Sunday, September 15, through Saturday, September 28, 2013: Back in Arizona:

We left Soledad Canyon at 6:45 Sunday morning, stopping for the night in Needles, California, 238 miles away.  The trip was uneventful, but we did note that it's at least 105 degrees in Needles.  That's hot!!!  And all three of us are suffering from it. 

We are at the Palm River RV Resort, on the Colorado River.  It's very nice, but rather soulless.  We will only be here one night, spending it totally inside our rig, so it doesn't matter a whole lot how exciting the park is. 

We have been experiecing a strange thing with the leveling system on the rig lately.  When operating it, suddenly it makes the slideouts go in and out.  Though we can work around it, it's very annoying.  Apparently, it's not going to fix itself, so we need to work on that very soon.  We've also suddenly been experiencing a failure of part of our DirecTV system.  The bedroom receiver will sometimes not work, with the screen saying it's a problem in the connection to the dish.  Occasionally, it will fix itself.  Very confusing.  DirecTV is scheduled to send a repairman to us on Wednesday.

Monday, we headed for Williams, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.

We didn't leave until 7:45 in the morning.  It was a 179-mile trip, all of it on I-40.  We arrived without incident, and spent the evening relaxing in very welcome mid-70s weather.  We've been here before, and, while the RV park is a bit sterile, it's within easy walking distance from the town---especially the Safeway market---so Becky and Ramsey have a nice daily target.

On Monday, I attacked the leveling system problem by contacting Lippert Components, the manufacturer of the system.  The fellow I talked to was very helpful (or so it seems) and we went through several diagnostic steps.  The conclusion was that one of the hydraulic valves was faulty and needed replacing.  I ordered the part, which is supposed to arrive in five days.  I hope that solves the problem.

In the 11 years we have owned our truck, it has experienced a few bumps in the back bumper.  The last two---which happened when I picked up our food last Wednesday at the Panda Express (parking for which was in an alley that was designed for Mini Coopers, I think)---moved the bumper perilously close to the fenders.  So on Monday I stopped at a local repair place and the owner applied some pressure to a fix-it goodie (called an "iron monkey") and moved the bumper back a few inches.  What a relief.

Tuesday morning I had an appointment with my Flagstaff cancer doctor to have a CAT scan of my pelvis as a prelude to starting the radiology treatments at the end of this month.  All went well, and quickly, and I was on my way back to Williams before noon.

Wednesday, two DVD packages showed up.  Becky had ordered the second season of Homeland and the first season of Breaking Bad.  We had become hooked on Homeland recently and had never seen Breaking Bad but had heard great things about it.  Wednesday night we watched the first two episodes of Breaking Bad.  Intriguing.   

Wednesday was also DirecTV day.  The tech showed up on time, and turned out to be Michael, the same one who completed the Hi Def installation three months ago.  He twisted this and inspected that, and determined that, with two caveats, the problem was solved.  The first caveat was that the new receiver may be defective and the second caveat was that our internal wiring may be defective. 

Since the problem is intermittent, there was no way to prove which problem was the root at this time.  He said we should see what happens, and the next time, if there is one, the problem shows up, we should have the receiver replaced.  In the middle of the night, the problem showed up again, so another call to DirecTV was in order.

Thursday we had a delicious lunch at the Red Raven restaurant in Williams.  It is one of the very best restaurants there. 

I had Fish & Chips.  Very Yummy!!!  After lunch, Becky walked Ramsey around the RV park and found another camper with a Dalmatian---named Roly.  Ramsey enjoyed interacting with his dopppleganger.     

On Friday, I fixed a leaky hose fitting then waited for the DirecTV man.  It was Michael, again.  After making some fancy tests, he reversed what he told us on Wednesday and decided NOT to replace the receiver and instead said the problem appeared to be in the dish or between the dish and the receiver---neither of which is his problem to fix.  I called Ward, the guy who installed the dish and left a message.  We'll see how long it will take him to respond.      

Saturday was mostly football again.  UCLA rolled, USC squeaked by, and Michigan was almost beat again.  I always have fun needling Bill Wheeler when Michigan is less than stellar.

Sunday and Monday were relaxing.  We didn't do much.  Rather, I didn't do much---except mail our 2012 income tax stuff to Ken Bachman, our accountant in Colorado.  I had worked on it over the weekend.  We always file in October, so we're right on schedule.  As usual, Becky and Ramsey went on long hikes. 

I drove them to a trailhead in the national forest about five miles from here, and they worked their way along a trail and then back to the RV park.  Ramsey was exhausted; Becky was invigorated.   We started watching episodes of Homeland and Breaking Bad, which had arrived on Friday.  This was the first time we had seen any part of Breaking Bad.  Very intriguing.  And Homeland continues to be very interesting.

Ward hasn't called back yet.

Tuesday morning, I talked to a tech from Winegard (the manufacturer of our satellite dish) about our dish.  After some testing, he advised me that our problem is with DirecTV, not Winegard.  So we now have each one blaming the other.  In the meantime, we haven't experienced a problem in several days.  Maybe it fixed itself.  Also on Tuesday morning, Becky and Ramsey hiked part of the Sycamore Canyon Rim Trail, about 16 miles away. 

I got a propane tank refilled.  Exciting.  Tuesday afternoon, we watched The Great Gatsby from the Redbox.  Rather, we started to watch it.  I couldn't stay with it.  What an awful movie.  Becky stuck with it more or less, and decided it wasn't awful.  That's pretty faint praise.

On Wednesday, we had lunch at the Red Raven (again) with Jeff D’Arpa, the manager of the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel.  Jeff was our manager at the lodge at Zion National Park when we worked there.  He has worked his way up the Xanterra ladder.  It was fun seeing him again and catching up on the doings of his wife, Lisa, and daughters, Lily and Shasta.  (I had a delicious Reuben sandwich, by the way.)

One of Jeff’s duties is to oversee the operation of The Grand Hotel at the canyon.  Xanterra bought the hotel about a year ago.  He told us of some of the changes made there, including losing my former manager, Anesthesia Lawson, whom I liked a lot.  I later learned she is now working at the Radisson Hotel in Flagstaff for Mike Rock, who was the hotel manager at The Grand when I worked there.

Thursday was a day to go to the canyon.  We thought it would be a sacrilege to be this close and not visit, so we headed up the 50 miles to the village.  We had lunch at The Arizona Room of the Bright Angel Lodge. 

I had a tasteless Pastrami sandwich, which was not improved by adding a glob of Grey Poupon.  We stopped in at the front desk at Bright Angel, but didn’t see anyone we knew.  We then spent about two minutes viewing the canyon, and returned to Williams.

 
Wednesday and Thursday were big wind days in Williams.  With gusts of up to 50 mph, we discovered another feature of our new satellite setup.  The gusts would sometimes cause the dish to move just enough to lose the signal.  Seconds later, the signal would return.  Very annoying, but unavoidable.

Friday, while Becky went to Flagstaff for a little shopping, I attacked the leveling system problem.  (The replacement valve had arrived on Tuesday and I had installed it---with no effect on the problem.)  I spent almost two hours on the phone with a tech from Lippert, who walked me through several tests.  The net conclusion was that there is a bigger problem than we initially thought and will involve first taking the bed apart to start checking the under-bed hydraulic parts that actually move the slideouts.  We’ll save that project for another day. 
   
Friday evening, we decided to stop at Spencer’s, the bar at the GC Railway Hotel, for a quick drink.  It turned out to be dinner (pizza) and more than one drink.  We had a nice chat with one of the bartenders, who just started working there.

Saturday, our last day in Williams, required attacking a laundry list of chores to prepare for the move to Cottonwood.  Saturday evening. we attended the Taste of Williams event at the nearby Elephant Rocks Golf Course.  Nice place; nice event.  I didn't know Williams had so many epicures.  The GC Railway Hotel was represented. 

We introduced ourselves to Scott Hockner, the hotel Food & Beverage Manager, whom Jeff D'Arpa had highly praised.  Scott has previously worked at the North Rim and Death Valley, so we had a few common acquaintances.

After gorging ourselves, we returned home.  I watched football while Becky snoozed.  USC was murdered by Arizona State, 62-41.  Hooray!  Only once in USC's historic football past has anyone scored that many points against them.  That was Oregon, last season.  Late Saturday night, the USC coach, Lane Kiffen, was fired.  Double Hooray!!