We left Hurricane early Sunday morning. Our first stop was going to be Boulder City, Nevada, for a day, then on to Kingman, Arizona, for a day, then on to Williams, Arizona, for more than two months. Before we got to Boulder City, we decided to go all the way to Kingman instead. The total trip was only 234 miles, and, because of the time change on reaching Arizona, we arrived at the Ft. Beale RV Park just after 1:00 PM. We had stayed there before and really liked it, even though it is very simple. We called ahead and asked for our favorite site (#31). The manager said it was not available but we could have our pick of available sites when we got there. It turned out she had rearranged some other reservations and put us in #31 after all.
It was very hot in Kingman, upwards of 100 degrees, and our air conditioner started to throw its circuit breaker again---a recurrence of the problem we had encountered in the last days of our stay in Palm Desert. On a lark, I called the mobile RV repair place advertised in the park information package, Cordova's RV Service, and asked the tech if he thought it was just too hot for the A/C or did he think there was a problem. The tech (Eric, who turned out to be the owner, along with his wife, Wendy) said he could be at our place at 7:00 AM on Monday to check it out. I said OK.
Since we had only 114 miles to go to complete the journey to Williams, we could spare some time for him to do his analysis. (We had planned to stay in Kingman only one night and arrive in Williams a day ahead of schedule.) He arrived bright and early Monday morning and rather quickly determined that a particular part of the compressor motor assembly was malfunctioning enough to cause the circuit breaker problem when it got very hot outside. He also determined that our extended warranty would pay for the repair and that he might be able to get the part by early Tuesday morning. We were willing to stay in Kingman the one extra day but not another day, so we had a dilemma. That was solved when he said he would come to Williams for no extra charge if the part did not come before we wanted to leave. Sold! I have no idea how they can absorb the cost in gas and productivity of the 228 mile round trip, and told Wendy so, but she said it was just something they were willing to do to serve their customers. Quite a concept. We had our favorite dinner from Panda Express to celebrate.
We left for Williams fairly early Tuesday morning, and later heard the part did not arrive until late that afternoon. Since it was going to be at least 15 degrees cooler in Williams for the foreseeable future, we thought the problem would be in abeyance for a while, and told Eric he could come anytime he had another job in Williams.
The trip to Williams was without incident, although we had to turn off the A/C in our truck several times because it was very hot outside, we were climbing several thousand feet, and the engine threatened to overheat occasionally. We checked into the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park by noon, and were told they had the reservation messed up and we could probably not stay in the assigned site for more than five days.
After that we would have to move to another site for an undetermined amount of time, etc. We know they can massage the site assignments if they are willing to spend a little effort, so we agreed to just relax and let them do their work for a few days. We'll see what happens. We had big salads for a late lunch from the kitchen of Miss Becky, and passed on dinner Tuesday night.
Wednesday, I finished the letter to KOA, and mailed it. We'll see if it has any effect. I spent the rest of the day puttering around with small projects around the rig and the site. Becky walked the dogs several times, of course. We started to watch Her from the redbox, but couldn't stand it and turned it off. I frankly have no idea why it was so popular.
While Becky then had her hair done, I pursued some time-killing snooping around the Flagstaff shopping district. We followed with lunch at Pato Thai, our favorite restaurant in Flagstaff (Pad Thai for Becky and Cashew Chicken for me, as usual), then stopped at the DoubleTree Hotel in Flagstaff to visit with Anesthesia Lawson, my former boss at The Grand Hotel in Tusayan, who is now the Rooms Director at the DoubleTree. She's always fun to see.
We then picked up the dogs from Canyon Pets, the local kennel where they had spent the day. Ramsey has always loved the place and it was Kelsey's first visit. They were glad to see us but exhausted after a full day of interacting with other dogs.
When we returned to the RV park there was a note on the door that we should talk to the office about our site situation. The news was that we had to move on Sunday, but the next site would be permanent. While it will be a back-in, which is not our favorite kind, it will be OK---especially since we are getting such a good deal on the price due to our relationship with Jeff d'Arpa, the manager of the entire hotel/RV park property, which is owned by Xanterra, our former employer at Zion and the Grand Canyon.
Because of the lateness and quantity of the lunch, we skipped dinner while we watched Jack Ryan, Shadow Recruit from the Redbox. It was surprisingly good.
Friday (the 13th) we met Derby and Holden, two Dalmatians visiting the RV park with their owners. Derby, a liver Dalmatian, is actually a show dog. They were handsome dogs, but not as exciting as our two darlings.
We also watched a couple of forgettable movies from the redbox, Deliveryman on Friday and Ride Along on Saturday. We talked the office into letting us move to our new site on Saturday so we could relax on Sunday. We made the big move, less than 100 yards, just before noon. Becky was a star backing into the new site.
Also on Saturday, Becky learned that Kathy and Mike Drahos, two RVers we first met at the RV park in St. George and whom we last saw in Williams last June, would be stopping in Williams on Sunday for a two-day stay on their way to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and beyond, to see relatives. At Becky's suggestion, they got the site for their huge motor home right next to us and we had a great time with them on Sunday and Monday,
having cocktails an snacks at their place on Sunday and dinner at the Red Raven restaurant on Monday. (I had a fun Italian Sausage & Penne number while Becky had a Pork Loin special.)
Earlier on Sunday, we took the dogs for a walk at the nearby Cataract Lake County Park next to the Elephant Rocks Golf Course.
It's really a nice area, and we followed that with a drive through the adjacent upscale residential area. It is nice to see that someone in Williams has some money. Otherwise, the residential areas are quite depressing. We have heard that it is one of the poorest cities in Arizona.
We have developed some water spotting on our rig that's a bit annoying. When we picked it up from the D&D repair shop, the owner tried to see if rubbing compound and his buffer would improve the situation. No deal. He was totally unsuccessful. We happened to mention it to Mike on Monday, and he swore he could do something about it. He dragged out something called Nu-Finish, and spent a minute applying it to a particularly bad area. Voila!!! The spots magically disappeared. Becky went on line that night and ordered some.
I haven't mentioned that the RV park is right next to the railroad tracks. Besides the Grand Canyon trains every day, there are a slew of freight trains that go by. We are so used to them, we hardly notice----even when they pass in the middle of the night. Wednesday afternoon, Becky took a picture of one of the BNSF trains.
Thursday morning, on the way to our Flagstaff dentist for our semi-annual cleanings, I received a call from my sister-in-law, Elise, telling me that my brother, Bob, had cancer surgery that morning. The whole thing had come up very quickly and there was little opportunity to have alerted me earlier. I immediately decided to go to LA to see Bob as soon as I could. The most logical thing to do was take Amtrak that night. I have taken that train on a number of occasions and knew all about its schedule and its non-adherence thereto.
While Becky was having her teeth cleaned I zipped over to The Home Depot on the far west side of town to pick up some plywood for a project. We use 1' square plywood pads under our landing legs and stabilizers to protect the surface under our rig, and at the same time to protect the underside of our legs and stabilizers. The existing pads are very old and ugly, and need replacing.
I have the store cut two 2' by 4' pieces of 3/4" plywood into 16 pieces as a start, then varnish them. I had difficulty finding the appropriate plywood at the store. When I was satisfied that I needed to upgrade the plywood to get the right number of pieces, the goon at the store informed me that the saw was out of order and he couldn't cut them for me. He opined, though, that the Home Depot store on the east side of town would undoubtedly have the right amount of plywood I needed and that its saw would certainly work. I had no idea there was a Home Depot on that side of town---which was about three minutes away from the dentist's office. I sulked back to the dentist and informed Becky of the fiasco.
After our sessions with the dentist
and lunch at Hiro’s, our favorite Flagstaff sushi restaurant, we stopped at the Home Depot store and bought the plywood. I then made a reservation with Amtrak to leave that night and return the following night. That would leave me with several hours in LA, just enough for a quick visit. I had no desire to see anyone else on that trip. The 9:30 PM train from Williams finally left at 12:30 AM, and, after a completely uneventful night (I actually slept better than I typically do at home) the train arrived in LA only two hours late Friday morning---at 10:15 AM. I had arranged for a rental car at Hertz, my least favorite rental company, but one of only two companies with a desk at Union Station. (The other is Budget, but they had no cars available.)
I arrived at the St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica at
11:45 AM, after fighting the horrible traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway. (I’m so glad I don’t live in LA---or any big
city---any longer.)
Before I went to Bob’s room, I stopped at the gift shop and bought him a stuffed doll wearing a T-Shirt saying “Big Brother,” which, of course, is what Bob is to me. Bob was on the phone when I arrived. He looked pretty good for a guy who had just had his gut operated on. Elise was there also, but left not long after I arrived, to take care of some errands. We spent the next hour (plus) chatting, telling lies, and generally catching up since the last time we had talked. When the conversation, and Bob, seemed to flag a bit, I decided it was time to go. I killed the next two hours wandering, driving by my old fraternity house at UCLA
(noting that the school has grown a lot since I attended more than a half-century ago and the area has become even more crowded) and working my way back downtown using as little of the freeway as I could. I returned the car and settled in at the Union Station waiting room to try to read Tony Hillerman’s The Fly On The Wall, a book I’ve been carrying around for far too long. I didn’t get very far into it; there was too much activity at the station.
I boarded the train at 5:45 and arranged for a dinner time (7:30) in the dining car.
Before I went to Bob’s room, I stopped at the gift shop and bought him a stuffed doll wearing a T-Shirt saying “Big Brother,” which, of course, is what Bob is to me. Bob was on the phone when I arrived. He looked pretty good for a guy who had just had his gut operated on. Elise was there also, but left not long after I arrived, to take care of some errands. We spent the next hour (plus) chatting, telling lies, and generally catching up since the last time we had talked. When the conversation, and Bob, seemed to flag a bit, I decided it was time to go. I killed the next two hours wandering, driving by my old fraternity house at UCLA
(noting that the school has grown a lot since I attended more than a half-century ago and the area has become even more crowded) and working my way back downtown using as little of the freeway as I could. I returned the car and settled in at the Union Station waiting room to try to read Tony Hillerman’s The Fly On The Wall, a book I’ve been carrying around for far too long. I didn’t get very far into it; there was too much activity at the station.
I boarded the train at 5:45 and arranged for a dinner time (7:30) in the dining car.
The train left, on time, at 6:15, and proceeded to turn the scheduled 9 1/2 hour ride into a 10 1/2 hour ride, with no explanation offered. The dinner was interesting. My companions were: (1) a 90-year old ex-hippie who regaled us with stories of all the aliens (from outer space, not Latin America) that existed near his home in northern New Mexico, (2) a grandmother of indeterminate age from Gallup, New Mexico, with what started out as a seemingly lousy attitude, and (3) her 11-year old granddaughter who was perfectly charming. By the end of the meal, all was well. I didn’t sleep as well Friday night as I had Thursday night, but I survived. I don’t know whether I was snoring, but my seatmate moved across the aisle halfway through the ride. The train arrived just before 5:00 AM Saturday morning.
The van from the Grand Canyon Railway hotel picked us up at the "junction" in the middle of the forest (there are no facilities out there) and took us to the hotel, where Becky had left our truck. I arrived home a minute later and immediately crawled into bed and went back to sleep for an hour or so. It was nice to be home.
I spent most of the rest of the day doing little things
around the house. Even though the product arrived on Wednesday, I haven't yet started on the Nu-Finish project. Late in the afternoon,
we watched Small Time, with Chris
Meloni and Bridget Moynahan, from the redbox.
It had not been too well-received, but turned out to be delightful.
Sunday was another day for me to relax. When Becky took the dogs for one of several walks, she observed the cowboys who do the Wild West show at the railway before the train leaves and then "rob" the train on its way back from the canyon, approaching the train station through the middle of town. The same cowboys stage a gunfight in town every night at 7:00.
Earlier in the day we realized that one of our auxiliary coolers was starting to fail. We've experienced that twice before with this brand and decided to replace it with a better one. After working the Internet for a while, we decided on a smaller version of our larger cooler. Becky was not happy that it would take more than a month to get the new one, but ordered it anyway.
Sunday was another day for me to relax. When Becky took the dogs for one of several walks, she observed the cowboys who do the Wild West show at the railway before the train leaves and then "rob" the train on its way back from the canyon, approaching the train station through the middle of town. The same cowboys stage a gunfight in town every night at 7:00.
Earlier in the day we realized that one of our auxiliary coolers was starting to fail. We've experienced that twice before with this brand and decided to replace it with a better one. After working the Internet for a while, we decided on a smaller version of our larger cooler. Becky was not happy that it would take more than a month to get the new one, but ordered it anyway.
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