Whatta Week!
06/13/2016
Sorry for the formatting issues! Seems Google doesn't quite have it yet!
Monday we left Guthrie, OK for Wellington, TX and the
Pioneer Park campground. The park is beautifully kept and at $15 for a 50 amp
service was well worth it. The park is next to the Red River, has a lot of
things for kids to play on and lays claim to being directly next to the bridge
where Bonnie & Clyde drove off into the Red River in 1933 where Mr. and
Mrs. Sam Pritchard saw them plunge. They lived in a home adjacent to the river
and rescued Bonnie & Clyde along with Buck Barrow before taking them to
their home.
On Tuesday we left Wellington and proceeded to go to
Tucumcari, NM. This is where the week went to hell. On our way our TPMS system
went off around Groom, TX so I immediately pulled off and went back to see our
right tire on the tow dolly missing all its tread and slowly deflating. I never
considered replacing the tires after we purchased the dolly because the tires
were all produced in 2011. They were not that old and had no cracking on the
sidewalls so I thought they were OK. We got the tire changed out and proceeded
on down the road. Just 2 miles from Tucumcari and our final destination that
day the spare tire we placed on the same side blows out. I hear a loud pop, the
TPMS system goes off, Sara comes on the radio to tell us the tire blew and I
headed for the shoulder. By the time I get over and stopped Michael asks if I
have a fire extinguisher. We put out the small fire and assess the damage. The
tire is obliterated and the spring plate along with all the nuts holding the
plate to the axle are almost completely gone. We call AAA who sends out someone
to take the tire to his shop and replace it before returning to mount it back
on the dolly. We remove the car and Kathy follows Michael & Sara down the
road to the campsite while I tiptoe into town to the business that brought out
our new tire without losing the axle on the dolly. Two new tires and U-bolt
assembly later I am able to leave and head for camp. To top it all off I split out a 3 day old pair of shorts and going through Amarillo the speedometer goes to zero. Some sort of computer error that fixed itself after we restarted.
This was a long and trying day!
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| Tire #1 lost tread |
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| Tire #2 blown |
Wednesday was spent exploring the Route 66 museum and other
sites around Tucumcari. Ate lunch at a place called “Joe’s Back In The Day 50’s
Diner”. I had the “Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf” and it certainly wasn’t. I
realized about an hour later it really wasn’t when I had to use the facilities
at the second museum. Whew! Thank God they had a place!
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| Very large cross in Grove, TX |
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| Didn't know I had it in me! |
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| Michael & I playing Army |
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| Any young people know what this is? |
Thursday, with trepidation and concern about the tow dolly,
we left Tucumcari and gingerly made our way to the “High Desert RV Park” in
Albuquerque, NM. I kept a vigilant eye on the TPMS system all the way noticing
the right tire on the dolly was always hotter than the left even tho the
pressures were very close. We stopped a few times to check on tires but had no
problems. We even got to the park early enough for Kathy to do a few loads of
laundry. I made a phone call to the guy who was supposed to be coming out to
fix our dash a/c unit and found out he only did the coach a/c. Apparently he
never heard it was in the dash and not on top of the roof so the rest of the
day was spent making phone calls to find another person to repair the a/c. I
contacted every mobile RV tech I could find online or was referred to me and
had to leave messages at almost every one. Don’t go to Albuquerque and ask
someone to look at your dash a/c. Camping World doesn’t do the chassis items so
we stopped at Freightliner. We were told they could not get the schematics so
they couldn’t do it. Not even after I volunteered that I had all the
schematics. I guess they only work on the new stuff.
Friday was to be a down day. Michael & I each had a
few things to take care of. We took off
for Walmart where we picked up a few things including some Freon for the a/c.
Then over to Harbor Freight for a laser thermometer to measure the tires,
wheels and axle bearings as we travel. Back to the coach to install the Freon and
see what happens. The dash a/c never worked since we bought the coach so we
assumed it had a leak and was out of Freon. I couldn’t see putting Freon in if
it was going to leak out so we also put in some dye to see if we get lucky and spot
the leak if there is one.
We awoke early Saturday to go check out the Petroglyph
National Monument and the Nuclear Science & History Museum. The petroglyphs
(over 25,000 of them) are amazing and pretty much everywhere. We parked and got
out to walk among them on the marked trails as we tried to figure out what they
all meant. On the second trail we took 2 young men passed us as we took
pictures and were about 20 yards in front of us as we heard them yell and the
hiss of a rattlesnake. Their hearts were racing. They had been walking along
the trail and apparently did not see the diamondback snake. The first guy
jumped up and over it as the second guy walked back past us to go around and
back the way they had come. We all took a closer look but gave the snake a wide
berth as we passed on the opposite side of the trail. By this time he seemed to
be getting pretty upset with us.
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| Our trail partner |
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| Where the guy ended up |
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| License plate after Japan bombing |
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First bomb dropped on Japan
|
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| Nuclear Science Museum |
After that we decided we had enough of the petroglyphs and headed over to the Nuclear Museum. I really enjoyed reading about and seeing all the nuclear related paraphernalia and items on display. The museum is laid out very well and explains everything from the discovery and inception of nuclear energy to the days during World War II that both the bombs were dropped on Japan. They also had a very large display of all the rockets and bombs using nuclear energy as well as the submarines and planes that carry them. Fascinating!
Sunday we were planning on spending the day writing a
blog and watching the Nascar race but about noon I looked up from the computer to see Kathy in a
lot of pain. It seems she overdid it and had exacerbated her sciatic nerve. She
asked if we could go to urgent care. She had already found the one closest to
us online and called them so we headed there. For those of you in California
let it be known that urgent care facilities in your state are far superior to
those in New Mexico. After finding our way to the facility, filling out all the
paperwork, paying our co-pay and entering the initial exam room they pretty
much told us they couldn’t do anything for us and we should head up the street
to the emergency room. So here we go again. Got my co-pay back and away we
went.
I got Kathy in the ER, filled out the paperwork once again
and in the room we go. She was in so much pain! I’ve never seen Kathy like
this. They took x-rays and gave her some Hydrocodone but the pain persisted.
Next was a shot of Morphine. When that didn’t seem to help they gave her some
Diazepam to help relax the muscles and that seemed to help a bit. They sent us
home with 3 pain med prescriptions and a hearty “hope you feel better soon”!
The one registered nurse on duty seemed more interested in our travels and how
we live. The greatest part of this whole urgent care and ER experience was
there were no lines at either facility and no real waiting. Not at all like
Southern California.
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| Welcome to Colorado |
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| The pic my navigator would have gotten |
Monday was a travel day from Albuquerque to Cortez, CO to
spend a few days and mostly so Kathy can go see Four Corners. The last time
past here we were running behind to meet Mallory in Kingman, AZ to go see the
Skywalk so we didn’t stop. After getting everything broken down and loaded and
with Kathy riding prone on the sofa we traveled to Cortez over some of the
bumpiest roads we’ve been on in a while. When I stopped for fuel Kathy even
asked if we had been on dirt roads at some point. As it is, she is laid out on
the sofa all doped up and on the heating pad trying to get relaxed and
recovered so we can go see some sites. It’s been Hell Week for us this past
week! I am however, happy to report that the dash a/c performed so well while traveling that I had to turn it off a few times because I was actually getting cold. Amazing!
What’s in store for us next?
On Tuesday we left Wellington and proceeded to go to
Tucumcari, NM. This is where the week went to hell. On our way our TPMS system
went off around Groom, TX so I immediately pulled off and went back to see our
right tire on the tow dolly missing all its tread and slowly deflating. I never
considered replacing the tires after we purchased the dolly because the tires
were all produced in 2011. They were not that old and had no cracking on the
sidewalls so I thought they were OK. We got the tire changed out and proceeded
on down the road. Just 2 miles from Tucumcari and our final destination that
day the spare tire we placed on the same side blows out. I hear a loud pop, the
TPMS system goes off, Sara comes on the radio to tell us the tire blew and I
headed for the shoulder. By the time I get over and stopped Michael asks if I
have a fire extinguisher. We put out the small fire and assess the damage. The
tire is obliterated and the spring plate along with all the nuts holding the
plate to the axle are almost completely gone. We call AAA who sends out someone
to take the tire to his shop and replace it before returning to mount it back
on the dolly. We remove the car and Kathy follows Michael & Sara down the
road to the campsite while I tiptoe into town to the business that brought out
our new tire without losing the axle on the dolly. Two new tires and U-bolt
assembly later I am able to leave and head for camp. To top it all off I split out a 3 day old pair of shorts and going through Amarillo the speedometer goes to zero. Some sort of computer error that fixed itself after we restarted. 
