Saturday, March 14, 2015

What a dance

Dinner and drinks at the Q was good last night and a few more of the Shanty Shakers were staying there on the way home.



Barbara ready for dinner at the Q

Q

Free dry camping area

Casino

John and Debbie were limping along with either a bad battery or a bad alternator or both!! Their diesel rig can run with very little battery power unlike our gas rig! We kept calling and texting until eventually they got to the Love's truck stop in Yuma and pulled in for the night.

This morning we called them about 8.30am and arranged to meet them for breakfast. We drove the Fiesta over to Love's but when we got there they had pulled out and were heading over to Cracker Barrel. I was worried there was no RV parking there as we'd been before and hadn't seen any. John had found on street parking across from the place.

20 minutes after putting our name on the list we were seated, John was now concerned about his tires as although they were less than 5 years old, they had run the rig through the Escapees "Smart Weigh" program where they weigh at each wheel. The results were scary. They were heavy on one front tire. Plus the tires on it were "G" rated for load and that meant the tire was over it's designed weight capacity. It should have had "H" rated tires which would have brought it within the tire's weight range. At $450 a tire it gets expensive fast.
John and Debbie's rig. 
We were within hours of buying this when we bought the Rexhall.

They decided to stay and investigate the tire situation and thought that the battery/alternator problem was under control.

As it was gone 11am all ready, Barbara and I said goodbye and headed west for San Diego. Barbara kept in touch with John and Debbie by text from the passenger seat while I drove.

Temperatures in Yuma had been hitting 90F yesterday and today was predicted to be the same. The road out of Yuma goes thru the Imperial Dunes area which is a harsh desert and was used to film movies like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Rommel, Desert Fox". There are very few turn offs and no services for many, many miles.

We were 50 miles out of Yuma and with no place to turn off when they texted that although they had the engine running there wasn't enough voltage for the transmission to shift.

Unfortunately we couldn't help them, but at least they were in Yuma and could get help. We were worried about them all the way home. I suggested a few things they could try. Eventually they said they were going to try swapping a house battery that they had charged with the generator for the dead chassis battery. It must have worked as we got a message they were leaving Yuma, then various reports until they said they were home. PHEW!!

So we unhooked the Toad, bicycles, the fridge, dirty clothes, food out of the pantry and headed into the house. It was hot in there too! 85F in San Diego. We opened all the windows put on the ceiling fan and I promptly fell asleep in the chair.

Trip over.  

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