We left Dean and Tamara’s around noon Sunday, Oct 18. Headed for the Safari Rally in Mesa, AZ to start on the 21st, plenty of time.
Our first night was spent dry camping at a casino. It was in a military base town, so there were no “senior” discounts. I usually take $5 and play slots until I lose it. After all its free to park. The place was absolutely packed and I couldn’t find a penny machine I liked. Finally I saw a “Topgun” machine, had never played one before so I set down. Loud plane noise was blastng out of the head rest every time I pushed the play button. Won the bonus and got to fly the plane and shoot down the enemy. Hit it big time and walked away with $13.00. :-))
The next overnight was in a truck stop..very windy and dusty. When we pulled out the next morning, Greg saw a sign “Route 66” and decided we should reminisce and drive on Old Route 66. Well, it was a very bad decision. The first quarter mile it was fair but the remainer had not been repaired in a long long time. We had to slow down to about 10 mph for 5 miles to the freeway.
At our lunch break I noticed spots on the carpet in the left side of the drivers’ area. Greg investigated and found hydraulic fluid dripping from the emergency break switch. He unscrewed the switch mechanism and it was the pressure sensor that was leaking. We drove on to Parker, AZ and found a repair shop, had to order the part to arrive the next day. We parked and waited. A dust devil blew by rocking the coach and leaving a layer of dirt inside the coach, unbelievable.
When Greg started the engine to drive to the repair shop….fluid shot up and all over the ceiling, steering wheel, window and Greg…what a mess. We waiting hours for the part to arrive but he finally came out to the coach and installed the part. We were out of there at about 3 pm.
We were happy on our way thinking we would be in Mesa and “happy hour” with the group tonight. when after a stop at a stop sign the coach would not shift and the gauges showed HOT. We were fortunate to have a service road running parallel and pulled off and started trouble shooting. The serpentine belt had disintegrated. No repair shops near us and it was after 5 pm. At a gas station they referred us to a Cummins service center in Blythe, CA about 65 miles away. The wanted $$$$$ to drive out and replace the belt. Soooooo Greg and I drove in the next day and purchased a belt and did the labor ourselves. Would you believe....the belt was TOO BIG.... so back to Blythe and exchange. The next belt was one quarter inch to small, (they assured us the belt would be ok) and we got it on. When we started the engine it started to really squeal, so we had to have the coach towed into Blythe. Thank goodness for AAA. The next day, the belt tightener was replaced.
O’ the best part was that we were short of water…holding tanks were almost full; that is because we thought we would be in Mesa with full hookups.
It was HOT..HOT and we were parked between two feed lots. The odor was not too bad, and the flies really liked us. The feed trucks buzzed by many times all day and night. Hungry cows.
The worst part was having no shower for two days. I can dry camp OK if I have empty holding tanks and full water. With the solar panel and the sun we have plenty of power to have lights, TV and run the computer.
Our first night was spent dry camping at a casino. It was in a military base town, so there were no “senior” discounts. I usually take $5 and play slots until I lose it. After all its free to park. The place was absolutely packed and I couldn’t find a penny machine I liked. Finally I saw a “Topgun” machine, had never played one before so I set down. Loud plane noise was blastng out of the head rest every time I pushed the play button. Won the bonus and got to fly the plane and shoot down the enemy. Hit it big time and walked away with $13.00. :-))
The next overnight was in a truck stop..very windy and dusty. When we pulled out the next morning, Greg saw a sign “Route 66” and decided we should reminisce and drive on Old Route 66. Well, it was a very bad decision. The first quarter mile it was fair but the remainer had not been repaired in a long long time. We had to slow down to about 10 mph for 5 miles to the freeway.
At our lunch break I noticed spots on the carpet in the left side of the drivers’ area. Greg investigated and found hydraulic fluid dripping from the emergency break switch. He unscrewed the switch mechanism and it was the pressure sensor that was leaking. We drove on to Parker, AZ and found a repair shop, had to order the part to arrive the next day. We parked and waited. A dust devil blew by rocking the coach and leaving a layer of dirt inside the coach, unbelievable.
When Greg started the engine to drive to the repair shop….fluid shot up and all over the ceiling, steering wheel, window and Greg…what a mess. We waiting hours for the part to arrive but he finally came out to the coach and installed the part. We were out of there at about 3 pm.
We were happy on our way thinking we would be in Mesa and “happy hour” with the group tonight. when after a stop at a stop sign the coach would not shift and the gauges showed HOT. We were fortunate to have a service road running parallel and pulled off and started trouble shooting. The serpentine belt had disintegrated. No repair shops near us and it was after 5 pm. At a gas station they referred us to a Cummins service center in Blythe, CA about 65 miles away. The wanted $$$$$ to drive out and replace the belt. Soooooo Greg and I drove in the next day and purchased a belt and did the labor ourselves. Would you believe....the belt was TOO BIG.... so back to Blythe and exchange. The next belt was one quarter inch to small, (they assured us the belt would be ok) and we got it on. When we started the engine it started to really squeal, so we had to have the coach towed into Blythe. Thank goodness for AAA. The next day, the belt tightener was replaced.
O’ the best part was that we were short of water…holding tanks were almost full; that is because we thought we would be in Mesa with full hookups.
It was HOT..HOT and we were parked between two feed lots. The odor was not too bad, and the flies really liked us. The feed trucks buzzed by many times all day and night. Hungry cows.
The worst part was having no shower for two days. I can dry camp OK if I have empty holding tanks and full water. With the solar panel and the sun we have plenty of power to have lights, TV and run the computer.
Can't you just see Greg laying on top of the motor replacing the belt. I'm under the coach guiding the belt into place, no easy job ...got a big purple bruise on my arm.
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