Week two at the park

Another update to the blog is overdue and here is a recount of last week. Our RV Park’s free wifi has only a hotspot at the office building and not throughout the park. For the few months that we are RVing we decided to forego a subscription to a wifi provider for the USA, so that means when I want to use my iPad or the MacBook I have to walk to the office building and park myself at a table in the community room. But there is one major drawback; the park management does not permit streaming or the use of Skype. Shoot, I like to talk to my mom in Germany every other day and to make that happen Benno loads me and the dachsies into the pickup for a ride to Yuma’s Home Depot parking lot to make use of the store’s superb strong free wifi signal thus joining the odd RVer there too who is longing for the Internet as well. Yep it works! But back to the RV Park’s hotspot wifi, it is good enough to sit in the community room to do email, search on the Internet or read blogs of interest etc. Benno spent a good portion of time to Google and search for info on travel trailer tires and to locate the best rewarding tire brand and the best price for them. We had to replace all four tires of our Jayco White Hawk 24 trailer. One tire from the blowout just before Tucson, AZ and the other three, which got damaged when the forward axle springs broke and the wheel wells were riding on the rubber at the West ramp to the Interstate 8 at Gila Bend AZ. That adventure turned into an eleven hundred dollar setback there, I mean US dollars not Canadian Dollars for us snowbirds!

Benno nailed his search for new trailer tires down to the Goodyear Endurance brand of tires, which seem to have good reviews on the Internet and have been made in the USA since 2017. Hey, time will tell! Last Monday we went to Yuma’s Goodyear Tire dealer to get our Jayco travel trailer new shoes! The tires were promised to come in the next day at noon and at the promised time we were there with the rim of the blowout tire and another wheel from the curbside of the trailer.

The previous night, with all the rain we had here, Benno had removed the wheel and had secured the forward axle with a 12-ton bottle jack and a 3-ton axle stand while the rear axle was still having the spare tire. Wouldn’t you know it, we didn’t bring any jacks and axle stands with us, they are nicely stored at home, so we had to get new ones from the famous Harbor Freight store in Yuma, both items were on sale, thanks God!

The Goodyear Tire dealer installed the new Endurance tires to the rims and balanced the wheels. Back at the RV Park after a quick lunch Benno mounted the tires and started to remove the two wheels of the trailer’s roadside, secured one axle with the spare tire and the other with the axle stand and bottle jack, having now gained plenty of tire changing experience, voila! 

Back into the truck and a quick drive to the Goodyear Tire dealer to get the other two Endurance tires mounted and balanced. The mounting of the tires to the trailer later back at the RV Park Benno managed to do still at daylight. The spare tire found its way back to the bracket on the rear bumper and is ready for new action, which hopefully is not going to happen!

While Benno fitted the new tires, he noticed that Petey, our roadside service chap from Gila Bend, who had removed the broken leaf springs and installed the new springs, had caught an electric brake supply wire at the rear axle with a U-bolt and squashed it between axle and U-bolt. Oops! This explained the error message on the truck’s dash display “check trailer brake wiring“, which showed up several times on our drive between Gila Bend and the RV Park. Benno had planned to search for this problem on a warmer day, as he would be laying in the dirt under the trailer.

After Benno noticed the messed up brake wire, which he swiftly fixed, (after a quick trip to the "you know which store" to get what he needed) he thought that Petey had worked hard from morning until evening and in the dark with a flashlight, he may have been pooped out, so decided to do a thorough inspection of Petey’s work. Good thing he did, because after further inspection he discovered four fine thread nuts that are securing four spring bolts, being loose. They were only hand tight and were screaming to become a big problem down the road to Canada. Petey had forgotten to use his impact wrench to tie them up. Oops again!  

To fix this, you guessed it, another trip to his favorite store Harbor Freight to purchase a set of impact wrench sockets (he needed a 11/16 and a13/16 socket, the impact wrench socket set was cheaper then the normal socket set and on top of this, they are of stronger steel as to Benno’s explanation). In addition he purchased a half-inch drive ratchet, extendible to 18 inch for extra leverage, luckily both items were on sale again. More tools for the tool collection, HaHa, lucky boy!           

All this fixing was done mostly by Benno laying on his back on top of an piece of cardboard while handling tools as a light breeze was blowing cooling Benno down, maybe a little too much, because my hubby now has a sore back or pinched nerve and is unable to stand up straight ;-(

                                          

                  

And yes, the travel trailer finally got washed by the professionals, but we could have had some help from above for that because it rained quite a lot for a couple of days afterwards.         

So our planned sightseeing trips didn’t happen this past week, but I think we saw enough of tool supplies and such.  On one of our return trips from Yuma I spotted this Mexican riding his bike along Interstate 8, probably on the way to Mexico.

Oh, and because of the cool temps we had I put our two doggies into t-shirts, which they seem to like wearing when outside.

A week at the Pilot Knob RV Resort

After a few days into our stay at the Pilot Knob RV Resort in Winterhaven, California, we are feeling quite at home here and surrounding area.  Thanks to the super introduction from our Canadian friends, who both keep each a lively written internet blog, Bill and Patsy from Ontario, by taking us under their wings and showing us the city of Yuma, AZ. Benno is already confident navigating the streets of the busy city as if we had been here before. Bill and Patsy also indicated they would like to show us the border crossing to Mexico and the Mexican sister city to Yuma, the city of Algodones, too. I have checked out the various grocery stores and compared their merchandise and prices while making small purchases for items we had previously run out of. Benno got introduced by Bill to the toy store or Mecca for men, the famous tool center “Harbor Freight”. This is a must pilgrimage for all two legged males. When you are in the store, you will notice even the grumpiest male wears a bright smile, believe me!

Here at the RV Park there are several activities offered to participate and join for some fun, but so far we have been too busy to even look at the activity plan.  However, the ice cream social, which is offered at most RV Resorts, we didn’t miss last Sunday.  For a buck ($1.00) per scoop (a very generous scoop) of ice cream and toppings of your choice it is a good deal and great opportunity to meet and chat with other RVers. Upon walking out of the clubhouse after eating the ice cream, Benno found a cute painted rock.  Someone had placed it in the garden to be discovered.  Whoever finds it can decide if he wants to keep the rock or re-hide it for someone else to find.  The idea is to take a picture of it and post the picture and location on Facebook. Patsy and Pat have been working on several rock paintings as a hobby so they can hide their own creations at various locations throughout the park.

When we arrived at the Pilot Knob Park our travel trailer and the truck showed that we had encountered some nasty weather before coming here.  The management does not allow us to wash the trailer or truck in the park so we took the truck through a car wash in town.  As for the trailer’s grime we have to hire an outside company to come in and do the job, so one more item on the agenda list.  While we were setting up the travel trailer, Benno wasn’t able to turn the direction dial of our TV antenna after cranking it up on the roof. A small piece from the direction dial extrusion to the antenna base had broken off.  In town there is a RV supplier called: “Hilco RV Parts” and that is where we went to see if they had a replacement part.  We would have driven right by the store had we not had the address because there were no windows at the building indicating it was a store and the door is painted white to blend in with the walls.  Inside we found a huge amount of merchandise and perhaps a lot of consignment articles as well.  They had an extension tube for the direction dial at $3.25, which solved our problem.  At the back of the store, in another room, there were several axle springs of various sizes sitting on a shelf. Of course at a fraction of the price we had paid!

On Tuesday Rob and Pat (from Durham, Ontario) picked us up to come along for a visit to Algodones in Mexico. As well Bill and Patsy took Ken and Nancy along in their truck and the 8 of us would go as a group over the border to visit this touristy town.  After parking the trucks at the provided huge paved parking lot and looking at barbed wires on concrete barriers ready to be moved to block off the road to Mexico in case of trouble, we wandered over the border to Algodones, Mexico to meet all the vendors eagerly waiting to sell us their goods.

Many of the stalls carry the same items as their neighbors and if you are really interested in buying any of it, the game is to negotiate, or haggle over the price that is being asked as not even one piece of merchandise carries a price tag. I pointed at a necklace that I liked so Benno started the bartering game for it and shortly after presented me with it.

Bill and Patsy guided the way as they had visited the area already a few times so they showed us around pointing out the best vendors. If you need a new pair of eyeglasses or dental work done, you probably would not get a better deal anywhere else.  Also prescription medication is sold here over the counter and for a fraction of the price we would pay in Canada or the USA and not to forget, booze is also offered at a price that makes us Canadians just drool. 

At a vendor for custom painted signs we stopped to watch the artist create a painting from a clean canvas to a finished landscape completely done with only spray cans.  To paint the trees he used a scrunched up plastic shopping bag, which he dipped into a puddle of various colored paint. He jokingly called it: paint brush Mexican style. To create the birds he used a piece of cardboard dipped into splash of black spray paint. The whole painting took approximately 20 minutes including a coat of clear paint dried with a torch.  It was quite a show.

That was a really fun time going to Algodones, especially in company with all our friends, which made the experience a great outing.  You can really tell we had a blast from the picture while we were sitting in the food court for a snack and drink and a little rest from all that haggling.

Finally, I thought I tell you about an embarrassing thing that happened to me yesterday to give you a little chuckle. We take our dogs for walks several times a day. The RV Park has a dog walking area behind the fence, which has a gate with a padlock. When we arrived we were given a park brochure with the front gate access code. On the brochure is also printed a code for the padlock for the dog walking area. The gate had always been open all week long and I did not memorize the padlock combination number since the lock was not in use.  Guess what?  Yes, yesterday late afternoon I was in the dog walking area with our two dogs and when they were done with their business ready to go home, I found us being locked out. Someone hadn’t noticed us, although the area is wide open, and locked the gate.  I talked to several people walking their dogs on the other side of the fence but wouldn’t you know it, not a single person knew the access code! One fellow even made a phone call to his wife asking her to look up the combination numbers, but she could not find the code. (It is printed sideways in tiny print on the brochure) The office was already closed for the day and Benno had no clue we were out there and had gone to the clubhouse.  Finally, another helpful guy walking his two dogs located the night manager who came to our rescue.  

Thanks for visiting our blog and any comments are appreciated.

From bad to worse

Wednesday morning was cold in El Paso TX, but there was no snow on the ground as predicted, which made us happy. Benno got the truck warmed up and we were on the road by 7 a.m. We’ve come along Interstate 10 but from El Paso TX this highway continues about 40 miles straight north before it turns southwest again. 

Instead of continuing on the Interstate, Benno decided to drive on Country Road 9, which runs along the Mexican border. This road passes thru the town of Columbus NM, which about hundred years ago was raided by “Pancho Villa” the Mexican revolutionary who crossed the Mexican/USA border and shot up the town of Columbus. But he did not know that there was a small detachment of US Army soldiers with a machine gun stationed near by, who woke up from the gun fire and then alarmed gave Pancho Villa and his consorts hell, who quickly retreaded back into Mexico. When the US President got the news of the invasion from Mexico he gave the order of 10 000 US Army troops with General Pershing in charge to do a punishing expedition into Mexico. The troops arrived only a week after the intrusion by train in Columbus NM. With the troops arrived a sub lieutenant by the name of George Patton, who was in charge of motorcars and motor trucks. This was the first time the US Army used beside horses, motor trucks and a kind of armored truck (tank) and even an airplane. This was George Patton first touch with tanks and he did a very well job there and got promoted to lieutenant after the expedition. Benno wanted to take a picture of this tank, which he forgot to take 4 years ago when we visited the museum on our first trip to Arizona with our travel trailer.

The weather was absolutely lovely with sunshine and a blue sky. However, the further we got toward the tiny town of Animas the more overcast it became until we saw the first snowflakes. At Animas there was now snow everywhere and we made our right turn going north on Country Road 338, which would bring us back to the Interstate 10. For a moment we contemplated if we should find a place to stop for the day since there was more snow coming down than we liked.  I am glad we continued because once we were back on the Interstate the road started to clear and the further we drove the better the weather got.  

Just a few miles before the city of Tucson, as rush hour was starting, our right rear tire of the travel trailer blew up. It totally disintegrated and within seconds we were on a bare rim.  Of course we had to stop where we were by the side of the Interstate.  We have a spare tire on the back so Benno didn’t waste any time to start the procedure to get that changed.  Not much fun as traffic raced by at 75 miles an hour, especially when semis passed as they push a lot of wind that made our trailer shake while it was jacked up.  Now I experienced first hand why we always should pull over to the other lane when we see an emergency vehicle stopped by the roadside. 

After the tire change we continued driving on I-10 to Casa Grande as it started to get dark quickly but we made it to the Walmart in town and found us a nice parking spot for the night. 

On Thursday morning we were rolling out the parking lot around 8 a.m. looking forward to our arrival later on at our Winterhaven CA, RV Campground.  We needed to fill up with gas and I found a travel center on the road map on Interstate 8 at exit 119 in Gila Bend.  That gas station had quite a collection of Mexican artwork out front and inside the store there were more handcrafted souvenirs that I admired.  We filled up with gas and drove out to the street. A hundred yards further we turned back onto the ramp to the Interstate there was a cattle grate, which we drove over with a good bump and before we even came to speed Benno noticed in the rear mirror our rear tires full of smoke. Of course he pulled right over while we were still on the entry lane to the highway and out of the main traffic.  

Disaster! The first rear axle springs were broken and the trailer wheel well was riding on the tires. We were both shocked and had to think of our next move.  Benno walked back the ramp to the gas station and found pieces of our springs lying by the cattle-grate.  He also noticed other pieces of springs there of a different size and all kinds of car debris.   

I decided to go the gas station to see if they had any contact information for a spring service but they could not help me.  In desperation I talked to a guy in a pickup truck that seemed to be from the area and explained to him our problem.  He so happened to know of a local Auto and Diesel Mechanic that did 24 hour road service and he had his phone number programmed in his cell phone.  The guy said to me, “Pete can fix anything.”  He called Pete, whose name is actually Peteys and said he’ll be here in 10 minutes.  True to his word, 5 minutes later Peteys drove up and I hopped in his truck to take him to our broken down travel trailer.

It turned out that not only had we two broken springs, there were pieces missing and broken on all 4 springs.  Peteys got to work and dismantled one spring to take with him as a sample to purchase us a new set of 4 springs for both rear axles. For that he had to drive all the way to Phoenix and then back to us to disassemble and reinstall all 4 springs. We were parked by the on-ramp from 9 O’clock in the morning until Peteys finished the job at 6:30 in the evening.

Once the job was done and we had thanked Peteys and paid him for his work we only drove another 35 miles to a rest area to park for the night as we were emotionally drained and tired. 

Not only did it shock us that the springs had failed, because our trailer is a 2016 model and only 3 years old and has not been driven much through salted roads, nor is the trailer overweight and we pack light.  But as the springs failed in that short distance they damaged all our tires so that we now also need a set of 4 new tires for the travel trailer in addition. 

Midmorning on Friday we pulled into the Pilot Knob RV Resort.  We’d not finished getting set up when I spotted Rob. He and his wife Pat are also Canadians parked here and good friends with  Patsy and Bill from Canada. At the same time  George and Suzie, also from Canada, were getting ready to pull out, but we got a super nice welcome from all of them and later on sat in nice warm sunshine at Patsy and Bill’s site for happy hour to tell our story. We are planning on staying here for the rest of the winter season.