The Trip home and RV woes

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The end of the trip had extra worries and location restrictions. The problems began as we were heading to Crescent City, California and the temperature gauge indicated that the RV was overheated. We were on the winding 2 lane coast road with no immediate place to pull over. It was downhill at that point and we made it to the first road we could turn onto. Fortunately it wasn't very far to Crescent City. We unhooked the car and added some antifreeze. At the first campground we discussed our situation with the manager and made several phone calls to see who could work on our RV. The repair shop that was highly recommended couldn’t see us for 10 days, but he did give us the name of another shop. We made an appointment for the next day to have the RV looked at and the situation assessed.

Once settled into the RV park we made the most of our time by going to see the redwoods at Stout Grove. Those pictures were posted in my previous blog. The news the next day was that we needed a new radiator and that it wouldn’t arrive until Friday and they could start work on the RV on Monday. Of course it didn’t arrive on Friday and therefore work did not begin on Monday. Fortunately everything was delayed only one day at that point. We spent our time touring the area and watching the salvage operations of the harbor that was still ongoing, 3 weeks after the tsunami hit the coast.

The fishing fleet rode out the tsunami on the ocean and then had to dock elsewhere as the docks and harbor were destroyed. The Crescent City area was equipped to work on either boats or cars, but RV repairs were another matter. When we’re traveling and something happens we have to make do with whatever is in that area. Taking the radiator out of the RV did not go smoothly or quickly. The entire job took 2 days and we delayed our trip north until the following morning, in case we had problems, we’d have more options during regular business hours.

We made it to Coos Bay, Oregon and spent the weekend camped at the casino. Something wasn’t right with the RV and we discussed the problem with the shop that did the repairs. We opted to head on to Eugene, Oregon. The RV was getting hotter than it should with just the coastal hills. We needed the RV to be in good working order before we started our trip home, as there was going to be lots of mountains to cross. At least now we were in an area that had more options for RV repairs and we made an appointment with Guaranty RV in Junction City. All that had to be done to the RV during that week with even a false start home is beyond the interest of this blog. Needless to say we spent a lot of money on the RV, so we could get back on the road and get home. We believe that if we had the original work done at Guaranty RV the total cost would have been less. The shop in Crescent City helped us in a pinch, but they didn’t even hook everything back up correctly and didn‘t do some things such as flush the system.

Let’s move on to happier topics and put the tale of RV woe behind us. We headed north to Portland, Oregon before turning eastward. The drive along the I-84 and the Columbia river was scenic, but apparently we didn’t take any pictures. At that point we were still focused on the RV and if would it handle the climb over the mountains. Fortunately the weather was cool and the repairs were good, so as the trip progressed we were able to regain confidence in the RV and relax and enjoy the trip home. We were concerned about the weather as it was April and we were pretty far north and heading to some high elevations. We stopped once in Utah to let some high winds pass through ahead of us. We arrived in Ogden, Utah on an overcast day with low clouds. The next day was clear and bright and the mountains were a lovely and dramatic surprise in the distance. We made the most of our day off and headed to the genealogy library in Salt Lake City. That was a fun experience and they were very helpful. It seemed to become a challenge to my volunteer to help me find one tidbit of information that I didn’t know about my ancestor that I had a question about. Fortunately we finally succeeded and I left with a good feeling about my visit.

We traveled across the country on I-80 and the last of the high mountain passes for us to cross was near Laramie, Wyoming. We watched the weather forecasts as there was mixed precipitation in the high elevations. We had rain that turned to snow/slush as we approached Laramie and opted to spend the night and continue in the morning. Sometime after we got off I-80 they closed the road, so our departure in the morning was delayed. The rest of the trip home was steady and uneventful. We finally get to add Nebraska to our map of “places we’ve been in the RV.” We arrived home on Easter Sunday and have settled in to being stationary and at home…..at least for a while.

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