I should be home now!!!

I spent last night in a Pilot parking lot it was noisy and cold but it should have been my last night in the US.

The morning went from bad to worse, when I arrived at the border all the access lanes were blocked off and the border patrol were using a dog to check all the vehicles. When my turn came I asked were the admin building was so I could file my paperwork. He politely informed me that I would not be leaving today since the office was closed and would not reopen till Tuesday. With the building of Vancouver in sight I had to turn back and cross back into the US.

If things had gone according to plan I would be sitting at home freshly showered and wearing clean clothes.

Instead I'm stuck in the US till Tuesday!! Stopping in Eugene to get the furnace fixed seemed like a good idea, what I did not take into account was, not only did that push my crossing back a day, but with all my travelling I had lost track of the days and today is Saturday and the Pacific Highway Border Crossing Office is only open Mon-Friday and because of  the New Years Holiday will not be open till Tuesday.

So I get to spend another 3 days in the US in a cheap KOA were at the moment it is snowing!!! I am sure in  week from now I will look back on this and laugh but that's not how I feel at the moment. 

Oh well I have power and Internet I should be able to entertain myself for the next couple of days.

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Heading for home

I take back what I wrote yesterday today's drive was defiantly the worst day of driving in what had been a very long journey.

The day started off great,  after spending another cold night in the RV the service manager banged on my door at 9:00 to let me know that the circuit board had arrived. After handling him the keys I headed inside to warm up and grab a cup of coffee. Just over an hour later they told me the repairs were done I went with the service manager to settle up the bill. They contacted the dealer in Akron who authorized the payment of $370 and by 11:00am I was already to go.

Checking the nav system it was only a 6 1/2 hour drive to the border plenty of time for me to make it home tonight.What the Nav system doesn't calculate is traffic. I5 runs thru 3 major cities and that is where it stops being a freeway and turns into a parking lot.

My total travel from Eugene to Bellingham was over 9 hour!! That meant no chance of catching a ferry home till tomorrow. Showed up to spend my last night of overnighting in a Walmart only to find that is not allowed here. Time to get back on the road and find a place to stay the night.  :-( 

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Getting the furnace fixed YEH!!!

Left Las Vegas early yesterday morning aside from the long climb out of the valley yesterday's drive was long but uneventful. Stopped twice on my way thru California to try to get the furnace fixed but got the same story. It would be two weeks to a month till they could even look at it, let alone fix it!!

Since I wasted so much time trying to get the furnace fixed it was after 11:00pm when I finally reached my stop for the night. 

With the temp in the RV at -2c I was up at 5:30 and on the road by 6. The plan for today was to make it to Eugene to pickup my Solar parts and visit the Camping World for one more try before heading for home.

The first 2 hours went well but after my first fill up I started going up thru the mountains the California side was okay but once I entered Oregon things got a little more exciting. I thought the 6% grades were bad enough, but just to make it more interesting they added twisty roads with snow and ice, and mile long cloud banks.

Today's drive was defiantly my least favourite, especially after the logging truck in front of me dropped something off it's load and put a crack in the windshield. Due to the driving conditions I did not make it to Camping World till 4:00pm.

While I was driving thru this winter wonderland I received a phone call from Bob enquiring how things were going. I told him I would call him back and 45 minutes later at the next rest stop I explained the problems I was having getting the furnace fixed. He called me back 10 minutes later to let me know they were expecting me.
Even though I showed up an hour late they brought the RV right in, and 45 minutes later came out and told me the problem was the control board. They did not have one in stock but figured they can get one tomorrow. Will be spending the night in their parking lot. Hopefully this will be the last cold night I spend in the RV.

 

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Still here in Vegas

The past two days have been pretty uneventful, I get up eat my breakfast then walk the 1/2 mile down the road to purchase my morning coffee at 7 Eleven. Yesterday morning after purchasing my coffee I continued on down the road, after getting off the main drag I walked thru a large residential area. I should have paid more attention to where I was wondering as I got quite lost for a bit, ending up in an area that was pretty run down.Fortunately google maps was able to guide me back to the main road and back to the RV park.

After lunch I went over to the movie theaters located at Sam's Town. Out of the 17 available movies I chose to see Assassin's Creed it turned out to be not a bad movie and killed a couple of hours. I would have rather watched Rouge One but promised my brother I would see it with him once I  got back. After that it was back to the RV to make dinner and watch a couple of TV shows on my pad. The RV park does offer cable hook up's but I do not have the required cable to do that. The RV has a digital antennae and I can pickup over 40 channels but they are either in Spanish or so old I can't stand to watch them.

This morning was the same routine except instead of doing some more exploring I headed straight back to the RV. I was expecting a call from Bob about getting the furnace fixed but he never called. I guess that means I'm on my own. The plan now is to head out early tomorrow morning for the 1500 mile drive home stopping along the way to see if I can get someone to fix the furnace. At this point I'm not very hopeful and I really just want to get home, but with out a working furnace it's going to be a very cold journey.

  

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Christmas Day in Vegas

This is the first time in a very long time that I haven't woken up with my wife on Christmas day,it makes me a little sad but in less than a week I should be back home and all will be good. My luck may be improving on my hike today to get coffee I found $100 lying on the grass next to the sidewalk. Hopefully this is an indication of things to come.

Christmas here in Vegas is much different than back home it just doesn't seem like Christmas. Their is very little in the way of decoration's displayed and most business are open it just does not feel like Christmas here. On my way to get coffee I passed by a McDonalds that had 1/2 a dozen cars in the drive thru waiting to be served.After getting back from my morning walk I spoke to my wife and kids which helped cheer me up.

Will be heading out to Red Rock Canyon which is about 30 miles outside of Vegas this afternoon. I arrived at Red Rock Canyon expecting to have the place mostly to my self was amazed to see a large lineup of cars waiting to get in. 

I spent the rest of the day exploring the canyon, walking along the trails checking out a little waterfall.

 It was a pleasant day despite the chill in the air. Hopefully I receive good news from Bob tomorrow, either way 2 more days and I'm out of here.

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Christmas Eve & I'm not home

Took the day off today, slept into till 9:oo then walked 1/2  mile to get a cup of coffee. Spent another 90 minutes walking around to get some exercise. These city blocks in Vegas are enormous, they are 4 to 5 times as long as 1 of our blocks back home.

 

When I got back I walked around the RV site, there are over 275 sites and even at this time of the year, it is over 3/4 full it was funny to see how many RV's had ramps so their pets could get in and out easily.

After lunch I sat around waiting for Bob to call with news about getting the furnace in the RV fixed, unfortunately it wasn't good news. He was unable to contact anyone today, not surprising since it's Christmas looks like I won't be leaving for a few more days. He is going to call back Tuesday after checking some more places on my route home. 

I was suppose to be eating dinner at my sister-in-laws today, instead I splurged and went to KFC Yum!!  I can't wait to get out of here and will be leaving on Tuesday one way or the other.

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Things were going so well

Things were going so well I knew something had to go wrong eventually. Went down to the Las Vegas strip last night had a nice dinner. Then I walked the strip for a couple of hours it really hasn't changed that much since I was last here. After walking the strip I went and saw Terry Fador and as expected it was really great after the show I headed over to Fremont street to listen to the bands and people watch. It was after midnight by the time I got home.

My luck has been pretty good so far and it finally ran out. When I left for the evening I had turned the thermostat down but not off, so I was surprised that it was so cool in the RV. Checked the thermostat it was still turned on, raised the temp to 70 and nothing happened. Okay obviously I have a problem, I checked to make sure I have not  run out of propane, gauge is not reliable but all the stove elements work and the flame is bright blue so not a simple problem. Jump on the Internet to check for a fix all of it looks like it's going to take time and it's after 1:00am so off to my cold bed I go, will deal with it in the morning.

Once again I wake up to a very chilly RV, I really should be use to this by now. Watch a couple of video's on trouble shooting furnace problems so I'm all set to go. One problem the furnace is behind a panel and I don't have any tools so off to my favorite store I go to purchase some cheap tools. Next problem after removing the panel all you have access to is the back of the furnace all the serviceable parts are in the front. To access those I would have to remove the furnace and it doesn't look easy or fun.

I contact the dealer I purchased the RV from but they really can't help me but do give me the number for their tech support line. Spoke to a very nice man who gave me the number of the service manager here in Vegas. After speaking to him on the phone I head over to have them check it out. When I arrive at the dealership an hour later I am told that the soonest they could look at my RV is the end of January!!  After a lot of negotiating and me insisting that their service manager (found out he wasn't working that day I had spoken to him at his house) had said they would, they finally agreed to send a Tech out to check it out.

An hour later he showed up, spent 5 minutes in the RV and told me "Yep it's broken" and to diagnose it they would have to remove it from the RV. Went back into chat with the man in charge, who informed me that their was no way they could help me till the end of January. His recommendation was to buy a electric heater and head for  home.

I finally arrived back at the KOA at 6:00 having wasted the entire day and accomplishing nothing. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow.

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Staying in Vegas

After getting a couple hours of needed sleep I've reconsidered leaving. While its not exactly warm here its comfortable. It was 5c when I woke up. Contacted Las Vegas KOA Sam's Town and I can stay there for a reasonable $22.00 a night with full hookups. To bad the RV is winterized but I will have power and that's all I really need.

Located a Harbor Freight and drove over to pickup the tools I will need to install the Solar Kit that I'm picking up in Oregon. Then I drove over to the KOA which is located 8 miles outside of downtown Vegas.

Arrived just after lunch it's not much to look at and the pads are gravel but it's got SHOWERS !!!! and I really need one. Spent 30 minutes enjoying the showers and a change of clothing. 

A friend of mine is down here for Christmas, they are on there way over here now so we can go out for a late lunch. After an enjoyable meal they dropped me off just after 7:00pm I finished setting up camp then headed out for a look around before going to bed.

Woke up this morning feeling great, slept the whole night thru with no problems. Left the furnace running all night long so it was very comfortable when I got out of bed.

Will be spending most of the day finalizing the RV export, as well as doing some laundry and cleaning the inside of the RV something that wasn't done at the dealer.

Got a lot accomplished today. RV is cleared for export, interior is now clean. Time to grab another shower I will be heading out in an hour to go and see Terry Fador.

Life is good!!

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Half way home

Last night was another cool night but not as bad as the last two. Actually slept in till 7:30, left the furnace off so I had a good nights sleep. 

Was on the road by 8:30m I hope to make it to Las Vegas today then spend a couple days there before heading for home. I need the down time as well as a shower.

 I am now halfway home YeHah!!! So far I have enjoyed traveling thru New Mexico & Arizona the most. I can hardly wait to come back here with Jackie its going to be awesome.

Made it to Las Vegas just after 8:00pm, low on fuel and dead tired.I wasn't able to stay at the first Walmart I stopped at and with the traffic here being so crazy I may change my plans. 

After trying two other Walmart's found one I was allowed to stay at. It's defiantly time for bed.

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It's Cold in Albuquerque

It was another cold night and I managed an extra hours sleep by turning the thermostat down to 40f the smoke alarm didn't go off till 4:30. By 6 o'clock it was -5C in the RV so i got up and headed down the road. When I stopped for coffee I noticed that the left over coffee had actually frozen in my thermo mug.

Made really good time today ending up 30 miles outside of Albuquerque. Passed thru Texas on the way here really lovely scenery and rock formations. Saw a armadillo, unfortunately it was lying dead by the side of the road as well watched a tumble weed roll across the highway.

Hit the New Mexico border just at sunset it was  gorgeous and went on for over an hour as I spend westward perfect way to end the day. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out but it's late and I'm tired. Its going to be another cold night so I'm sure to be up early.

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Checotah what a Name

It was far to cold in the RV for me to go back to sleep after being woken up by the smoke alarm last night. So I got up and headed over to Walmart to get warm and see what they had in the way of tools. I was going to need some to figure out what was going wrong with the RV's charging system.

Turns out they didn't have anything I needed, so after strolling the aisles for an hour I headed back to the RV to plan my next move.

Drove towards Oklahoma for an hour till I came across a shopping mall beside the highway. In it was a Target, Home Depot,Best Buy,and a Radio Shack as well as a whole lot of clothing stores. 

The plan for today was to figure out my battery problem and get the TV in the RV working as well. The end of the 12 volt TV plug was melted so it wasn't making good contact it would work for a couple of minutes then quit. It looked like a fairly standard plug and I didn't think it would be a problem finding one but neither Best Buy or Target carried it even though they both show it on their web sites.

Fortunately Radio Shack had a 12V plug in that I could hack the other end on to. Good thing Jackie packed duct tape I needed that to temporarily attach them together. They also had a cheap volt meter that I could use to check the working charge system. It seems the batteries are dead but with out a hydrometer or AVR machine I can't test them and I refuse to pay the $100 I was quoted to test them. 

The rest of the day went great clear skies but cold, stopped at a pleasant rest area for a brisk walk.

Watched a lovely sun set on my way to my final destination.

Since I wasted so much of the day I only got as far as Checotah Oklahoma.

 It's going to be another cold night temperature is down to -15C. So I purchased a comforter from my favorite camping spot to help make it thru the night. Will be up early to make up some time and distance. I really need to get to a warmer place.

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The Tornado missed me

Left Walmart in the early morning hoping to reach Memphis this evening it's about 400 miles away. After yesterdays drive I'm feeling quite comfortable on the highway even with the big rigs bouncing me all over the place as they race past me. The drive was quite nice with temperatures in the low 20s it felt almost like summer only more humid than what were are use to. Everything was going great until I was 75 miles outside of Memphis then the winds started picking up, the sky turned from blue to grey as the clouds came rolling in and the wind continued to pick up it became so bad I was having problems keeping the RV in my lane at anything over 40 mph. Half an hour later I came to a rest stop so I pulled in to try and wait out the bad weather. As soon as I came to a stop the guy manning the rest stop came out and told me their was a tornado warning in effect and I should head back the way I had come. Instead of going back I continued on to Memphis planning on driving past the affected area. It probably wasn't a smart idea and it took me over 4 1/2 hours to make it to Forrest City located 50 miles outside of Memphis. The view of the horizon lighting up made fighting the huge wind gusts and torrential rain fall worth it. 

When I arrived in Forest City the temperature had dropped from 20C to -5C at the Walmart i was staying at so I was glad this RV had a nice furnace. I made myself some thing to eat and headed to bed. Three hours later I was awoken by the sound of my smoke alarm going off since I couldn't smell any smoke I wasn't too worried. It took a little time till I figured out that the reason my smoke alarm had gone of was because the RV batteries had lost power. I bundled up and went back to bed I'll deal with that problem tomorrow.

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Finally on the Road

Up at 6 this morning to check out of the hotel and head out to get the RV serviced at Mercedes. It's a balmy -17C but the Sprinter starts right up but I can't get the radio to turn on so I can use the Nav system,Oh well there is always my phone. So off I go down the highway balancing my phone on my leg so I can find the dealership worked great. I really should get holder for it.

Arrived at the dealership on time and they took me right in, it's a big place.

After taking all my information the service manager directed me to their waiting area he told me it would take 2 hours to complete the job. I now know why Mercedes cost so much the waiting area was awesome and the free coffee delicious.

True to his word my RV was ready to go in 2 hours, he ran me thru the bill explaining all the checks they had made.That they topped up my fluids including my windshield washer and DEF, I was charged extra for these. To bad they didn't check to see if the washers actually worked I found out they didn't the next day. I settled up my bill, which was 5 times what my truck costs and headed back to the RV dealer for the final repair. 

Due to the weather conditions the part was late arriving but once it did arrive they quickly installed it. While that was going on I visited their parts store to purchase the things I needed to live in the RV on my way home the bill was quite substantial.

At 4 o'clock I could finally start my journey home. I wasted no time running away from the ice and cold of Ohio. The RV was a pleasure to drive other than the buffeting from all the Semi's passing me. I ended up at a Walmart in Loiseville arriving at 11:00pm, after going inside to speak to the Manager about staying the night (no problem just had to leave by 6:30) I purchased my supplies and went back to the RV to make my dinner and go to bed. It wasn't a very quite place to sleep with all the traffic noise and the security car driving by every 15 minutes with his lights flashing but the price was right.

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