CALIFORNIA SUNRISE WEST OF YUMAI worried all night about the car's front wheels. When we rolled into the Pilot Knob area on Sunday we were aware that we had to be careful about where to drive on the hard packed sand. RV tracks were visible where rigs stuck to main roads & we could also see ruts where people had become stuck. Picked an area that looked solid & made a wide sweeping left turn with car in tow. I could feel the sand getting a little soft & as I checked my driver's mirror I was shocked to see the car's wheels were not tracking straight like they usually do. Instead, the front wheels were being pulled sideways through the soft sand. I quickly straightened out the motorhome & noticed the car's front wheels then came into line & appeared ok. Shut everything down & that's where we stayed for the night. Wheels looked ok but decided not to unhook the car until this morning. Why have a good night's sleep when I can lay awake & worry about the wheels all night eh!!
Windy this morning & cold. We stayed inside doing a bunch of computer stuff & free Verizon/Skype phone calls. Had to leave our blue flame heater running until we were ready to pull out. Un-hooked the car, started it up, put it into gear & eased out the clutch expecting nasty metal grinding sounds from the wheels, but it was ok. Moved the car around to the front of the motorhome waiting for the steering wheel to start jerking or a wheel to come off, but nothing happened. Could it be we had dodged another bullet. Kelly then hopped into the car as I followed her out of the desert sand to the small paved road & away we went. Kept waiting for her to pull over with wheel problems but we made it to the Interstate & away we went to our next camping location about 8 miles away. She said it drove perfectly, with no problems. Only thing I can figure is that the shallow ruts the motorhome's wheels made in the sand were enough to somehow cause the front wheels on the car to become dis-oriented in the ruts & get themselves out of line. In retrospect, we should probably have un-hooked the car before motoring through that sandy area. Lesson learned!!
Our new location is on Ogilby Road just a short 8 miles or so from Pilot's Knob. It's another free area & much better than where we were. It's a hard packed rocky gravel surface so no problems with tricky sand. We have trees & shrubs here with mountains close by. Only about 5 other rigs visible so we've got lots of room again for the doggy guys. Gathered up some firewood & built a firepit but the wind picked up & we retreated inside to stay warm. Finally saw some sun around 3 but the wind still made going out too cold.
Windy this morning & cold. We stayed inside doing a bunch of computer stuff & free Verizon/Skype phone calls. Had to leave our blue flame heater running until we were ready to pull out. Un-hooked the car, started it up, put it into gear & eased out the clutch expecting nasty metal grinding sounds from the wheels, but it was ok. Moved the car around to the front of the motorhome waiting for the steering wheel to start jerking or a wheel to come off, but nothing happened. Could it be we had dodged another bullet. Kelly then hopped into the car as I followed her out of the desert sand to the small paved road & away we went. Kept waiting for her to pull over with wheel problems but we made it to the Interstate & away we went to our next camping location about 8 miles away. She said it drove perfectly, with no problems. Only thing I can figure is that the shallow ruts the motorhome's wheels made in the sand were enough to somehow cause the front wheels on the car to become dis-oriented in the ruts & get themselves out of line. In retrospect, we should probably have un-hooked the car before motoring through that sandy area. Lesson learned!!
Our new location is on Ogilby Road just a short 8 miles or so from Pilot's Knob. It's another free area & much better than where we were. It's a hard packed rocky gravel surface so no problems with tricky sand. We have trees & shrubs here with mountains close by. Only about 5 other rigs visible so we've got lots of room again for the doggy guys. Gathered up some firewood & built a firepit but the wind picked up & we retreated inside to stay warm. Finally saw some sun around 3 but the wind still made going out too cold.
BUILDING A FIRE PIT AT OUR NEW OGILBY ROAD SITEWe have Verizon coverage here with 3 green bars. Not quite as good as the 4 bars we had over at Pilot's Knob. Everything still works pretty good, but slower, except for our Skpe phone which just doesn't have a strong enough Verizon signal to work well. Television signal is really clear & we get about 7 channels with 4 of them being Spanish. As long as we have an internet connection we are happy campers.
Will probably take the car & head back into Yuma to-morrow morning for groceries & a little browsing.....
And a word to fellow RV'ers about RV.NET while I'm thinking about it......We belong to an RV site on the web called, RV.NET http://www.rv.net/forum/ RV.NET is a super great website & has been beneficial for us time & time again. It is made up of countless RV'ers from all over the continent with a wealth of RV information that is priceless. No matter what RV related problem you have there are people out there willing to help. Kelly reads the forum most everyday & whenever we have a problem she posts it on the website & literally within minutes sometimes people are on-line trying to help. These people are the experts, they are the ones living in their rigs, driving the highways, using the campgrounds, visiting the attractions, & living the RV life first hand. Prime example of people not only talking the talk, but walking the walk. We highly recommend other RV'ers get themselves onto these forums, not only to receive help when they need it, but to give help as well.
CLICK ON THE PICS TO MAKE THEM BIGGERNo photo album to-day but the few pics I did take I will add to the next photo upload maybe to-morrow.
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
