Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A SHORTER DRIVING DAY

IT'S EARLY MORNING & WE'RE AWAITING OUR FATE AT SUNLAND RV.....SEE THAT LITTLE PUDDLE OF WATER AHEAD OF THE COACH....Hmmmmmm:))
We were up early in case we had to move the rig out of the employee parking area where Sunland RV had let us stay. Didn't want to get off on the wrong foot by parking in the number one mechanics spot.

Service manager was on the job by 9:15 & moved the motorhome into one of the big service bays. Because of insurance policies we were not allowed to stay in the couch, but the dogs were so I can imagine the mechanic guy working on our leveler problem most likely had lots of furry help.

We waited patiently in the customer lounge while I mathematically calculated in my head what $89.50 an hour shop rate was going to do to us, not to mention any parts that had to be replaced. Surprisingly, the
motorhome re-appeared in the parking lot about an hour later. Oh no, was it so bad that they had given up on it already. This is not a good thing I thought, so it was on shaky legs that I approached the service counter looking for any signs of shock & awe on Kelly's face. Well, there was shock & awe alright. The bill was only $56.62. IS IT OUR TURN TO GET OUT YET DAD??
Turns out the hydraulic fluid was low in the reservoir & that had caused an air lock in the shock furthest from the system which happened to be on the rear passenger side. We never did receive a manual on that HWH hydraulic leveler system & just weeks before leaving Ontario I had requested via email a manual which apparently arrived by post after we left. Thanks to the folks on the RV Net Forum I was able to locate the reservoir but was unclear on how to interpret the dipstick reading because it was not like a car's oil dipstick & I was confused. With my track record of making bad situations worse I was reluctant to add fluid last Saturday for fear of blowing a hydraulic line so decided to err on the side of caution & just take the rig in to have the problem diagnosed properly. We will just stop eating for the next two weeks & that should make up for the lost $56. Thanks to all the people out there who offered their tips & suggestions.

We were happily back on the road & headed west by noon. Great stormy cloud formations were in the sky as we swung north at Deming heading for the Silver City area. We had heard a lot of good things from friends about a State Park on the way called, City Of Rocks, so that's where we headed. http://www.gilawilderness.com/travel/cityofrocks.htm Just 4 miles off highway 180 this park is like no other we have seen. Not many people here but we had a hard time finding a suitable site because very few of them are level if you don't want electricity. Had hoped to find a site where we could utilize our solar panels which meant the coach has to face east/west. Only flat site we found was north/south so we took it anyway. Not the absolute best spot in the park, but nice nevertheless. Hope to take some nice photos here over the next few days. THIS IS GOING TO BE A PLACE TO DO SOME GREAT EXPLORING
No problem setting our satellite system up & within about 20 minutes we were online surfing our way around the world once again. Amazing things these computers.
Have booked in for 2 nights so far at $10 a night so depending on the weather we will either do a bunch of exploring & rock scrambling here to-morrow or head off for Silver City first. We will decide that to-morrow morning. We're still a little stiff from our Dog Canyon hike. Ohhhhh, I do not like this aging process!! OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

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