After exploring the ET Highway, we headed for home. It takes us 3 nights and 4 days of long hours of driving to get home. We stayed at Wells, NV, Mountain Home, ID and Pendleton, OR. We had planned on visiting with friends in Idaho and Eastern Washington along the way, but that all was cancelled because of the lockdowns.
We left later than usual and came home earlier than usual this year. We still had a good time, but, will have to say, this was our worst year for things to go wrong with the truck, RV and our house. We had a total of 9 things go wrong between all 3.
1. on the first day, after Chelhalis, WA the truck lost power. Denny said the truck went into default mode, we couldn't go faster than 20 MPH. We thought we would have to limp to the next town, try to get it fixed or go back home. Luckily, it didn't last long. All of the sudden, the truck took off in full power. A mystery of life. It never did that again, but certainly put us on edge. maybe that was a precursor of what was to come.
2.At our first campground in Canyonville, OR, we were sitting around relaxing after getting all set up and the sconses over the couch and table went out. Our TV went out also. Denny flipped the breakers and nothing worked. Even some of our plug in's didn't work. Very frustrating. Everything worked fine the next morning. Another mystery of Life.
3. Not sure when it happened, but, we kept hearing a humming noise. Couldn't figure it out, Denny thought it came from a lower cupboard where the water pump is. He tried everything, but, it wouldn't stop. He cut some wires, not a big deal because we never use the water pump, it is only when you are boondocking without any hookups. The noise continued. Finally opened a drawer and it was the battery powered can opener. Somehow it got stuck on the on position, not sure how that happened. I hadn't used it in a long time. Now Denny has to fix the cut wires.
4. We had a hose leak under the truck in Scottsdale, at least that's where we first noticed it. Unfortunately, it leaked on our friend's, Rolf and Lynn, expensive driveway pavers. Denny tried everything to get it off, but Rolf found a great product after we left. Denny felt so bad about it and very frustrated. We were without a truck for 5 days and it cost $2500.
5. We had a new AC unit installed at Camping World in Fife, Washington before we left. Never needed to try it out til we got to Buckeye, AZ. It didn't work, so took it to Buckeye, AZ. The technicians at Fife installed it but never connected the wires. Took them 14 days to fix it. Luckily we had friends and family to stay with. We thought it would be under warranty, but it was a case of their word against ours. Hard to prove but we did get some compensation (not enough) after writing letters and a few phone calls.
6.We had a mouse infestation at our home in Renton. Our house sitter moved out because of it. Our son, Darin, got 6 mice, 2 in the living room, 2 in the pantry and 2 in a spare bedroom. We have never had a mouse problem before in the 20 years we have lived there. I have been doing alot more cleaning and disinfecting than I have ever done once we got home. Never know where those little critters have been.
7.Once we moved to Palm Springs, we thought our troubles were over, but then the corona virus lockdowns started. We were in lockdown a long time before Washington. Such scary times
8. In Palm Springs, at 11 PM one night, our toilet overflowed, by the time Denny got outside to turn the water off, we had a flood in the bathroom that also affected the carpet in the hallway. What a mess to clean up at 11PM!!
9. As we were getting relay to leave St George, Utah, a valve for the gray water in the shower broke. Another thing to fix when we get home. Also the slide out started coming in crooked. Did it again and it was okay. When we got to Alamo, NV, the slide out wouldn't go out at all. He pushed on it from the inside til it finally went out. Another thing to fix!
We had a few other things happen, but I don't want to turn this into a book. It was such a frustrating trip. I guess it was our time, we have never had much go wrong with the RV in the 10 years we have been doing this.
This will be my last blog post til next our next trip. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures as much as I have enjoyed writing about them. Eventho we had a lot of bad things happen on this trip, we are still looking forward to next November to start another adventure.
Until then..........
3. Not sure when it happened, but, we kept hearing a humming noise. Couldn't figure it out, Denny thought it came from a lower cupboard where the water pump is. He tried everything, but, it wouldn't stop. He cut some wires, not a big deal because we never use the water pump, it is only when you are boondocking without any hookups. The noise continued. Finally opened a drawer and it was the battery powered can opener. Somehow it got stuck on the on position, not sure how that happened. I hadn't used it in a long time. Now Denny has to fix the cut wires.
4. We had a hose leak under the truck in Scottsdale, at least that's where we first noticed it. Unfortunately, it leaked on our friend's, Rolf and Lynn, expensive driveway pavers. Denny tried everything to get it off, but Rolf found a great product after we left. Denny felt so bad about it and very frustrated. We were without a truck for 5 days and it cost $2500.
5. We had a new AC unit installed at Camping World in Fife, Washington before we left. Never needed to try it out til we got to Buckeye, AZ. It didn't work, so took it to Buckeye, AZ. The technicians at Fife installed it but never connected the wires. Took them 14 days to fix it. Luckily we had friends and family to stay with. We thought it would be under warranty, but it was a case of their word against ours. Hard to prove but we did get some compensation (not enough) after writing letters and a few phone calls.
6.We had a mouse infestation at our home in Renton. Our house sitter moved out because of it. Our son, Darin, got 6 mice, 2 in the living room, 2 in the pantry and 2 in a spare bedroom. We have never had a mouse problem before in the 20 years we have lived there. I have been doing alot more cleaning and disinfecting than I have ever done once we got home. Never know where those little critters have been.
7.Once we moved to Palm Springs, we thought our troubles were over, but then the corona virus lockdowns started. We were in lockdown a long time before Washington. Such scary times
8. In Palm Springs, at 11 PM one night, our toilet overflowed, by the time Denny got outside to turn the water off, we had a flood in the bathroom that also affected the carpet in the hallway. What a mess to clean up at 11PM!!
9. As we were getting relay to leave St George, Utah, a valve for the gray water in the shower broke. Another thing to fix when we get home. Also the slide out started coming in crooked. Did it again and it was okay. When we got to Alamo, NV, the slide out wouldn't go out at all. He pushed on it from the inside til it finally went out. Another thing to fix!
We had a few other things happen, but I don't want to turn this into a book. It was such a frustrating trip. I guess it was our time, we have never had much go wrong with the RV in the 10 years we have been doing this.
Synopois of our trip:
Miles Traveled: 6988
Stayed in 11 RV Parks;
Menifee, CA
Yuma, AZ
Tucson, AZ
Cottonwood, AZ
Scottsdale, AZ (our friends driveway)
Buckeye, AZ
Palm Desert, CA
Desert Hot Springs, CA
Pahrump, NV
St George, Utah
Alamo, NV
Besides the above parks, we stayed in 4 going down and 3 going back, 1 night
each
Spent $2618.66 on RV parks.
Diesel: $1681.08. our lowest price was 1.99 in Pahrump, the highest, 4.29 in Redding, CA
After we parked at the campgrounds, we traveled just in the truck sightseeing and geocaching for 2607 miles out of the total 6988
Denny is getting really tired of the driving to so many parks so we are changing it up next year. After driving down, we will stay in Buckeye, AZ for 3 months, then 2 months in Desert Hot Springs. That will cut his driving to only 2 parks instead of 11. When we first started we didn't want to stay in one spot like a lot of snowbirds do, but since we have been doing it for so long, we know which areas we like the best.
Wanted to show you some of the wild burros we saw while we were out geocaching in Pahrump, NV. They roam wild in the desert. They were at first blocking the road completely, but as we got closer, they moved
Saw these cows as we were geocaching near Alamo, NV. it is free range everywhere, so you have to watch out as you drive down the roads. Unfortunately, we saw some dead cows too
This will be my last blog post til next our next trip. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures as much as I have enjoyed writing about them. Eventho we had a lot of bad things happen on this trip, we are still looking forward to next November to start another adventure.
Until then..........
