KELLY HEADS INTO DILLIARDS
Thought we had a reasonably quiet spot Monday night north of Yuma….until it got dark & the first airplane took off!!!!!! Looking at a map earlier I knew we were next to a military installation of sorts but never realized it was probably a night flight base for training pilots on small propeller driven aircraft or something. Well anyway, that was my very, very tired theory this morning. Oh, & as so many RV’ers know, there is always a distant train whistle somewhere in the night as well & our location Monday night was no exception.
YOU WILL SEE THIS ARMY TANK BY THE ROAD WHERE THE BLM LAND IS THAT WE STAYED AT MONDAY NIGHT
The Verizon signal was a bit slow at our VFW north Yuma overnighter spot so we were up & on the road early back into Yuma Tuesday morning. Kelly had some Skype calls to make & needed a stronger signal. Hung out in a Walmart Parking Lot until we were ready to travel the remaining miles to CJ’s Repairs. Picked up some fuel as well. And where are the gas prices highest in Arizona right now? Why, Yuma of course!! And who needed gas this morning before crossing into California today? Why, the Bayfield Bunch of course!! Anyway we filled up for $3.29 a gallon.
JUST HAD TO STOP & TAKE A PICTURE OF SOME GREEN GREEN GRASS JUST LIKE HOME:))
It was the usual bumbles & fumbles trying to find CJ’s Repairs buried somewhere in the heart of Yuma but with a little dead reckoning, some hastily scribbled notes from Map Quest & our GPS dumping us into a Yuma suburb we did finally muddle our way through the morning traffic to our destination.
‘GARMIN GERTI’ OUR GPS TANGLED US UP IN A YUMA SUBURB THIS MORNING
We arrived at 10:30 for our 11 a.m appointment & had a young fellow in the coach checking things out by 11:45. Oh, I should mention that the slide has been working perfectly since leaving Gila Bend Monday morning. Goes out OK & comes in OK & of course worked splendidly for the mechanic guy. He checked the wires under the dash, pulled the fuse panel & checked the slide motor wire contacts for a good ground. Everything worked El Perfecto. He did show us where the motor is located & a small switch to turn off in case we have to hand crank the slide in. He then showed us where the nut thingy is to get a socket wrench on to retract the slide.
AND THIS IS CJ'S RV REPAIR SPECIALISTS, YUMA
Fat chance of AL reaching into that barely accessible space beside the generator with a socket wrench that he doesn’t even have. Mike the mechanic wished us luck & said ‘no charge.’ Figured that was mighty darn nice of CJ’s Repair to do that considering shop labor was posted at $90 an hour & the fellow spent nearly have an hour checking things out & explaining slide procedures to us. We felt greatly relieved to think our slide problem may have corrected itself…..but, our relief wasn’t to last!!
We mashed our way through some more Yuma traffic to a really nice shopping mall we had been to several times before. Yuma Palms is right beside I-8 in the city’s west end. We’ve been there half a dozen times before & it is probably one of the nicest landscaped malls I’ve seen with it’s tall Palm trees, green as green grass, cactus, agave & lots of flowering shrubs & trees. Kelly had a couple stores to look in & we grabbed a bite to eat in a place called Famous Dave’s BBQ.
Food was fine but not a lot of it & we both agreed the TEXAS ROADHOUSE was better in Sierra Vista. Had myself a short nap while Kelly rambled around in another store & then it was pedal to the metal about 1 o’clock California time as we headed west on I-8 across the State Line from Arizona to California.
THINK I’LL PASS ON THAT DEVIL’S SPIT…….
Didn’t take us long to get ourselves out of the big city & back out to the desert where this scruffy bunch belongs & loves to call home. Turned off I-8 onto Ogilbe Road just a few miles past Pilot Knob. About 4 miles later we pulled off Ogilbe road onto the hard packed desert floor, found us a quiet spot & shut er all down. Having been up since 2:45 a.m. again I barely had enough energy to pull myself out of the driver’s seat but what a relief it was to step out of the coach to the silence & greenery of the California desert. Big sunny skies with a slight warm breeze blowing. Now, what could be better than that. Well, I’m about to tell you what could have been better than that!!
FARM WORKERS HARVESTING CABBAGES WEST OF YUMA…WE ARE HEADED FOR THAT MOUNTAIN RANGE ON THE LEFT
A SLIDE THAT WORKS….THAT’S WHAT!!!! Despite being level & having all the bases covered our slide would not work again. I was even too tired to get mad about it. Kelly tapped on the slide motor like Mike said, but nothing. I began to resign myself to the possibility of the slide never working again. So much so that I moved a chair & footstool outside to make for more room. But then, we nearly created a second serious problem for ourselves.
I had gone outside to prop up a bin door below the slide in hopes of maybe figuring out how to turn the nut that would manually put the slide out. Needed a second stick to prop up another bin door beside the first so walked around to the other side of the rig to get a propping stick out of a bin. Heard Kelly holler something from inside the rig so stopped & walked back around the Jeep. There was our slide out about a foot & wedged against the open bin door. Awwwww nuts!!!! Unbeknownst to me, Kelly had started unscrewing the slide switch panel inside the coach, tried the switch again & the slide went out about a foot & jammed against the bin door I had propped open. Now what!!!!
OUR BOON DOCKING SPOT JUST OFF OGILBE ROAD WEST OF YUMA
Luckily for us Kelly stopped the slide when she heard the funny scraping noise & by retracting the slide again it freed up the bin door. No damage:)) We sure dodged a bullet on that one. Closed the bin door & Kelly hit the switch again with the slide coming all the way out this time & that is where it will remain until we decide to leave here. Now we’re wondering about a loose or corroded wire in the slide switch panel. Maybe a good blowing out with some compressed air might help a contact point or something. If the slide won’t retract this time we may just have to resign ourselves to the fact we may have to stay here in this desert just a few miles east of the Imperial Sand Dunes………….forever!!
TERRI had a question about how I took the photo of Kelly at the computer desk if I was driving the Motor Home Monday. With the advent of ‘Auto Focus’ in cameras years ago photography has become much easier for people. With my camera set on ‘Automatic’ using a wide angle 18mm lens setting I was simply able to reach my right arm around & shoot behind me in the general direction of where Kelly was sitting at the computer. No need to try looking through the viewfinder. Same idea as shooting through the windshield while driving. Point, shoot, & crop later. The wide angle lens takes in a wide view & all I had to do in my Picasa 3.8 photo program was ‘Straighten’ out my horizon & do a bit of ‘Cropping.’ Remember, the photo your camera returns to you is not the photo you have to accept. You have control over that photo with your photo editing program. Take the time & get to know your program!!
NOTICE WE HAVEN’T GOT THE SLIDE OUT YET!!!!
GROANER’S CORNER:((
I want to go back to a time when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming "do over!"
"Race issues" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly."
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20.
The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and rules didn't matter.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties".
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
A foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare." Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.
No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home.
"Oly-oly-oxen-all-in-free" made perfect sense.
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles. The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have had a great life.
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