5C's Que Pasa

We did a test drive at the end of today which is day 11 of being disabled and all is well.  We did rough roads and various tests of our own. Cummins had taken the coach out before us for their own tests.

Very happy with the results and will spend night four here at Camp Cummins. Will do a quick grocery shop in the morning ( did not want to go out in rush hour ). Get to dump and wash my hair tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be a shorter day at about 260 miles and then we will increase the length of our days after that. We need to relax and rebuild tonight.

We can’t say enough about the staff here at Las Vegas Cummins. They really did go all out to do the best they could for us each day that we have been here.

Special thank you to you my dear blog readers whose comments and emails have helped get us through these difficult times.  Tomorrow is another day but it is supposed to be freezing tomorrow night 😯  Sorry no more photos nor words, I am still exhausted and emotionally unsettled.  But you know me, I will be sure to include all the neat photos that you have missed including our last days on the Isla in the weeks ahead.

We were asked to have the RV ready for 6:45AM and we did.  They did not take it into the bay until almost 8AM. Somewhere around 9:30 we are told that there was no news but two technicians were on the job, Clinton the shop service manager did not call them mechanics.  We left around 12:30 to find a place to get an oil, lube & filter change for the Jeep. The light has been on for a few days now. Just as we were about to get into the bay I jumped out of the car much to Colin’s surprise. My body is tired of being confined to small spaces and especially our Jeep day after day. Good thing I did as it was a long 25 minute chore. I just walked around inside an air conditioned store and feel better for stretching my legs. It was so windy out that the skirt of my light summer dress kept swirling up – way up, much more revealing that I cared to show. After that we  refilled our five gallon jug, we sure go through water quickly, we just filled it last Wednesday in  Blythe at Culligan. We also fuelled the Jeep.( first time since Mexico ) at $4.839 per gallon at a Circle K, best price we have seen and that was for credit. 8.266 gallons cost us $40.00US.

Just as we were getting a bite to eat, I really hate fast food, we got a call from Cummins. They had news that they would share with once we got back to their facility. Well I lost my appetite just like that.  Why could they not tell us the que pasa on the phone? We got back to the parking area and saw our RV sitting in the parking lot. Hmmm?

The two techs/mechanics spent a part of the morning on the phone with the CFSE. That is short for Cummins Field Service Engineer whose job is to help diagnose and develop systems and improvements. Between them they think that the problem may be the ECM – the Engine Control Module which is a computer that communicates to the rest of the  computers on board. Our ECM is running low on voltage. Please remember that we are not mechanics and that this is our best interpretation of what we have been told.

We finally got lucky as there is exactly only one ECM for our coach in the entire USA and it happens to be in California. It will be here tomorrow be 11AM. Roughly it will take 2-3 hours to disassemble the old ECM which is attached to a hard to get to part of the engine and prepare to install the new one which will take 3 -4 hours. Then we will take the RV for a long test drive along the freeway and over some rougher roads. If it does not work then we might need to be towed back to Cummins and we will not be charged for the part nor all the labour involved with the ECM. Of course we will be back to square one and remain disabled.

While Colin parked the RV into one of provided four electrical spots I called to cancel yet another appointment for next week as we will be further delayed. I only had to book this one last January. The receptionist was not kind at all and actually in my opinion mean to me. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I went into a full meltdown right then and there inside of Cummins and by accident knocked over the girls water bowl making a huge wet mess. One of the female mechanics walked past and went into the washroom to get paper towels and got on her hands and knees to wipe up the water ( someone could easily have slipped ) as I just stood there sobbing. Finally Colin came back in, took it all in and got me out and into the RV where I broke down even more, it all came pouring out. The poor girls were scared and retreated to a corner. Finally I calmed down, ate something, wrote this and am now going to bed at 8PM.  My body is in a mess of pain, most of it likely due to stress.

Not sure that I am ready for what tomorrow will bring.

Sorry no idea why the last half is written the way it is but I am not going to try and figure it out as I need to sleep.

Day 6, April 1st

We had a leisurely few hours at the Inn enjoying their complimentary breakfast which was very good. Colin left me to start  packing while he went to check in the RV. The girls sat out the front door in their pen taking in the sun and a ll the activity around them. Colin was told that the RV wuld be ready by 10;30AM. The second part, the sensor  inside the RV was installed first thing while the mechanic was still clean. He then proceeded to complete the dirty hard to reach area within the engine area itself.

How we spent our days in the Jeep at Empire Trucking.

Finally able to put some photos in the blog. Carlie is so photogenic.

Tuesday the 29th, handing the RV over to Mike the mechanic.

They pulled the RV out of the bay for us once we arrived. It was full sun sun and very hot. Colin moved everything from the Jeep to the RV and I put thinks away inside and Colin did the outside. It was very hot and despite having the RV running the A/C did not keep the coach cool. Once organized we took the RV off a test drive on I10.

Long day sitting in the Jeep. Too hot to be outside.

The girls have been so patient.

Ciela is our vocal one and so full of energy.

Feeding them in the Jeep on Day 3.

Day 3, off leash dog park with artificial turf. Good for about 15 minutes. It did stink of urine but the girls got some good runs.

It was a good break for all of us. Amazing that the Flying J in Ehrenburg created this for their guests. It also had 4 or 6 covered fenced in smaller dog runs.

Very very long story short the same check engine light came on several times. Back to Empire Trucking where the mechanic checked the engine on the computer. Code 0132 came up. The mechanic, Mike told us that three codes had come up the first time he ran it last Tuesday but he figured that replacing the two parts should fix things. Well it did not. Basically there are approximately 60 wires that run from the front end to the engine along the underside of the chassis. The mechanic had no idea where to start – he also did not have a pit to stand in. The shop pretty much did nothing for then on. The girls and I stayed inside the sweltering RV in the bay while Colin called Spartan, after a long wait he got a mechanic who got cut off and then Spartan closed for the weekend. I got another mechanic ( took 30 minutes ) online via Spartan roadside assistance  and Colin eventually sorted out that if we ran on cruise we could bypass ” the bad wire circuit “.  Mike said hey why didn’t he think if that. We went back and forth and decided to go for it. Spartan and Empire were closed for the weekend and there really was nothing more that Empire could do. We paid that bill which was as expected.

Back on the computer April 1st after the highway test run. FYI the mechanic never test drove it and did not come with us!!

We started driving north to Las Vegas at 3:30PM on the really wonderful mostly newish highway 95 on the California side. All was well as long as Colin kept it in cruise but we did have to slow for a few intersections and of course lost power. Stop the engine, rest, reset and back on the road – okay as long as you have a shoulder. We drove non stop to Vegas and exited on Flamingo about 7PM just as the sun was setting. The RV does not idle as low speeds. We drifted to a stop a few times, fortunately there was a bus lane that we used without flashers on. The engine died a few times and we gritted our teeth with each intersection that we crossed. We did make it to the Las Vegas RV Park. I was a nervous wreck. Once checked in we idled to our site which was right next to the dog park. Our girls enjoyed all the activity and much to our surprise only barked a few times. Had a bit of a glitch when I discovered that we had no water, an off/on drain valve had broken. We found an RV tech to come first thing in the morning. The 21 year old plastic part was brittle with age.

It would have been lovely to see this cacti bloom but we were not sticking around Blythe a moment longer.

The ribbon of highway north.

Day 7, April 2nd

Mostly a quiet day but first we had to change sites once the RV tech completed the plumbing repair. The park was so full that with our constant changes of arrival date they had not choice but to separate our two night there. The girls really enjoyed their walks around the park and even had a good run in one of the penned areas.

Today was our scheduled return home date and our medical travel insurance expired at midnight. I was able to extend that with no issues. We did a small food and wine restock and called it a day, enjoyed a tasty meal and went to bed early, well t least I did.

Easy and inexpensive fix.

Day 8, April 3rd 

A bit of a dicey day as we decided to drive to Cummins here in LasVegas and throw ourselves at their mercy. The difficult part was the actual 14 mile drive but we did not want to be towed again. Back along Flamingo in the bus lane ( never saw a bus ) with the expected stops due to no power. The most difficult was making it though an intersection without the engine dying. Once on I515 we were until everything came to a very very slow crawl as we merged onto I15. That took almost tree miles and with construction there were only two lanes and no shoulder at all.  I was grinding my teeth. We almost did not make it, I would watch the traffic ahead and advise Colin if it was slowing or moving. Somehow we made it the correct exit and then just idled into Cummins. There has to be a stronger words than extremely stressful. Fortunately it was only 81F and cloudy which made things more tolerable. Camp Cummins has four sites specifically with 50AMP power.  We had no idea but it felt like winning the jackpot. There was no one around until the end of the day. The girls even got to run around the huge parking lot off leash for a short period of time. Had one of our last tuna pot pies for dinner.

Day 9, April 4th

Cummins opened at 7AM this morning and Colin was first in line.  However others had appointments and we were on standby with a possible 10AM or 1PM diagnostic time. About 9:30AM we were told that they were ahead of schedule and they could get us in sooner. That did not happen, somehow the day went sideways for Cummins. We hung around waiting until about 4PM when we let to do some errands and pick up Subway for dinner. Very hot today. Of course more appointments were changed again.

There is a new policy here ( we were last serviced here two years ago for some small thing ) that RV’s can’t be older that ten years and that the fridge needs to be empty and a bunch of other silly stuff like the batteries need to be off. We are not worried about our six kilos of shrimp in the freezer. I guess they are letting us in as we are scheduled for a 7AM drive into the bay with both a diagnostic and a repair set for tomorrow. It was a week ago today ( we had already been towed twice ) that we are taken into the Empire Trucking ( an approved and recommended to us as a Cummings dealer by Cummins ) bay.

It is apparent that the girls are slowly losing their spirit. Carlie has started to bark at different things which is not like her. We are too far away to get the free wifi and our ATT service had been slow as molasses in January as they say.

So early to bed and early to rise.

Too tired to do a proper review, edit and grammar update but I figured that you want to see this sooner than later. Off to bed. Yeah tonight is shower night, we are conserving water just in case.

Thursday was pretty much the same as Wednesday. We started the day with a wee glitch as UPS sent an email saying that part number two was delayed to April 1st. It took an hour to sort out that the part had made it to California despite the storms back east. However the parcel would not arrive until April 1st. We offered to drive to wherever it was to pick it up. Four people ( so difficult to talk to a real person at UPS – they even have a recording that says that ‘we know you want to speak to a person but that is not possible’ ),  later it was confirmed that it would be delivered by noon. The RV was in the shop at 7:35AM.

We spent most of the morning hanging around the RV waiting for the part to be delivered. We were hopeful that we might be done by end of day. Then we did some driving around.

It was such a large area and enclosed with no one around that we were able to let them run freely. They never strayed too far. I only had to call them back the once. I still would not trust them with open roads around us and other distractions like people and dogs.

Turns out that it was a very nasty and difficult job to get into the engine area where the new lift pump needed to be installed. By 1PM they had only taken a portion of that area apart. Very little space to work in. For certain the RV would be spending Thursday night in the shop.

Time to find a place to sleep. We checked out a few places and finally stettled on the Econo Inn. Ideally we wanted a suite but most would not take pets. Secondly I wanted a window that actually opened. We lucked out and got a main floor room which also included a sofa and a table with two chairs, mini fridge for the wine and a microwave plus lots of floor space for the girls.

Lots of stuff to pack up in ten minutes. The car was full to the roof. We had to bring ramps for the girls and all their stuff. Plus some snacks for us.

Between them they might have barked a total of five times just when we arrived. They were so happy to have somewhere new to sniff and space to run bit and wrestle in.  Of course sleeping in the king bed with us was a bonus.

This was the best part. We created a penned area so they could go in and out. We later enlarged it a bit longer and added a dog bed and a bowl of water.  They loved it and made not a peep.

They got to go for two walks and two off leash runs throughout the day. A nice change for them instead of being cooped up in the Jeep or the RV. Colin had asked for two mechanics to work on the RV but that did not happen, perhaps on Friday.

A very special thank you for all of your comments and emails and messages and suggestions. It really helps keep our spirits up to know that you are sharing this adventure with us and are rooting for us. This is an older RV that has many years of life left in it. Things break down and especially over 21 years of travelling all over Mexico, driving all the way to Acapulco four years in a row and driving the entire perimeter of Mexico, not to mention sitting in the salt air.  The mechanic has told us that the engine is in excellent shape and that it has many more miles to go.

To answer a question. We broke down north of Quartzsite on Sunday and waited most of the day for a tow truck. We were towed to a facility in Ehrenburg, Arizona that said they could help us, they were unable to and we never should have been directed there. Monday we were towed to Blythe, California. This truck shop saw us Tuesday morning.

We really don’t know what is wrong with us, I don’t think they do either. Based on what the engine computer says is that the throttle positioning sensor is faulty and we have no idea what that means. Also the fuel lift pump needs replacing as it is leaking fuel on the ground. The lift pump is only needed to start the engine and runs for thirty seconds and then a gear pump takes over from there.

This facility was not even sure of that until after 2 -3 PM Tuesday. About 1PM Colin suggested that they order whatever they think it might be and if not needed we would pay the return shipping and restocking fee. It wasn’t until 4:30PM Tuesday that we found out that they had not yet ordered one of the parts and they had no idea when the other part would arrive but they thought it might be Thursday, the 31st.

Today at 1PM Colin went to check on things and found out that they had still had not found the throttle positioning sensor. He came back to the RV and within ten minutes he spoke with Spartan and they had one in stock. Where the heck was this parts department trying to get parts from? Napa? Spartan built this RV chassis and should have been the first source to find parts. So within 30 minutes we had paid for and arranged overnight shipping ( even thought it was 4:30PM Eastern time ). It will be here tomorrow.

Gosh had we known we might’ve been out of here today. Moral of the story, always order our own parts – same as we did back in November re the ball joints.  As it was, on Tuesday the mechanic spent a few hours trying to reach under the dash to locate the sensor. It was about 1PM Tuesday when Colin asked about the progress that we discovered this. Colin showed him that you can simply lift the dash up and there was full access. Next problem was that he was unable to reach a certain area of the engine. Colin suggested that they simply take the muffler off 😯

Every morning I cancel and rebook appointments and reservations.  I just realized that I forgot two today, one of which is for Friday. We have five driving days ahead of us to get home. A few of them are close to 450 mile days. We will go from heat to a high of 39F, low of 25F in Ely on Sunday – if we get out of here.

We are not sitting back, resting, reading a book or even walking the girls. We are working to survive. It is not fun living next to a homeless camp and be on constant alert.  Every meal is take out. Although tonight we had the best pizza in our life after Naples. A small shop based on the same  principle as Subway called Pizza Studio. Look it up. I also just realized that I haven food prep done for our travel to Canada. No time.

We finally found a place to fill our two 5 gallon drinking water garafons today. We had to get the Jeep washed as you can’t see out of the windows to drive. And to go a bank to get quarters and was told that I had to have an account. I had a mini melt down, got the quarters. Then I went to do a load of laundry at what was supposed to be the best of three places here in Blythe. OMG, glad it was the best. Someone was smoking pot, there was no AC and most machines were broken. There is not one to fix things here. When they all break they will shut down the shop. Blythe is such a sad place. I asked today and was told that is was not due to Covid as I suspected but that things were slowly dying and shutting down and not being replaced.

I needed to wash my hair but we have to ration our water so I called a salon to see if they could do it. There are only three in town We checked them out, there was only the one that I would go into and it was lovely but only one stylist so I had to wait a while. But oh so wonderful have clean hair again. I told her just a part of our story. She did not want to charge me so I gave her what I think was enough as a tip.

Meanwhile the girls had to hang out in the car, no fun for them. No walks today, just to do their business.  I wonder if they dream about running on the beach.

Tomorrow we are up with the sun and in the shop at 7:20AM.  They hope to get it all done tomorrow but no guarantee. So if that is the case then we will have to spend tomorrow night in a hotel. We checked a few out late this afternoon. All I can say is that they better finish the RV tomorrow. We are not allowed to be in the RV while it is in the yard – which is why we are staying mere feet from a busy road which is just off of an I10 off ramp.

No photos as I have not yet set up my desktop, too much trouble for just a few hours because of how we store it for travel.

I feel so badly for the girls, they did nothing to deserve this hardship. Tomorrow we will be living in our car until close to 5PM. There is no where to go and I am not exaggerating. Not even an outdoor patio to sit and eat and have the girls with us. I am so tired of sitting in the Jeep with no place to stretch-out. We did go to a very cute off leash dog park yesterday no photos till another day. It was just okay but it was different but in a small enclosed area, smelled of urine and we had to watch where we stepped but the girls were able to run a bit more than the length of the RV living room.

This is not a wee holiday but something to be endured. To be honest, without the dogs it would be much easier. This too shall pass but why is it taking so long?  Nothing we can do but live hour by hour right now. I did sleep well last night, hope to do so tonight. Prayers that they put the RV back together tomorrow and that nothing else is wrong.

Tonights sunset, hope it is our last here.