Hi all,
Well, we are off again. We just left on our first "major" trip since we moved into our house in Arizona. We left Prescott this morning headed for Arkansas. Fred and Judy Pfafman are good friends and we will be stopping at their place in Higden, on the shore of Greer's Ferry Lake. We will do some exploring around their area, then head somewhat to the north into northern Arkansas and Missouri. We hope they can do many things with us as, but as Judy will need to get time off work for some of it, they obviously cannot do it all.
That's about the extent of our detailed pre-planning. We have a list of things we would like to do, and will plan as we go. We do intend to spend some time in Branson and certainly visit Lambert's Cafe, the home of the "throwed rolls"
This is the same trip we had intended to make about this time last year. Our involvement in clearing, fixing, and selling our Escondido house, then following the delivery and construction of our new house in Prescott out-prioritized that trip.
We did make a somewhat shorter trip about a year ago when we joined the Ramblin' Recs at their first stop in Prescott and continued through Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. Since then we have made several trips to California to visit our children and Betty's doctors. Several months ago, we continued northward to attend a family wedding and to visit my sister, Barbara, in Penn Valley near Sacramento. The schedule for this trip has bounced around a little as Betty has had to see a couple of extra doctors and schedule surgery to remove a lesion on her lower right eyelid. That determines our latest return date of November 12.
Standard disclaimer: If any of you would just as soon NOT receive these reports, just drop me an email and I will take you right off the list!
Wednesday, Oct. 8
We left rather late this morning at about 11:30. We had been
planning a fairly short driving day. Our destination was going to
be anywhere from Winslow on. At our fueling stop in Winslow, we decided
that Grants, NM was probably a good stopping point. As we reached
Grants, I was still feeling pretty good and we decided to continue on to
Albuquerque. We are now in the truck parking area of the Flying J
truck stop on the west edge of Albuquerque. We drove 413 miles today!
That is a lot for such a late start. We arrived about an hour after
dark and were lucky enough to find a parking place we could just pull through,
making our exit easy in the morning.
A major motivation in making it to Albuquerque was that this is during the annual Balloon Festival! We hope to be able to see the mass ascension of the "special shapes" starting tomorrow at 7:00. Of course that 7:00 is really 6:00 going by the time we woke up this morning. Entering New Mexico we lost the hour that we would have lost long ago if Arizona went on daylight savings time. We went from Mountain Standard to Mountain Daylight.
Well, a short time ago it was just after 9:30 and I was fine. I then set the clock to 10:30 and that extra hour has me all tired and ready for bed! I'll let you know how (and if) the balloon watching goes. We are parked about 5 miles from the launch point, but if the winds are as they were last year, they should go just about directly over us. The evening news report said that all today's balloon activities had been canceled due to rain (yesterday's rain, I think), but that tomorrow looks good!
Thursday, Oct 9
I turned on the TV at about 7:00 and found a channel that kept a window
showing the activity at Balloon Fiesta Park, where all the launchings occur.
Numerous balloons were being inflated and a few were already airborne.
We could look out the side window of the motorhome and see several balloons.
One was almost over us and several others nearby. After getting out
so my view was not hampered by the parked trucks, I could see many farther
east.
As we left this morning, we saw 50 to 75 balloons flying and landing across the landscape near us, then we got to where we could see literally hundreds of balloons lifting off from Balloon Fiesta Park. It was worth every extra mile traveled yesterday.
We decided to head to Sayer, Oklahoma today. There is a Flying J there also. I know where we stay tonight. We have started staying in truck stops during travel periods. It's not just that I am cheap (although that certainly enters into it!), but it is so much more convenient to just pull in and park, then pull out in the morning. We really do not need or want swimming pools, recreation rooms, or play areas to just sleep the night and move on. A lot of RV'ers spend the night in Walmart parking lots, but we have not tried that yet.
We arrived here at Sayer about 6:00 after a fairly easy 420 miles. An early start and solid interstate driving allows us to cover more miles before fatigue sets in! We filled up and found a spot in the RV section. This is much quieter than last night in the truck section!
As we entered Texas we lost another hour. No fair! Two hours in two days! This one was from Mountain Daylight to Central Daylight.l I don't think we lose any more hours this trip. We should be staying out of the Eastern time zone, and when daylight savings time ends we should gain back one of those hours..
Friday, Oct 10
We woke up to fairly dense fog this morning after a very peaceful night.
We could hardly hear any trucks entering and leaving the truck stop, and
the RV section was very quiet. We had an extra chore to deal with
this morning.
I wish I could say that this has been an uneventful trip! Unfortunately I cannot! Yesterday afternoon I thought I detected something wisping from the rear of the motorhome in my side view mirror. I couldn't really tell if it was just light reflections or if there was a mist or something. I stopped and saw smoke! This is never a good thing!
I opened the rear panel of the motorhome exposing the engine - nothing. I checked the tires, bearings, and axles - nothing. I then popped the hood on the Saturn and smoke came out! There was no fire, and it didn't seem like anything wrong electrically. I pulled the transmission dipstick and saw smoke rising from the oil on it. The transmission was VERY hot! I immediately checked to see if I had somehow not left it in neutral. It was in neutral just like I had left it.
I unhooked the car and started it up. The engine was already near operating temperature. (The transmission cooler is in the radiator, and the heat transferred.) The car was slow to go into gear, but did drive forward and backward, although it felt sluggish. I re-hooked the car and waited almost an hour for things to cool. We then continued to our overnight parking site.
This morning, I called the 4 transmission shops listed in the yellow pages. They were located about 17, 17, 48, and 60 miles from us. I eliminated 2 of the four and headed out to the nearest one of the remainders. We were going to replace the filter and change the oil. The fellow ordered the filter and sent a helper to pick it up. While waiting we test drove the car. It was a disaster! There was a lot of slipping in 1st, the shift to 2nd was almost a crash and jolt. It never got into 4th and the torque converter never locked up. Other than that it was great!
He decided to do a "computer analysis", which means plugging in the scan code reader and reading the computer codes from the car. It said there was a problem with the 2nd gear, one with the 3rd gear, that the torque converter lock up was stuck off, and that there was a problem with the 3rd to 4th gear shift. That about said it. We decided that there was more than oil could correct, so did nothing more. As he stated, the damage has already been done, that we should be able to tow it to Fred's area with no additional damage. He gave me some advice about selecting a shop to rebuild or replace the transmission and wished me well.
We pulled out of the shop about 12:30, only out $55, which I thought
was quite reasonable for the 2 plus hours he spent. I'll worry about
the car next week!
We drove our shortest distance today at only 399.9 miles, arriving
in Russelville, AR at about 8:10. We are in the RV section of the
Flying J there. This doesn't look like it will be as quiet as last
night's stay, but should be quite good.
We have less than 2 hours of driving to get to Fred and Judy's tomorrow morning. Fred has already been doing some of my homework checking out transmission shops.
Saturday Oct. 11
We did not rush getting up this morning after a good night's sleep.
Once the activity settled down about the time we went to bed it was fairly
quiet in our area, and we slept well. I filled up our tank and we
headed to Fred and Judy's.
After about 20 miles of interstate driving we headed off through the narrow winding roads of the Arkansas Ozarks. We had about 50 miles of very picturesque back country driving and we arrived at the Pfafmans'. We spent most of the day eating, chatting, eating, and chatting.
I did have the second disaster of this trip almost immediately after arriving: When we arrived I opened the door and had the screen closed. We then decided I should move a little. I opened the sliding glass window in the screen door, and for the second time since we have had the motorhome it shattered into a thousand small pieces. I guess I was a little too energetic and the extra stress at the base of the knob when the panel hit the end of its travel was just too much for the tempered glass. I don't want to go through this again, so Fred and I ran to town and found a place that sells plexiglas and I bought a panel to make a new window. Oh well, I guess I'll take a $3.48 (cost of the plexiglas) disaster over the transmission any day!
I have already been successful in connecting to the Internet using my cell phone here, so I think I will send this now. Hopefully our next missive will include some travel destinations and maybe even some good automotive news.
Till next time,
Dick and Betty
(Report #2)
Sunday Oct. 12
We slept in late this morning. I think we need the rest!
We went out to lunch with Fred and Judy, who then gave us a tour of the area. Tomorrow I will take the Saturn to get the transmission repaired.
Monday, Oct. 13
I got my list of 10 transmission shops in the area out this morning
to pick one. My first call was to the Saturn agency in North Little
Rock. The service writer gave me a maximum price that was near the
lowest Fred had received in his preliminary calls. I didn't make
any other calls.
Fred was out this morning for a while. I brought his Suburban up, put my towbar on it, got the Saturn all hooked up and ready to go. Shortly, Fred returned and he and I drove the 70 miles to the Saturn agency towing the Saturn behind us. Later this afternoon I got a call that the actuator assembly had gotten hot enough to melt the plastic parts. The mechanic thinks that is all that is actually wrong. I should know for sure after they replace it by Wednesday afternoon. If this is truly the problem my cost will be about half what any of the independent shops quoted. Let's hope!
This week is quite limited by our lack of a car. We decided to head to the Branson area next Monday. We will do day trips, hopefully partly in our car, in the meantime, along with projects here helping Fred.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Fred and I did some projects around his house. We did a number
of computer fixes and changes. We got his two computers talking together
using a local area network. Then, for some reason they stopped working.
His laptop and mine talk; his desktop and my laptop don't; his desktop
and his laptop don't. The problem seems to be in his desktop, but
I cannot find anything that is set up wrong! I hate computers!
We changed the blade drive belt on his riding lawn mower today (Wednesday). We drove to Heber Springs with Fred to pick up the new belt. This is about 45 minutes from here. It was really tricky getting the old one off and the new one on, but we made it, and it works well.
This afternoon the Saturn service manager called. He started by saying that he did not have good news. His old record for fixing transmissions has now been beat by almost double! The fourth gear assembly was totally burned up in addition to the actuators. Now they have to order that part and cannot promise the car before Monday! Friday is possible, but not "promise-able".
We decided to head out tomorrow morning for the Hot Springs area with Fred and Fred's car. We will explore that area for several days, then head back here. Once we pick up the Saturn we will head up to Branson.
Thursday, Oct. 16
Yesterday, Judy's mother came for an unscheduled visit. She will
be going to Branson with Fred and Judy and us. Her visit did not
affect Fred's and our plans to go to Hot Springs today. We left around
10 this morning and arrived somewhat after noon, after a 110 mile drive.
We got all settled and left for the town of Hot Springs, around 12 miles
from the RV park.
There are 47 springs in about a 10 acre area producing water which is all combined and distributed to the many bath houses, hotels, and jug fountains. In 1832, due to the vast popularity of the springs due to the real or perceived medicinal properties of the water, the federal government set aside the area as the very first "park type federal reservation". Later, in 1921 it was made into a national park.
We drove through the town past many bath houses and large hotels. We then drove up a scenic road in the Hot Springs National Park to some marvelous view points. We stopped for dinner and headed back to the motorhomes. We will be doing more exploring of Hot Springs later.
I have been very successful connecting to the Internet with my cell phone almost every day this trip so far. I'll send this now.
Till next time,
Dick and Betty