Truck Repair facility closed up shop last year. We had been fortunate to have two great places for fixing stuff, this one in Texas, and Campbell’s in Lafayette, N.J., and finding a replacement in Texas has not yet been a successful proposition.

                                    So, we’re goin’ to Jersey anyway!

            Here is the issue. These big units use airbags as one of the components of the suspension. They act like shock absorbers in your car. They add an element of support and linkage to the frame and when one goes “Poof!” you can see the tilt of the vehicle on the side of the deflated air bag. We had this happen once before and those guys in Texas (sniff!) were able to just pop it back on, somewhat like restoring a tire on a rim… all good!

            The reasons for this issue can vary but, in our case, we think that when we leveled the motorhome at Crater Lake the rear had to come up a little too much. The tires never left the ground, but the distance between the body and the suspension was just a little too great for ten-year-old rubber “balloons” to stretch to and the right side one gave up the ghost and quit on the spot. This was totally noticeable when we let the motorhome come off of the leveling jacks. The issue then became…. no phone service, no internet, and no cities within 80 miles of where we were. We limped out of the Campground and headed for the biggest city that we could find, Klamath Falls, Oregon, which luckily was on our way.

                        Now, it is not advisable to drive extensively in this condition but as long as the tire is not rubbing on the wheel well and you take it easy, you can drive. We finally got to a point where we could get a call out to our guys at Campbells who advised us of the same. Feeling a tad relieved we ventured on to Klamath Falls with Paula researching (when we had service) some truck repair places. This is not an RV related problem as the Motorhome sits on a Freightliner chassis and requires truck type folks to work on it.

                        Goldilocks would have been proud as it was the third repair facility that would even give us the time of day. They had never seen this particular issue before but they’re mechanics and when I related to them that once before the guy had “popped” it back on, the solution kind of presented itself. Fingers crossed.

                                    Lucas was our guy and after just a few minutes underneath, he resurfaced and said, “Let’s give it a try” Sure enough, it was an instant success. I queried Lucas as to how this system works and he explained it to me which in hindsight became invaluable because the very next day, after a stint in the Walmart of Price, Utah, we encountered the same issue when we came off of the jacks in the morning. Now, we were extended nowhere near the length that we were at Crater Lake which means that this issue is little more far gone than we realized. We could have limped the almost three-hundred miles down into Durango, but just for fun I decided to crawl underneath and see what’s what. There it was, obviously dislocated, and laughing at me. Again, looking at it, the solution presented itself, but the application of a repair was quite iffy. Wrestling with this big rubber balloon and trying to position it correctly was not a guarantee of success. I did what I could and then dropped us off of the jacks, the Big Balloon settled nicely into its base, and all was good with the world!

                        The ride from Price, Utah to Durango, Colorado went off without a hitch, the weather was superb, and we arrived a little ahead of schedule. Tuesday morning, (Monday is Labor Day) I will be calling our friends at Campbells and scheduling a repair appointment. Good thing we’re headed back there anyway!

                                    So that sums up our Mechanical Mayhem issues.

 On to more fun stuff that I promised! Here you will find a rambling set of various photos from the past few weeks, I hope that you enjoy them!

So that will end this exhibit and hopefully bring everyone up to speed on the Issues. We truly love having everyone along with us and thanks a million for reading! It’s no fun writing if no one reads! 😊