Sunday, August 27, 2017

A Really Long Trip

Apache Junction, AZ   High 111  Low 88

Yes, you read that right. We are in Arizona – BUT only for a couple of days.

We had two reasons for making this trip.

1. Jim decided that he wanted his good boat, the Lund, down in Arizona rather than in Montana. He spends more time fishing in Arizona so it just makes sense to have the best boat down here. So we will be taking the Arizona boat back to Montana with us.

2.  The oven in our new trailer has not worked since day 1. Camping World finally (Jim had to go down personally to resolve the problem with them not returning phone calls) sent a guy out and he thought he had it figured out but they needed to order parts. Of course the parts wouldn’t be in before we left for the summer but they were going to call us when they came in. Yea right! Jim finally called them – and got no return call. Had to call the Service Manager and finally got a call back saying the parts were in but they forgot to call us. After several more calls, Camping World arranged for a mobile repair service to look at the oven while we are in town for two days. We’ll see what happens.

We left Helena Friday morning with our destination being Nephi, UT for the night – about 585 miles. Not our normal way to travel and believe me it won’t happen again.

We were doing great until we got as far as Blackfoot, ID. The truck started to shake really bad. Jim thought we had lost a tire weight but the shaking got worse. I found a tire shop in Pocatello, ID (Brian’s Tire and Repair Shop) and they were wonderful. The guy came out and took one look and showed Jim the problem. The left rear tire had a huge bubble on it and the ply’s were separating. Two other tires didn’t look good either so we replaced all four tires. The tires we had on the truck were only about 3 years old. After a 3 hour delay we were on our way again and finally reached Nephi, UT about 9:30. Exhaustion doesn’t begin to describe how we felt.

Saturday we got another early start because we had another almost 600 mile day to Payson, AZ. Thank goodness the day went without any problems. We were so tired but our good friend Paula came to the motel and took me out to get dinner. It was good to see her but I don’t think we were very good company.

Sunday morning we had the short drive down the mountain into Apache Junction. Jim got the electric hooked up so we could get the air turned on and the slides out. Unloaded the truck and relaxed.

Went to dinner with George and Melva at the Chinese Buffet (used to be called the #1 Eastern Super Buffet but I don’t know the name of it now). Sure was good to see them again. And we really love our house. Just wish it wasn’t so blasted hot. Tomorrow is going to be 110 and the same on Tuesday. And that is why, as much as we love our house, we do not spend the summers in AJ.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get our oven fixed tomorrow.

13 comments:

  1. Good to be home and glad you're safe. Take care and try to stay cool....:-)

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  2. That sure was a marathon trip , nice that you are now there safe and sound, good luck keeping cool.

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  3. Wow, what a trip. Yours sounds like the typical Camping World experience I read about on RV forums.

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  4. Sometimes I think the RV Dealerships give people the runaround because they really don't have a clue as to what they are doing.
    Know what you mean about long travel days,they drain your energy for days after.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  5. What a trip for sure! Now you'll just be turning around to head north to turn around and head south. That definitely can be classified as an adventure! We've discovered RV sales places are great in making repairs before the sale but afterwards it becomes warranty work and goes to the bottom of the pile because the dollars they are paid is less and the sale has already been made. :(

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  6. You were great company, it was just good to see you both again. Glad for once I could help you.

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  7. Glad you made it to AJ safe. I really hate those marathon trips not much fun I'll take 100 miles any day but 500+ has to be an emergency. Love to see your new home.

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  8. I'm wishing we had our son's boat at one of our houses. He has it in storage but we can't get to it. Next time there is a hurricane like this we are seriously going to park that boat in the front yard. However the say there is such a strong current since they opened some of the reservoirs that it is hard to manipulate the boats. They are advising only highly skilled to do rescues right now.

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  9. WOW what a long fast trip to only get here to these stinkin high temps again. Hope CW comes through for you tomorrow. So many bad stories about them and I experienced one years ago myself never stepped in another one again. Be safe on your return north

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  10. Thank goodness you caught that tire problem before it blew! Tires seem to be a never ending issue for RV travelers. Three years old? They should have lasted longer. Smart move to replace all four, hope your wallet heals soon. ;c)

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  11. Wow!! That was a long couple days on the road!! I am so glad you caught that tire in time!! It could have been a disaster!!
    I sure hope you get your oven fixed! Keep us updated!!

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  12. Now that's a drive! How long will you be in AJ? We arrive back in AZ November at some point. Did you buy a house/lot in AJ or do you just put your rig there in the winter?

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  13. Unbelievable couple of drives, maybe now you go back to short trips. Good luck with the oven.

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Thanks for visiting today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a beautiful day.