100920 - Medford, Oregon -Oregon RV repairs

September 20, 2010
Medford, Oregon -Oregon RV repairs

The past 3 days are none that I would like to repeat anytime soon.

As Friday night came and went, so did the rain, and it was a healthy storm that kept on giving for the entire weekend. It made us stay indoors most of the time and although I could use my computer for entertainment, it gave Danny cabin fever.

Mid Monday morning, Mark, the mechanic, started to test the electrical system. I was sure that his removal of the anti-theft device was the cause of the problem, but he just grunted and continued checking. Things started to go from bad to worse. He declared that he discovered the basic problem.

Somehow, the belt from the air conditioner had sliced thru a plastic conduit that housed several wires and destroyed them. Of course they were wires that led to the dashboard gauges (speedometer, gas, temperature, etc). There were 8 wires in total that were cut and he and Dave declared that they had never seen anything like it before. I was thrilled.

If that wasn’t bad enough, he also pronounced my alternator dead, and needed to be replaced.

The two of them worked on the repairs the rest of the morning, quit for lunch and then into the afternoon. When they were finished and I paid the bill ($473), I was unhappy and tired. There was no point in hitting the road to look for a place to stay so I decided to spend one more night in the parking lot and set out in the morning. At least the rainstorm had passed and the weather had warmed up with a bright sunny day.
By they way … that coolant leak I had mentioned – turns out it was a potentional problem. A small crack at the petcock valve at the bottom of the radiator. However, Mark put in a small bottle of sealer and told me it would stop the leak and keep me safe for about a year or 2 at which time I should plan on replacing the radiator. Cost of the sealant was 2 @ $1.99 each..

tomorrow I still have to go back to Sprint to pick up my replacement phone and stop at Petsmart for lots of dog food and some doggie treats. He deserves it for being a good boy thru this past ordeal.

100916 - Medford, Oregon

September 16, 2010
Medford, Oregon

For the past few weeks, we had been staying at a quiet park in Silverton, Oregon, near Salem. It was friendly, well kept and easy to get around and had a great handicapped shower.

Most of the day we scootered around to give Danny his exercise so he can maintain his svelte figure, and with lots of sunshine we could hang out and read or listen to the radio. There were also a couple of interesting locals that always had some stories to tell or comments on almost any topic.
Tim is a retired truck driver from South Carolina, and Leroy was born and raised in Oregon. Both of them loved dogs and gave Danny all the attention and affection he could drag out of them.
Besides having my side mirror snapped off by the 18 wheeler, I noticed that the rear arm of my awning was detached from the side of the RV, I mentioned it to “the boys” and soon after, they arrived at my RV with tools in hand and had it secured quickly.

Moving southward, we made overnight stops in Springfield, Grants Pass and then here in Medford. Along the way, my cell phone (the smart one) started malfunctioning after it uploaded an update (a bit of irony). I found a Sprint store in Medford that did not do repairs, but promised me a replacement overnight. I was feeling good until I got back into the RV and it wouldn’t start. I tried all the tricks but it just gave this small clicking sound. The Auto Club sent out a battery truck and tow truck and by the time they were finished trying and testing, I had bought a new battery (which I needed anyway) and was on the back of the tow truck heading for an RV repair shop. Of course, the 2nd worse time to break down is Thursday afternoon just after businesses close for the day. That was today.
The tow truck left us there to spend the night.

The next morning, the shop manager told me that he was busy, and a mechanic short, so I might be there thru the weekend. Unfortunately, I had planned to get gas and buy pet food (which I was low on both of) after The Sprint store. The generator runs on gas at about a gallon/90 minutes and Danny goes thru a bag of food in two weeks. I was down to 3 days of dog food.
While walking Danny around the area, I struck up a conversation with another RV customer, Mike, waiting for his rig to be serviced. He lived in the area, and we started talking about dogs. One of his dogs had died recently and he was picking up a new puppy at the pound this afternoon. I mentioned that I hoped we didn’t get stuck for the weekend because I was low on gas and dog food, and he told me that he had lots of dog food in his rig and would be happy to help out. I handed him a plastic bucket and he filled it up. Thank you Mike.

About 2 PM, things started looking good when a mechanic approached us and started testing. The general consensus was a bad starter.
After an hour of testing, he announced my starter was good. An anti-theft device that had accidentally been turned on caused the problem. I knew about the device but had forgotten about it when it came to a possible reason for not starting. I was feeling a bit stupid, but relieved. Then mechanic asked me if I ever use it, I said no, and then he suggested that it be removed to prevent future problems. In hindsight, I should have said no, just leave it. Instead I said OK.
As I was heading for a Costco Gas station, I noticed that my dashboard gauges were acting funny – like in spasm, going haywire.. The gas station had long lines and it was late in the afternoon, so I decided to head back to the shop to report my findings.
I got there just after closing and all the mechanics had gone home, leaving just the manager. I had him look at the problem and he told me that it seemed like the battery wasn’t charging and could be the alternator or some other electrical problem. However, he couldn’t do anything before Monday (it is now Friday evening). I didn’t feel safe driving anywhere, so I told him I would be here all weekend waiting for Monday. He did run a power cord from the shop so I had electricity for my computer. Now I was very glad for Mike’s generosity of the dog food. I hope it agrees with Danny.
To top off this sudden, drastic turn of events, the weather forecast for the weekend was rain, rain and more rain, and just as if it was cued, down it came.
Danny sat on the couch, with his head resting at the window ledge, staring at the rain with his furlong, woe is me look. I knew how he felt.