Not the best of news today

     We got some bad news a bit ago, the gear cluster must be shipped from Tennessee and it's "heavy" and over-night is going to cost us big time! Next bit of bad news is the extended warranty is not going to cover all we would like it to! Next bit of bad news is if they (Tennessee manufacturer) get it out tomorrow it won't be here until Friday! Next bit of bad news is we are only hoping they get it out tomorrow! Good news is that if they do get it out the guy here said he'd be sure it was put in on Saturday for us.......he actually feels as bad as we do and wants to help. Regardless in 7 years of owning this rig the number of problems is relatively few and in our 50,000 miles of travels we realize there are expenses involved. A house on wheels has the upkeep of the home and auto combined...............we love it and plan for these things. No worries!
     At times we look at each other like a few minutes ago and think boy this thing is sure broke a lot, but then stop to count the times we've had problems and they are really very few.  Last year the compressor on the chassis a/c, this year one of the a/c units on the roof, lost a shroud off the roof a/c unit which was no big deal and the steps broke twice in Des Moines two of the last 5 years and the fresh water tank was replaced because of a leak in the first year or so we had the coach.  I guess we should be happy that's all but no matter how you keep up with the maintenance shit happens now and again and we're just glad we can handle this and get back on the road.  For the most part the warranty and extended warranty have covered most of these, the money spent on these have been well worth having them.
     The days spent waiting for repairs I guess would be the most annoying, but in all our days of travels I guess the 10 days or so we've spent waiting is once again relatively low but still a it upsetting don't get me wrong there.  Hey look at it this way if we didn't have the warranty and didn't have the cash on hand to cover these things we should have just stayed home, but you plan on mishaps etc. and try and be prepared for these types of crisis.  We're in hopes this will be all taken care of and we can still make it up to Tahoe before we head back to Phoenix.........it's still looking good.   

It's not that I didn't have the time.........................

     Well I just extended our stay in the Quality Inn in Vacaville, CA.  for a 3rd night because the motor home is not done yet.  Done?  If you haven't seen on FB or from anyone else, we have the motor in the shop getting the rear-end (differential) fixed.  The noise I had been hearing was coming from the rear-end and echoing through the drive train to the transmission as it does so I'm told.  I'm not a gear head or drive train mechanic but I know gear shavings when I see them and we had quite a bit of that in the housing.  All or at least the biggest percentage of your RV repair places even the super centers don't do much chassis work including drive train, so we had to take it to a big truck repair place just down the road from a camping world and another RV repair place that couldn't help us.  (was that a run-on sentence or what?)
     We have found things to do in Vacaville, CA. as tourist, they have a very nice and quaint old down town area with nice shops and dinning.  Been to the movies as we like to do when visiting smaller towns, ate out a few times and had salads in the room also.  Bev has been very busy so a good portion of the days are spent at the desk and watching movies on TV and that's why the title of this post...because I have had the time to keep you-all up to date but haven't.  Understand, as I'm sure you do this is not the exciting things you tuned in for and I understand, we're just hoping and praying the motor home will be done tomorrow so we can be on our way to points not yet visited.
     We've been in contact with Rich and Don and family as to how we're doing and only 45 minutes from their places but really need to be here in case Charles (you can call me Tony) Anderson who owns Midway Truck repair of Vacaville, CA. calls or needs us for something.  Besides Bentley has remained in the motor home these days and nights, yes with plenty of ventilation and food and water and the boys know he's in there and we've stopped by each day to check on him.
     The clock is ticking on this 3 month journey and we looked at each other yesterday and said "dead line" "need to be where by when" none of the above..........we still want to head to Tahoe for about a week if we finally get this rig back on the road before too long!  We are trying to be home around the end of August first of September but o'well................... hey Ron Burgundy just made his appearance on the tube think I have a few laughs this morning.  Later dudes!   

Last evening at KOA Sacramento

     Tomorrow a.m. we take the motor home into a truck garage to see what the hell the noise I've been hearing is.  Praying that it's no big deal but really don't know what to expect so not sure if we'll be pulling out tomorrow or stick around for a time to get whatever fixed.  We are awaiting tomorrow a.m. with mixed emotions right now.
     Had our last (unless we're here for a few more days) evening with all the Paper's with dinner at Rich and Lynn's with Don and Sharon and us.  It's been fun catching up and we vow not to wait so long to return.
     Short but sweet tonight, have to be at the garage at 7:00 a.m. and it's 35 minutes down the road so leaving at 6:00 to be sure not to be late...............you know me, early better than late!  Catch up when I have more news!

Friday the 9th in Sacramento, CA.

     Well it hasn't been exciting or at least exciting enough to blog about, just spending a lot of time with cousins we haven't seen for a long time.  We've had 3 BBQ's and a pizza party between Rich and Don's homes over the past 4 days, a lot of looking back and remembering times gone by.  Yesterday Bev and I in the morning and early afternoon drove around the old stomping grounds of Mike and family and friends in the years 1959-1964.  We looked up old homes and schools and hang-outs but like the years made so many changes it was hard to remember a lot or visualize a lot of things the way they were.  Memories are nice but memories come and go and there's only a handful of things that stick or make much sense at time like this 50 some years later.  One thing I took away from looking at some of the old homesteads was the fact that number one they were still standing and number two they really looked great for being over 50 years old.
     We rode up to Folsom, CA. were I attended my sophomore year of high school since Rancho Cordova wear we lived didn't have a high school at that time.  The place had grown and was not the little town down from the State Prison anymore, what a beautiful place it has grown into.  With Folsom Lake right there it has become a favorite place for boater and weekenders to gather, with a gigantic new high school and very nice homes.  A place I would live if I ever wanted to leave Phoenix (which probably will never happen).
     Today was breakfast with Rich and more reminiscing and another trip into Rancho Cordova and looking and talking about the old times and neighborhoods.  Bev did some work and is still at it at this hour (3:00 p.m.) and if I can pull her away we might just head down to "old Sacramento"  and walk around the shops and touristy things, an evening on the river will be nice I'm sure.
     We'll be heading to this awesome casino once more tomorrow with Rich for a few hours and then Sunday another BBQ at Rich and Lynn's before we take the motor home into this repair shop to see what the hell that noise is I've been hearing and bothering me.  If it's nothing too expensive after the diagnosis and can be repaired right away we will wait right here, but if it will take a couple of days or so we will take the Jeep up to Lake Tahoe for those few days.  One way or another Bev would like to go or go back to Tahoe and camp for a week after the motor home problem is taken care of.......and we hope it's nothing too bad.  Will keep you informed.

West Sacramento, KOA..Day 2

    After a very scenic ride into California through grape country and the infamous Lodi, California of Credence fame we arrived in Sacramento. Yes Lodi home to the annual grape festival of which I do remember going to with my parents to as a teen, and no one would mind getting stuck there for a while.  We got all set up for the week at the KOA in West Sacramento/Old town and gave Rich Paper my cousin a call.  Rich and Lynn invited us over that evening for a BBQ at their place, a great evening of catching up....hell it had been 5 years since we'd seen them in Phoenix and 13 years since we last seen them in Sacramento.
     Today Bev had some work to catch up on and her eyes to take care of, she contacted an infection in her eyes with swelling and itching and got some much needed antibiotic's from an emergency care center yesterday.  Already doing better today and she's feeling positive it will be cleared up soon.....thank God.  So Mike went golfing with Rich and a buddy of his solo this outing.  We played a course called Rancho Solano outside of Sacramento in Fairfield, CA., nice course, great shape, and good price....only $40 (senior, riding).       Remember the noise I mentioned in the motor home when decelerating, well went to two other RV centers after the round of golf and found out RV even the super centers don't work on chassis problems and  had to look up a truck repair location.  We have an appointment (being squeezed in again) a week from today to have it looked at and then what ever days it takes to fix the problem when they find one.  We're thinking if they have it for a few days we'll just head over to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days while it's being fixed, hope all this works out the way we anticipate.  Wish us luck on this one!
     As you know living in the Friendly Village of Orange Wood we have become bocce ball players and have enjoyed doing so, we cousin Don Paper whom we will visit tomorrow has put one in his back yard!  No shit, I would never have guessed something like that but we can't wait to give it a go with these fella's.  The week is set for the first four days, golf today with Rich, bocce and drinks and more catching up at Don's tomorrow, a trip to a casino with Don and friends Wednesday and dinner with Don and Sharon at their place on Thursday with Rich and Lynn too.  Bev and I might get out for a bit of golf on Thursday in the a.m. if we can find a nice executive course around here.  Sounds like the boys have us keeping busy for the first four days anyway.  Well bring you up to date...........................  

Last trip into the City

     Yesterday we slept in and Bev got some needed work done, so we didn't head into the City until about 10:30 or 11:00 and arrived in China Town in time for lunch.  The place is a zoo, folks everywhere doing shopping, selling wares, hawking restaurants, and preaching on the corner (I wanted to video this one dude but Bev said no) but he was preaching women taking over the world because they have the numbers and can do it if they band together...........a black dude shouting to the heavens and speaking to the women of the world.  Anyway we walked a bit and it seemed everything is up hill, no matter which way it seemed I was walking up hill but we didn't walk to far.  Got lucky and found a parking spot on one of the main streets (very lucky) and the joint we ate at was a 1/2 block down the street.  Bev loves to go there but is always apprehensive a bit when it comes to eating in some of these places, wondering what the meat actually is.  We ended up having a nice combo meal of a number of things at $19.95 each served as you might imagine family style.  I didn't taste any barking or meowing so it must have been good meat.......and besides I'm here on the computer the next day so I think all is well (left-overs still in the fridge).  Pic's, see the Jeep on the corner parking spot, proud of that job!

     Check out FB for a few more pic's of China Town and the Golden Gate, yes we finally on our last day made it across the Golden Gate bridge.  We had been commuting via the Oakland Bay bridge most of the time but took the long was around the Bay to the north and back down when leaving yesterday.  It's an awesome bridge and always nice to take that trip across it.  Noticed a lot more folks walking across and even biking across the bridge yesterday, in years past didn't see or notice as many.
     Getting ready to hook the Jeep up to the back and close up and head to the Modesto area for a few days to visit Bill Paper and his kids, always enjoy my visits with Bill and talk about all the huge ass buildings he has built in the Bay area and yes always reminiscing about the good old days.  Work to do gotta go for now!

San Francisco, CA.

     No matter how many times we visit San Francisco we can never get enough of it, we both enjoy the City by the Bay quite a bit.  After letting the rush hour traffic of which I just read an article yesterday stating that this was the 3rd most congested city for traffic in the United States, we headed into the City for the day.  After a late breakfast of clam chowder and sour dough bread from Boudin bakery (the supplier of sourdough bread for the city the past 100 years or more) we decided to take one of those tours.  It was a trolley type double-decker bus so we could sit up top and see everything from that perspective.  As we have learned from trips past to San Francisco you take sweaters and jackets and dress warm because as Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." and goes for me too!  We wore jackets and long pants but still got freaking cold on the tour, especially when you approach the ocean and near the Golden Gate bridge.  The tour was actually a good one, and we learned more this trip than ever before, and it ate up over an hour and a half of our day.  The first place we looked for when arriving back from the tour was a coffee house for some Chai for "B" and coffee for me.........warm-up time.
     The wharf is a freaking zoo compared to years past, one big tourist trap selling everything from chocolate (Ghirardelli) to bread (Boudin) to Alcatraz prison clothing and T-shirts touting the "City".  The wharf other than #8 and #9 of pier 39 has changed immensely and just not as quaint as years gone by.  By #8 I mean Alioto's sea food and #9 the Grotto and those couple of stands in between.  Fresh clams, oysters, crab and fish right in front of you.  That's what I call "shucken and jiven"

      
     China town and little Italy are exactly as they were the first time we visited, narrow streets lined with stands selling every kind of Chinese treats under the sun to narrow streets of small Italian restaurants serving the most tasty Italian dishes you could imagine.  As a matter of fact today is Chinese day with a visit to China town on the agenda for lunch...........no not the little joints off those narrow streets down the alley ways, but the joints right along the main streets (that way we kind of know what the meat is we'll be eating)!  By the time dinner time rolled around rather than leave the wharf walking a mile or so, or getting the Jeep out of our $28 eight hour parking spot, we had the two day tour pass and decided to jump back aboard and take the trolley tour up to Little Italy for dinner then ride it back down to the wharf for the Jeep.  We hopped aboard and when we arrive in Little Italy we started off and I asked the driver what time about would the next tour vehicle came by and he stated this was the last one of the day (it was now 5:00 p.m.).......holy shit, we hopped back aboard.  Rather than walk  a mile or so we ended up taking the whole tour once more and getting in the Jeep a hour later driving to Little Italy for dinner, man were we both glad I asked the question!  The meal was great, the wine was good and the joint was Italian all the way............loved it!  Not sure if we'll park at the wharf again today and take the trolley to China town or just drive there, parking is a bitch but the experience is always worth the trouble and cheaper than another $28 bucks to park.  To tell you the truth between the Pacific coast of Oregon and now the Bay area I'm almost seafood'd out for a while, but we've had some very fine chowder in both places.
     Heading to FB now to post a few pic's of yesterdays excursion, check it out and I promise to be here tomorrow!