Our RV Adventures

We left Monticello, UT about 8:45 am this morning heading for Show Low, AZ about 315 miles away.  About 80 miles later we were back in Arizona, after making a large loop from Yuma to Las Vegas, then to Los Angeles and Yosemite, next, up the west coast through Oregon and Washington, over to Coeur d’Alene, ID, Billings, MT, and Gillette, WY, and then down thru Salt Lake City, and then to here in Show Low. And all that since the middle of March. Wow!

Overall the roads were pretty good today, except for the first 15 miles or so after we entered the Navajo Indian Reservation and the last 10 miles before we crossed I-40. The road had a lot of deep cracks about every 30 feet or so that just pounded the coach. Even slowing down didn’t help. Luckily it was only about 25-30 miles of the total 300.

As has been the case for the last few days we saw some great scenery. Please excuse the bugs on the window. I just cleaned the windshield when we got diesel in Salt Lake day before yesterday, and then picked up a whole new crop of bugs.

And here’s Jan’s cat, Miss Emma,sound asleep on Jan’s knee. Apparently Emma could care less about the great scenery!  That’s a cat for you.

Nick and Terry Russell met us on the outskirts of Show Low and led us in to the Elk’s Lodge RV Park where they’ve been staying for the last few weeks. We’ll stay here 4 days or so before heading east to Austin for the wedding. We still not sure which route we’re going to take. I need to talk more with Nick about the best roads.

We got parked and set up, and got the AC’s turned on. It’s in the 90’s here and it takes a while to get the coach cooled down. The coach air keeps us cool in the cockpit area, but the rest of coach will get into the low 80’s. Last year in FL it was hot enough that occasionally we had to run the generator while we were driving so we could use the two house AC’s to keep us cool. I would be surprised if we don’t have to do that again. It was 96 when we came thru Snowflake, AZ about 20 miles north of here. It’s going to take us a while to get used to this heat again.

Later in the afternoon, after meeting Nick’s daughter, son-in-law, and two beautiful granddaughters, we drove over to Pinetop, AZ to visit Nick’s friend who owns a used bookstore, and then walked next door to the El Rancho Mexican Restaurant for dinner.

The food was good, the company was better, and we had great time recounting our adventures (and misadventures) since we last saw each other several months ago. It seemed like it had been longer than that.

Getting back to the park, we headed over to Nick and Terry’s for Terry’s world-famous cinnamon rolls, fresh and hot from the oven. This, along with cold milk, hot coffee, and good conversation, was the perfect end to a fun day.

Finally, about 9:15, (it was 10:15 for us on Utah time) I could see Jan starting to fade, so we said our goodnights and walked back to our rig right next door.

After being on the road so much lately, it’s going to be nice to just jell for a few days before hitting the road again. And being with Nick and Terry is just a big plus.

More tomorrow…

We pulled out of our park about 8 am, heading first right down the street to take on about 140 gallons of diesel. And for a change, the price had gone down.

When we got here, the price was $2.97, then yesterday the price was $2.91. Today it was $2.89. And this is the first time in a long while that diesel is cheaper than unleaded, if only by 4 cents.

We left the station and pulled on to I-15 South about 8:30, heading toward Monticello, UT, about 270 miles away. We had a great time spending a few days with our friends Pat and Judy, and they did a fantastic job showing us around Salt Lake City. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch up with them again soon.

The first thing I starting checking after we got on the road was whether or not my PacBrake exhaust brake is working, or at least activating.

I know it’s not working, or at least it doesn’t seem to slow me down any more than just the downshifting than happens. But what I didn’t know is whether or not it’s actually moving into position.

But now I do. Last night I mounted a video camera in the engine compartment under the bed and ran the cable to a small monitor up on the dash.

In the first photo you can see the PacBrake valve in the rest position.

In this photo the valve has moved. 

So now I know that the air actuator is working and moving the valve. I think this means that I have one of two other problems.

The PacBrake is a butterfly valve that is installed right after the turbocharger and provides backpressure to the system when it closes. So this means that either the valve is not closing all the way, or I have a leak in my exhaust system.

So now I’ve got to try to figure out where to go next with this.

Actually I was really hoping that the PacBrake wasn’t activating. That would mean that I had a bad relay or a bad air solenoid or actuator, something that would be easier for me to fix.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board.

About noon we hit a 25 mile stretch of I-70 so we stopped in Green River at an Arby’s located in a truck stop so we had no trouble parking.

Along the trip today I noticed that my engine temps were running hotter than normal. Usually my water temp runs rock steady on 175 degrees, with occasional excursion up to 180-185 on long hills.. But today I’m hitting 190 – 195 on the hills with one 199 observed. I knew I wasn’t low on water, so what was wrong?

Then it suddenly dawned on me that it was about 95 degrees outside. This is the first time we’ve seen 80 degrees this year, much less 95. Most of our travels this year have been in the 50-60 degree range. So now it made sense. One less thing to worry about.

During the trip we saw some great scenery along the way. These photos are in no particular order.

This is Wilson Arch, about 25 miles south of Moab, UT.

About 2:30 we pulled into Mountain View RV Park in Monticello, UT. The note on the office door said to find a site and pay later, so we did.

I did have to reposition sideways a little or there would have been some serious ‘slide kissing’ going on. Even now there’s not a lot of room.

This park has about 30 spaces, and is basically an RV park in someone’s large front yard. That’s their house in the back there.

Our daughter Brandi called just as we were getting parked. She and Jan talked a good while going over the wedding plans for the 21st.

We had leftovers tonight so we didn’t even unhook the toad. Just one less thing to do before we leave for Show Low, AZ tomorrow morning.

More tomorrow…