WEEK OF 04-23-2012: Movin’ On

Our time at Navajo Dam was drawing to an end.  Although we are allowed 21 days at each state park, we left a few days prior to our time.  We came in on a Saturday-HUGE mistake!  We didn’t expect the park to be busy yet and it was.  And we didn’t want to keep our move days on a weekend.  We prefer a Tuesday or Wednesday.  So we bumped our move day ahead to keep to Tuesday.  The park was nice, but it was time to go.

But before we left we took time the previous week to go to the Aztec Ruins.  It was interesting to see and you learned a few things.  It’s amazing on how the Indians back then made their fortress. 

Also this past week we went down to the boat launch area and to our surprise sitting in the parking lot was a 101 foot, 30 feet wide houseboat waiting to be put back together and then put in the water.

Curiosity got the best of us so we had to go back down there the next morning.  We soon learned that this particular houseboat use to belong to a few big shots in the McDonald food chain out of Kentucky.

   

It was sold to local family in Farmington.  The houseboat traveled over 2600 miles!  Had to be in contact with D.O.T. all the way-closing some parts of highway (mainly with bridges) to allow them to pass through.  It had 5 pilot cars and took them one week to travel.

We did get to meet the new owner and he graciously and excitedly gave us a tour of the inside!  Six bedrooms, 3 full baths plus another 2 or 3 half baths along with a Full size laundry room.  Kitchen had a buffet bar not to mention the rest of the kitchen and then the living room.  All we could say was “Wow”! 

This is Ryker and his parents are the ones that just bought this!

Anyways that was our big excitement for the week before it was time to move on.

As we looked at the map we notice that there will be no Wal-Marts with in over 100 miles (one way) to our next few destinations.  So we decided the day before our move to head into Farmington to stock up on what we could for groceries.  And since our Anniversary (20 years) was a few days away we would head to a Chinese Restaurant.  The food was horrible and limited…but oh well…the company was great.

Once again we pluck in our next destination into Ms. Garmin to have her help guide us through the country side.  The next morning we are up and getting ready to head out.

Tuesday 4-25-12: I’m a bit nervous in getting the motorhome out of our spot.  I don’t want to hit the side of the tree and I fear of slipping and rolling the thing down the hillside.  Brian says I did a good job and didn’t hit the tree or rolled the rig.

Happy Anniversary and we are once again on the road.  As I stated we had our destination in Ms. Garmin.  When we came to a crossroad, we thought for sure she would keep us on Hwy 64, but instead she wants us to turn on some country road.  I pulled over and we decided not to take her way, but the old fashion way-the atlas.

Several hours later we arrive at the park.  Now we have been told by other campers that visited here years ago that it wasn’t a very pretty park.  We have to contradict them for we find it beautiful!  There are only one or two other campers and the park manager that lives on the premises.  It sure to be a quiet time here.

Because it’s springtime, is basically why everything is so green and beautiful.  As we eventually met the park manager, he states that this particular park will get busy and the grass will turn brown.  although El Vado Lake isn’t very big and a narrow lake; it’s a deep lake it will get very busy with boaters.  Heron Lake is just a hop, skip and a jump away and it’s not as deep and they don’t allow large motors on it-so everyone comes over to El Vado.

There is a 5.5 mile trail (The Rio Chama Trail) that links the two parks together and eventually we plan on trying to see how far we can get on this trail. 

But for now we just have been walking the closed section of the park in hopes to get a glimpse of God’s creatures.  The Osprey are nesting and there are three active nest in the park right now.  The one set doesn’t mind if I take pictures, but the other one has gotten a little testy when we get close.  So tends to call on her mate and he lets us know he is close by.

We have seen signs of both mule deer and Elk, but only have come across the mule deer so far.  I did get permission to spot light one night in the park for the elk-for they are inside the park late evenings.

Now across the way-I have spotted an Eagles nest-but haven’t been able to get close enough yet to get any pictures.  Taking another walk in the closed section of the park, we come across some fresh scat that we were not familiar with.  Going to the visitor center over at Heron-we soon learn it’s bear scat!  Then a camper informs us that there was fresh bear scat just below our site!  So again we need to keep a close eye out!

Since arriving here a few days ago, the weather took a turn on us.  We got hit with strong gusty winds that we (yes, including Brian) was fearing.  It felt as if the motorhome was being lifted up and off the ground!  Not to mention all the rocks and dirt that was flying right at us.  then came the rain (which we haven’t seen since leaving KS).  The next day, there was so much mud and dirt plastered on the motorhome and in every compartment.  But yet it’s still to chilly and nasty to get clean up and had to stay that way for a couple of days.

The weather since that storm has been in the lower 60’s and lower 30’s at night.  We yet have to see the sun come completely out-hopefully today and we will warm up!

APRIL 25, 2012-2OTH

We recently celebrated 20 years of blessed marriage.  Wow!  Where have the years gone? 

We got married in Freeport IL, at a beautiful county park just outside of Freeport.  We both still remember the day as if it was yesterday.  What was to be a small wedding turned out to be bigger than we both anticipated with over 100 guest.

Being that I was married previously-I could and would not wear white-so I had to find a dress that would fit the color theme that we had chosen; blue & pink. 

We both agreed that we did not want to get married in any particular church so we chose this park just outside of town that had a tabernacle and a reception hall.  When you rented the reception hall, the rest went with it-which made it perfect for us.  If weather was perfect-then we would be married outside, if not, then the tabernacle would provide us the shelter we would need.  It had no heat, but kept us out of the element.

We had to be at the park office on a particular day to sign up on a first come-first serve basis for Oakdale Nature Preserve for the day we wanted-April 25th.  We got our date, however the following week we get a phone call from the superintendent of parks wanting us to change our day because of Earth Day and they had planned on celebrating it at Oakdale.  We stayed firmed and said it was their error and they had our money-we won.

I made all the flower decorations for the wedding, and the lady that use to babysit Brian many years ago, made our cake.  We did our own food preparation with help from Brian’s family.  Brian’s brother Steve and his wife Diane came down the night before to help with decorating and Brian’s sister, Wanda video our wedding.  Our neighbor who was into photography shot all the pictures for us as a wedding present.  We did our own music on cassette.  My three girls, Becky, Melissa & Jessica would be my maid of honor, and bridesmaid.  And Brian’s best friend, Rick was his best man.

The most special part of our wedding was that Brian had become good friends with the previous minister to the church that he worked at and when he retired and moved to Southern IL, Brian called him said he was getting married.   Ernie (the minister) was honored to travel all that way to marry a good friend.  It would be his last performance as a minster for a wedding.  Ernie died later that summer….

In the weeks to come was busy preparing things and finalizing all for the wedding.  Where we had bought our rings, was from a jeweler that Brian knew and was friends with.  So he picked up our rings to make sure they were clean and all was perfect for our wedding day.  Two days before the wedding he brings them back claiming that there were stones missing out of my ring and it had to be sent away to be fixed.  I told him that wasn’t a nice joke to play on a woman days before her wedding and that I would get even one day….

 The day before the wedding we had the rehearsal.  Brian’s friend, Rick comes in wearing wild colors with a battery operated squawking parakeet on his shoulder.  The girls decided they would join in with Rick and act goofy.   It was very hard for both the minister and Brian to keep a straight face I panicked and was nervous!  We all  had a good laugh when Ernie came to the part with the ring exchange and our rings were changed out for a huge washer and a bolt!

We knew a few days before the wedding that a cold front was moving in. Brian was worried that I would freeze in my dress, and I refuse to wear a coat. So I quickly sewed a shawl to help me stay a little warmer.

Wedding Day:  Neither of us got much sleep the night before, but we were up bright and early and once again heading back to the park to make sure all was ready.  We had all the food there and ready to go with again help from family and friends. It was cold, windy and rain.

Then it was time to get the girls hair done and dressed and hope they didn’t get dirty before the wedding.  Then I had to get ready myself.  Guest were arriving and the excitement began.

As I wait just outside the tabernacle with my father and my daughter, Becky; my dad turns to me and said: “Girl, God has given you one last chance at happiness and a good man-don’t go messing it up”  Then becky turns to me and says: “Yeah, Mom, this is your one and last chance to run”.  So I pretended as if I was going to run and both my dad and Becky grabbed me, everyone inside was looking in confusion and then I walked down the isle with a smile on my face!

We really couldn’t have asked for a better day.  Sunshine would have been nice, but God gave us what he did and we accepted it.  The wedding and reception went with out any problems and the Park services was still able to do their Earth Day, just at another park.

20 years later; girls are grown,  Brian’s dad and his sister Wanda are both gone as well as both of my parents.  But our memories is still alive within us and we are still going strong for hopefully another 20+ years.

CLUSTER MODULE

Okay now you ask: What the heck is a Cluster Module?

Well, it’s what controls all of your dash board lights, ALL of your instrumental gadgets on the dashboard such as your speedometer, odometer, fuel and mileage just to name a few and then depending what else you might have on your panel.

Module Cluster-the bad one

One out of every nine manages to go goofy or bad on motorhomes.  So what causes them to go bad?  Well I will be glad to try and explain as the mechanic explained it to us.

When a motorhome is built, it’s starts with a car manufacturing building the engine compartment, frame and chaise.  then it gets sent over to the RV manufacture and here is where they actually build the remainder part of your motorhome.  It’s also where they add the extra blows and whistles they want to.  Some being important to a motorhome; like the back-up camera. 

But for some unknown reason they decided to run the slide-out mechanism and the out side step to the engine battery and cluster module.  When they do this, then they have to re-modify the cluster module.  When doing this is so easy for the RV Manufacture to cut, slice or damage that particular instrumental panel; which in our case they shorted it out when they spliced into it.  They overloaded the Cluster Module without it being re-inspected by the car dealership to make sure all is up to standard code. 

Now I’m not saying they should actually send them back-for I know this would cost loads of money-but they could hire a mechanic that knows what he is doing to inspect the engine compartment before sending them out to be dealt with the dealership and us consumers.

When taking a cluster module out and replacing it isn’t as simple as it appears.  Once taken out-and replaced, your vehicle will not start.  It must be hooked to a computer, and all the information for your engine must be reloaded into this new module. 

Computer downloading all the information into the new Cluster Module so that we can get back on the road again.

In the 2-1/2 years of owning our motorhome we have gone through 4 engine batteries, and 3 Ford Dealership before we found the one in Parker AZ that actually knew what he was doing!

 Our wonderful mechanic hard a work fixing our motorhome.

He took the extra step to finally find the problem.  One dealership mechanic told us that we needed to drive our motorhome at least 100 miles a day to keep the battery  engine charged!

Now because it was an add-0n to the motorhome by the RV dealership that actually caused the problem-Ford could have said no to the repair under warranty-causing us thousands of dollars; because the warranty under the RV was done. (RV warranty was 1 year-Engine warranty is 3 years).

So if you are ever having battery engine trouble on a new motorhome and it’s under warranty. Don’t let the mechanics push you around. Ask them to check the module cluster to see if it’s performing or if there is some kind of short in the system.

NAVAJO DAM STATE PARK, NM

Navajo Dam State Park is straight west from Farmington, NM.  Just outside of the town of Aztec on Hwy 550 you will turn right onto Hwy 173.  Hwy 173 gets used a lot by the oil & electric company with their large trucks and the road is good but will jar things around in your rig a little.  When you come to the town of Navajo Dam, turn left onto Hwy 511.  Once you cross over the dam, and go around the curb about another 1/2 mile or so, you will veer to your right into the park.


Once upon a time this lake was quite huge, but due to recent years of drought, the lake is below normal pool level, but still big enough for bass boats, houseboats and jet boats to have a little room to play.  But on a busy weekend-one will have to be more cautious than maybe during the week.


The campground itself is very rustic looking and for some large rigs a bit intimidating.  We ended at Pine-main.  There is a combination of both elect/water, full hook-up and primitive sites in this loop.  Pine has 5 separate loops from A-E.


In “A” loop is where you will find the full hook-up sites-but only just a few. the rest are electric with the exception of one site that is primitive. All the other loops in Pine have either elect/water or are primitive. 
Just past the dump station, if you turn right you are in “E” loop. Turn right at the bathroom again, go around the loop and on the right side you will come across a gravel type road.  Going in is three sites, one has access from the paved road while the other two are from the gravel road.  The road is narrow and very uneven.  the lower site is just about impossible for any size rig to get in.


Not rig friendly, but perfect for a tent or two.


however the very last site, rigs can get in-but don’t expect to be on even ground.  This is where we parked and had a great view of the lake.


  We had a great view from all four direction and loved this spot!  This was a primitive site.


Although there has been large rigs in Pine-main, it’s really not designed for large rigs.   The road is narrow with breakage on the edge of the roadway, making it impossible not to hit branches or to drop off. We even seen one 5th wheel scrapping the tree and doing damage to his antenna not to mention the scratches he put in his rig.  Here is a view of some rigs in spots and notice how they just about stick out in the roadway:


   
These rigs are nearly in the roadway! 

I’m not saying large rigs shouldn’t camp here, for once here, the view and rustic of the area is just gorgeous!  But word of caution:  If you are a triple axle or unsure with your large rig, I might suggest going to Cottonwood for camping.


I also might suggest if you are a large rig coming in; once entering the campground, the dump station is on the right and down the hill.  If you stay on the main road, to your left is “A” Loop, go just past the host and playground (on left) you come to a three intersection: one is “B” loop with a one way sign-stay out of there if your big!  not much room to move around.  But instead veer a little to your left (you will find a green fencing on your right where there is a gas well-follow it).  You are now in “C” loop and there are one or two sites that a big rig might fit in.  But keep going around the bend and you soon go into “D” loop. There are sites on your left with great view of the lake and marina.  These sites are a little more accommodating for the bigger rigs.  But word of caution: only one site is not reservable….


Once again you will come across yet another gravel roadway, and although we checked it out-there was no way we could even possibly think of getting our small motorhome down there!  We did see a truck and small camper down there, but we also saw evidence of his spun out when he came back out and I’m sure he had to put the truck into 4-wheel drive.  But nice sites for tents!


This is not RV Friendly!  They use too large of rocks for their roadway.


Pine is not the only campground in this area.  You also have: Pinon, Cedar, and Juniper campground.  These three were closed and only open just before Memorial Day and close shortly after Labor Day holiday.  They are all primitive with vault toilet; with the exception of Cedar having flush toilet and shower building.


When you first turn left to head towards these three campground, you start out on black top, but once you cross over the cattle guard it becomes gravel.  It’s mostly hard pack, but getting closer to Juniper campground, you climb up hill and it seems the gravel is a little more loose in this area.


Gravel roadway to Juniper-Here it starts to get a little loose compare to the rest of the hard gravel.

Pinon Campground allows no RV’s  and believe me, after walking it, if you don’t have a 4-wheel drive or high clearance vehicle-we would not suggest even considering this area!  the road is very un-even, rough with large rocks and many ruts.  Sites are okay with some nice private sites and views of the lake.  I wonder if anyone has gotten into trouble with their vehicle in this area and had to be hauled out?


This is the roadway to Pinon


   Cedar and Juniper is a little bit more RV friendly with some sites that have great view and/or privacy for those that wish it.  However, once again, the road is narrow with bush hanging out in the roadway, deep ruts with large rocks.  If I owned a big diesel pusher-I would NOT want to bring my rig in here at all.  I would not want to come into these areas if there were any intention of rain-you just might find yourself-stuck....


                


Navajo Dam also has two other campgrounds besides here.  Cottonwood is below the dam and just off of 173 just before you get to the town of Navajo Dam.  It’s a gravel road, but a good road getting into the campground.  the sites appeared to be more level and wider and as I stated earlier, more RV friendly.  They do not have showers but have flush toilet and a dump station.


You are on the San Juan River with great fishing and wildlife viewing.  We were here during the day and saw a young buck coming out of the water and constantly heard wild turkeys.




The only downfall that we could really see to camping here was the knats and mosquitos!  We hate both, so opted of not coming here to camp.


there is also one other park called Sims Mesa-we did not adventure to that side and cannot say what that is like.


As for the cleanliness of the Parks wasn’t all that bad.  Not a lot of trash, but fire rings we notice could use a cleaning and could see evidence of past campers that have thrown it down the hill-us included.  Our fire ring was full, so making sure no hot spot-Brian scooped up most of it and flung it down the hillside. 


There is a campground host and he seems to be very friendly and was helpful to us.  Not really sure of his job description, but we did notice that he might clean one site, but totally skip another site.   One site has had trash in the fire ring now for the whole time we have been here and no one has bother to clean it up.
The park rules states no glass bottles outside of your vehicle while inside the park, but again evidence showed that people don’t pay attention to rules. 


I can’t speak for during peak season, but off season there is no rangers around other than in the visitor center.  If coming in you pay your fees through an honor box system that is located at the entrance of the park, and again at Pine, Pinon, Cedar & Juniper.   Both Cottonwood and Sims Mesa the honor box is at their entrance as well.  The only time we saw evidence of a park ranger was on the weekends.  We were told by the host that two do live on the premises.


Bathrooms were clean-but not spectacular.  I think they fear cleaning the showers the most,  the whole time we stayed here they might have gotten a hose down down once or twice-but that’s it.  Brian and I said that when we use to contracted for the C.O.E. and would get a “white glove” inspection-this would not pass the inspection!  But good enough to use-until the weekend groups came in.  We have been in cleaner and dirtier-so I guess we take this as being in the middle for cleanliness.


When we took a drive down to Cottonwood we both were completely appalled to what we saw.  Our American Flag completely tattered, faded and worn out!  Upon emailing pictures and a letter to the main office in Santa Fe-the Flag was replaced immediately.  It should have never been allowed to be let go for that long and there fore made us a little disappointed in New Mexico State Park and hope we never come across this again….


     

Would we ever come back here?  Oh yeah!  Even though the park is a little out of date, and we understand cut-backs.  The peace and tranquil here in the high-desert mountain was awesome!  I’m sure however during peak season this place is booming.  That is why we choose to come in early spring before the crazy starts.


    
    

APRIL 16, 2012-WARM, COLD, SNOW

We have been at Navajo Dam State Park here in NM for a little over a week now and done a lot of exploring of the campground area.

The spot we have chosen to park in was a bit scary getting into, but once in, plenty of space to move the motorhome around.  It was nearly impossible to get it completely level though-so we tilt just an inch or two to one side and that’s with boards under the tires. 

The only part of not being completely level is the stove and cooking.  So Brian came up with a genius idea of putting a washer and screw to adjust the levelness and by gosh, it’s working great.  I told him he needs to sell the idea to the RV industry-he just laughs at me.

    

Anyways, we are here and parked for a couple of weeks.  Now it’s time to really enjoy the warm weather that has welcomed us here in Northern New Mexico.  Temps are averaging in the mid 70’s and nights are cool down to the lower 40’s-but still tolerable for us.  The sun is out bright and makes it great to enjoy the relaxation and exploring that we enjoy doing.

There really isn’t any trails to speak of around here, but plenty of ground to wonder around and explore. We do have to be a little more on the careful side than normal-we are in Mountain Lion territory and in fact we had one cross in front of our motorhome one morning.

There is a lake if we choose to take the canoe out.  However upon removing the canoe off the car, we notice something just isn't right….When we hit some pretty strong wind gust and no place to get off the roadway, we apparently was an accident waiting to happen.  As much pride as Brian takes to make sure all is safe and secure, nothing would have stopped this from happening-if we would push our luck.

What had happen, is that the stress of the canoe on the car with the wind speeds we were hitting, caused the bolts to actually bend!  The straps that he used was so stressed that they actually started to cut from being so taunt against the carrier on the car. 

With that bit of scare and really looking at how many times we have unloaded, to reload the canoe on the car and how many times we have actually had it in the water-we made the decision to sell it on Craig’s list.  Brian jokingly states that the canoe has more miles on the car than in the water!   Anyways, after posting it on Craig’s List-not even 24 hours later-it was sold to a young couple.

In some ways I’m kind of sad that it’s gone, but I also understand that it’s more of a hassle hauling it around and not using it-so better for someone who will enjoy it more than we did.

Well anyways with the continuous great weather, we take more hikes and more exploring.  We have seen deer, squirrels and evidence of coyotes, elk and even prints from a mountain lion that appears was stalking possibly an elk.

But that too comes to almost a halt.  Brian manage to really  hurt (possibly broke) his one toe.  He is able to walk, as long as we stay on solid ground.  So the only exploring we have been able to do is on pavement and in the closed area of the campground.

 

His toe is getting better, but now the weather is changing on us.  We have a major front pushing through that brings high winds and makes me nervous-thinking the motorhome will roll off the hillside-Brian keeps assuring me that it’s too heavy and even though it rocks around pretty hard-we are too heavy to roll over.  With the winds comes much colder temps. 

Here comes out the jogging outfits, heavy sweatshirts and even Leah’s winter coat that we thought we put away.  Time to make some soups to help warm both the inside of the motorhome and our bodies.  And then if that’s not enough-what was suppose to be rain-turns into snow!  It was kind of pretty tot watch it fall.

  

As we get the wind and snow/rain, we pray that those in the Midwest and friends of ours are safe from damaging winds, hail and even tornadoes.  I guess this is what Spring is about-unpredictability of the the weather.

Now this week, the weather has turned back to nice and loads of sunshine once again.  Temps are to go back into the 70’s for daytime highs. 

Our plans for this week is to go check out Aztec Ruins, explore more of the countryside-now that Brian feels he can walk better off roadways.

OVERNITE WALLY WORLDS

Many RV’ers depend and use Wal-Mart for overnight parking while others frown on it.  Some respect it by using it for only a night or two and not setting up “camp” while others will set up as if they plan to camp for days on end.

We do use Wal-Marts parking lot for overnight stays.  But generally just for that one night only.  I guess you can call us “cheap”, because we don’t believe in paying $25.00+ dollars to a private park when all we plan on doing is sleeping and then getting up early the next day and heading out on the road.  If we were going to be there longer than just sleeping, then we would feel we would get our money’s worth.

Whenever we do use Wal-Mart for overnight parking, we try to be respectful by going way out and staying out of others way, letting the manager know we are there, and not setting up completely.  Since we do live in a very small motorhome, we do bring out our slide for just a bit more room.  But when we had our 5th wheels, we hardly ever did.

Recently we had to stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Parker AZ for a few nights due to battery engine trouble and waiting for parts.  We let them (Wal-Mart) know about our situation and they were just super to us.  We parked in the way back near their receiving door, but out of the way for their truckers to get in and out. 

What amazed us the most sitting there are those that live in their RV on a very short shoestring, move during the daytime to maybe another area of town and then back at Wal-Mart at night.  There were 3 single guys we watch do this faithfully every day.  Then we had an RV move in next to us, setting up as if they were in a regular campground!  Chairs out, a small mat, grill and if the winds hadn’t kicked up I think they probably would have had their awning out!  We just shook our head.

Now some Wal-Marts will not allow you to park overnight.  Most times it’s a city ordinance more than Wal-Mart policy.  Although there are a few That simply don’t want you to park overnight and that’s because they have had very bad experience with RV’ers.  There is a web page you can go to, to find out if it’s a no park Wal-Mart:  http://www.allstays.com/c/walmart-locations-noparking.htm

We have come across a few that even though they are a no park Wal-Mart, they allowed us to stay overnight-mainly because we were having oil change done the next morning.  We also came across one in Corpus Christi where we found a quiet out of the way spot and before I was out of the driver seat, security came over knocked on the door and told us that we had to move to the center area!   Once we got moved we notice he was making us park right in the main area of traffic and where other paying customers parked.  I opened my big mouth to the security guy and told him that he needs to let the manager know by “making” us RV’ers park here that if we should get hit, that he could be held liable for a lawsuit.  His response was that they were having trouble with RV’ers coming down for the winter months and literally parking all over for the whole season!  So the manager said that by parking us out in the middle we wouldn’t set up camp and only allowed 72 hours and then had to move off.

If a Wal-Mart won’t allow you to park in their parking lot, generally a Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Cracker Barrel will allow you to stay in their lots.  But make sure it’s not a city ordnance first-or you might get asked to move onto a private RV park.

So if you are traveling and really don’t want to pay for an overnight stay.  Please be respectful to other RV’ers that do use Wal-Mart parking for overnight stays. 

• DON’T set up as if you plan to camp for days on end.
• Unless you really need your slide out-leave them in
• DON’T stay more than a night or two, and if you must stay longer for some reason or another, talk with the manager and let them know your situation.
• DON’T dump your gray or black water down their sewer holes-that’s what makes it bad for the rest of us!
• DON’T park where you block other customers from coming in to shop-try to take an out of the way spot-even if it does angle badly.
• And least but not last-no matter how tired you are and how busy the store may be, try to be pleasant when you go in to do a little shopping. 

Wal-Mart for the most really don’t mind us RV’ers parking because we come in and spend money.  I know we do, sometimes just a few dollars while other times lots more.  Sometimes if there is a Sam’s Club near Wal-Mart we will park there instead; only because they do close at night and can be a little more quieter for sleeping.

One last thing;  If you stay over night and something should happen, Wal-Mart is NOT responsible.  And don’t think because they have security camera’s that they will help you if should get robbed or hit.  Their cameras are for their own security purpose only and they will not assist you in any way as far as the police looking at their video surveillance.

Thank you Wal-Mart for your patience with us RV’ers!

WEEK OF: 04-01-2012: WAITING

SUNDAY:                          We moved off of BLM land and into Ford’s parking lot, while we await for warranty service to be done the following day.  Brian thought this would be easier for me, since it’s so tight to get into their lot for service work.  And since Sunday’s are always much quieter-this should make it much easier for me.
While waiting we decided to check out Parker area a little more.  We went into an old time hardware store and found the most friendliest folks there.  We even found a few things that we have been looking for.
We also took the time to go to a boat & RV place in hopes to find a white cover for the AC when we don’t use it (which is hardly ever).  Again the most friendliest folks we could have ever met and they even had the cover we have been looking for all winter long.
Sunday turned out to be a good and productive day for us.
MONDAY:                                   Ford is right on time in getting our motorhome in to see why we keep going through so many engine batteries.  Since we can’t be inside, I take Leah and we patiently wait in their lounge.  Leah doesn’t know what to think of others that are coming and going.  As she sits waiting with me she gets the urge to sound off every now and then.  Brian wanders around-the man can never sit still.  I think he’s worse than me when it comes to waiting around.
At first it appears that they cannot find out why our battery keeps going bad.  So we think that they will just replace it and send us on our way. As the mechanic does the draw test, he notice that something just isn’t right.  He traced it back to all the dash wiring that goes into a cluster module. 



 It has some kind of a short that eventually would have caused us major problems later on down the road.  This cluster module controls all of our dash lighting, speedometer, odometer, as well as our steps, back-up camera & controlling the slide-out.  Now we have to wait for Ford to agree to fix this problem under warranty.  I’m glad that this particular mechanic took the special time to locate and finally once and for all solving the problem that should have been solved a year ago. 

TUESDAY:                                  We started out yesterday by parking in this huge parking lot that we seen others park in, but we just didn’t get an easy feeling there.  So we moved over to Wal-Mart parking lot as we are waiting for a phone call from the mechanic that the part is in.  It could be a couple of days of waiting around.  In the meantime, I get some sewing done and Brian just puts around as we wait, wait wait….
WEDNESDAY:                            We are still waiting around for that phone call that the part is in…..Not much else to do.
Finally around 4:30pm we get the call that the part is in and we can come in the next morning to get it fixed and maybe be on our way that same day.
THURSDAY:                                        Once again we are back at Ford dealership and Leah and I are waiting in their waiting room for our motorhome to get fix.  It should only be a few hours.  It doesn’t take much to put the new modular in, but takes time to download the information back into it.
The mechanic runs into a snag.  He puts the new cluster modular in, downloaded the information into the chip, but for some reason-she won’t start.  He puts the old one back in and she starts.
Discovers he has to go to another Ford web page to download all the information into this new module for it to accept the idea that there is a new cluster module in order for the motorhome to start.   All this modern day stuff!
After 4 hours of waiting-we are finally done!  As we wait for the paper work Brian discovers that we have a boo-boo in the driver seat!  The mechanic forgot to lay down a protector sheet and the computer got hot enough to put a minor scratch and burn in the seat!

Ford is willing to make it right though when we come back next winter.  And all is written down.
By 12:30 we are on the road!  We only plan on going to Kingman AZ where we will stay the night at yet another Wal-Mart parking lot.
Brian was promised a KFC buffet and that’s what he is going for.  The Buffet was small, and not the best we have been to.  Although they were not busy-we couldn’t get the workers to replenish the Buffet.  They were too busy talking and goofing around.  Tables needed to be wiped down and the floor swept.  Won’t go back there again.
On the upside, we did find a solar unit for the engine battery at O’Reillys.  The mechanic suggested putting this on when we don’t drive for a few days.  We first went to Auto Zone and they don’t carry any solar units and suggested we go to an RV dealership. Gee, I wonder why they wouldn’t suggest their competition?
FRIDAY:                                       Up and on the road by 6:00am.  Will head towards 4 corners and go from there.  We take Interstate all the way to Flagstaff and then decided to take the scenic route of HWY 89  & 160.    Scenic yes, very beautiful, but out MH took a beating in areas of the road.  All the while we can see South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Despite the fact that the weather for the area from Cameron all the way to Kayenta said wind speeds of 10-20mph NE were very inaccurate!  We caught side winds exceeding 35+!  If there was a place to pull over I would have, but the road was narrow and not much room and out in the middle of nowhere!
We finally arrive safely to the 4 Corner Monument.  Checked out everything and all seemed to be okay.  Took several pictures of 4 Corners. It was neat and a lifetime chance, but not all that spectacular-would not drive out of my way to go there though.
Decided that it that since it was only mid afternoon we would keep going and get into Farmington, NM; stay overnight replenish our grocery supply and then head out to Navajo Dam on Saturday.
SATURDAY:                             We awoke to very cold morning.  Decided to get our groceries and head out.  We turned on Ms. Garmin with Navajo Dam’s address.  As we get into Aztec she want’s me to turn onto a road.  After making the turn, there is a sign “Dead End”…oops….now what?
I manage to get turned around without unhitching the car, get  back on the highway.  Brian gets the trusty map out.  Another mile down the road was where we actually needed to turn.  It’s just that they have changed the road some and the Garmin didn’t know that.  So back on track again.
Once again the road is rough and the poor motorhome takes yet another beating, but we arrive in one piece.  Now time to find a site and get settled in for a few weeks of exploring. 

Whew-we are tuckered out (including our dog, Leah) and it’s time to relax and enjoy!!!