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.
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.
posted by The Highway Guys @ 11:13 PM
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