Dec. 18th

Thursday. Up at 6 AM! Yawned. Back in the rack until 7 AM. Are we lazy or what. Had our usual kibble for breakfast, same old thing, but I love it. Packed up the trailer and headed down the road. Found a few caches along the way today.

The WX today is beautiful...so far. We headed east along I-40 until we got to Santa Rosa. There is a beautiful spring there called the Blue Hole that I would like to dive in someday. Not today. We got fuel in Santa Rosa and then left the freeway heading south on 84. It is good to be heading south again because I know we are closing in our goal. Yesterday and today we drove through vast regions of empty space. As far as the eye can see in every direction there is mostly nothing. Huge ranches and open range, high deserts, and vast grasslands with brown grass. Anybody that thinks that the world is filling up with people simply spends too much time in the city. This country is huge! There is a lot of space out there. We reached Ft Sumner and stopped to see the Billy the Kid Museum. We did not take the time to go in, but took pictures of some of the stuff that they have outside. Don't know why they want to glorify such a criminal. I guess its a history thing. They ought to glorify the sheriff that shot him but he is vilified. From Ft. Sumner we continued south on 84 and the going got rough. The wind was incredible. I had no way to measure it and have heard no reports but there were strong steady cross winds with gusts that I would estimate to be 50 mph. Some of the semi trucks were listing to the left as they approached us from the opposite direction. Our trailer was buffeted back and forth and I was very glad for the new hitch and sturdy sway bar. At one point, the dust got so thick that the visibility was reduced to about 200 feet. We braved the wind and finally rolled into Post, Texas about sundown. Its a little cow town. No Walmarts here, we are on our own. What to do. As we rolled into town I spied a Best Western Motel with a little Baptist Church next to it. We passed it up and rolled through town. Nothing likeable. We did a U'ie and headed back to the church. We almost pulled into their parking lot for the night but decided to scope out the neighborhood behind. There we found a nice cul-de-sac about 100 yards behind the Motel. We set up camp right next to some oil well pumps that are slowly pumping black gold. Turned on the computer and snagged wireless internet from the motel...thank you very much. Hopefully we will have a quiet night here with no policemen telling us to scat. We'll see.

Dec. 17th

Wednesday. It was a noisy night at Walmart in Flagstaff. Sometime during the night they decided to snowplow the whole parking lot and you could hear the plow making its way around the lot for several hours. Nevertheless, we slept pretty good and awoke to fresh snow falling. I was a little worried that the streets would be too slick to move, but a short watch of the local roads showed some brave souls out there navigating the streets. We decided to go for it.

12" of snow was forecast for Flagstaff so we wanted to get out of Dodge as fast as we could. Packed up. Headed out, taking it very easy though the city streets and back to Interstate 40 East.

Once on the freeway, we had to drive 45 mph for a while due to slick conditions but after about 30 miles, we were able to bump it back up to our 56. The semi trucks were crazy. They would roar past at 70 mph shaking our little rig as they zoomed by. I have never seen such overconfidence. One trucker was not too fortunate. We pasted a rig that had flipped over after hitting a patch of ice. They were offloading all his load to another rig and they had a crane there trying to get it back onto its wheels.

It snowed lightly for the first half of the day. We stayed on I-40 all day until we made it through Albuquerque NV. We pulled off the freeway at sundown in a little berg called Edgewood about 27 miles east of the big city. The gps POI file did not show anything favorable so we headed out of town to the south down a narrow road. Finding no place to park in that direction, we turned around and headed under the freeway to the north. Behold! To our delight there was a new Walmart supercenter that was not listed in the POI files. We pulled in and set up camp on the edge of the lot just at the sun was winking out in the west. Susie did some shopping and I tweaked the trailer. A security guard came over to tell us that we were welcome and said that they don't get many campers because this Walmart is pretty new. He said, "Its mighty quite here after 10 PM." We were glad to hear that.

I set up the Ipod inside running it on a small doc station powered by my 400 watt power inverter. We listened to Dr. J Vernon McGee, II Peter, while Susie worked on her scrapbook project. To conserve the trailer battery power, we use the coleman propane lamp for light some of the time and small LED type lights when the coleman is not needed. This was the first time I tried the inverter and was curious to see if it would drain the battery too much. It worked fine.

We slept good.

Free at Last

Its Tuesday afternoon and we are finally going to hit the road. The special part showed up at the dealership and the service person came out and informed me that the car was ready to go. I asked what the repair would have cost and she estimated 400 - 500 smackers. The bad part was a rather small electronic thing about the size of your thumb. Along with the repair I had them do a routine oil change and checkover. That ended up costing me $175 because of the unusual nature of the engine and their inflated prices. It takes 12 quarts, expensive filter, etc etc. Ouch. I have never seen an engine like this, you can't even check the transmission fluid, they don't want you to even touch it I guess. The whole engine is covered with a shroud so the only thing you can really see is the oil filler and the dip stick.

We pulled out of the construction site around 12:30 and headed south on Hwy 95 as fast as we could go. 56mph FYI. Although we could easily go 70, I determined that 56 is the top speed that I want to pull the trailer.

The rest of the day was un-eventful. We drove throught the high desert along 95 then headed east across the Colorado River on scenic route 68 then Kingman and on to Flagstaff, AZ. We drove till about 9:30 or so because we really wanted to get to Flagstaff.

Our delay in Vegas allowed the foul WX to catch up to us. It was snowing as we pulled into Flagstaff and there was about 2 feet on the ground already. The GPS led us to a "false Walmart." When we got there it was a "Sam's Club" instead. We consulted the gps again and found another Walmart in the POI files that was a few miles away and tried that one. Bingo! Free camping. We were very tired and after doing routine duties, we hit the sack.

Boring Adventure

We are having an adventure, albeit a somewhat boring one. It took us about 3 minutes to take in all the sights and sounds of the construction site. The surrounding scenery includes, Honda, Mitsubishi, Ford, Chevy, etc .... all with large shiny buildings and gleaming parking lots.

Susie worked on a scrap book project all day yesterday and is continuing the same task today. She is hunkered down in the trailer with the cat and all her clippings.

This morning we read a page from Spurgeons' Morning by Morning devotional. It is so good.

I am reading a book written by a Viet Nam vet, helicopter pilot. The book is titled "Lest we forget." I have read several books about that war and believe me, if you read some of the stuff those people went through, it makes any problems you may have pale by comparison.

My last book was "Reach for the Sky" by Douglas Bader, alias "Dogs Body". You may have seen his letters on a British Spitfire, "DB." He was the most famous ace in the RAF and his plane is often modeled or shown in pictures. You can tell it by the DB on the side in large letters. He rapidly advanced to "Wing Commander" and on a typical day would lead 60 planes into combat during the Battle for Britain. He developed new tactics that surprised the Germans and helped the Brits win the air war. The amazing thing about DB was the fact that he did all this with NO legs. He lost both legs in an airplane crash before the war but through shear grit and determination, he learned to walk using artificial legs without a cane and learned to fly again. His lack of legs actually gave him an advantage in battle because he could turn the plane sharper than anyone else without passing out from the G forces. One day he had a midair collision with an ME109 in France. His leg was caught under the crushed rudder pedal. No problem, he removed his leg and bailed out, saving his life.
Check out the book, its an amazing story.

Chapman Chrysler/Jeep

The people at Chapman in Henderson NV have been very nice. After some funny comments when we first rolled in to the service area they finally realized our situation and gave us service priority.

When we first rolled in coasting on dead stick, the service person came out and said, "You can't park there." "You will have to pull up to the service window and you will have to park the trailer over there." "There" was a small parking lot with typical slots for cars, all filled. No way could you maneuver a trailer in there even if a slot was available.

The coffee, donuts, and internet are all free.

Dec. 16th

Tuesday! Last night we camped out at a construction site across the street from the jeep dealership. This morning the sun was peeking through the window shades and we awoke to the sweet sounds of birds singing, and hugh "Gradall" lift trucks rumbling by our trailer. Seems we parked right in the middle of a loop in the construction driving path so all the various trucks and lifts rumble past on the left, loop around and head the other way on the right. Its great. Its 9 AM now and I am back at the jeep place enjoying their wireless internet and waiting for work on the repairs. The problem was some kind of sensor that monitors the drive shafts and the part was not in stock and had to be ordered from california.

HEY! The service person just walked by and informed me that the part arrived this morning and they are working on the car now. Maybe we will hit the road again soon. I sure hope they fixed the right thing. I guess we will find out. If not it may be another short trip.

Yesterday the saleman started to make me an offer for a trade in. I told him it would have to be a killer of a deal because we like this new jeep. He went out an looked it over and came back wagging his head. He said, "To trade in, you would have to take a big hit in the wallet, because that is the way dealers work. Your jeep is really nice, we really don't have anything like it available."

God did bless us with a nice deal on it. It has every imaginable extra, stuff I never thought of and it has the turbo diesel engine made by Mercedes Benz.

Dec 15th. - More Troubles

Up real early. Gave the kids a hug as they each headed off to school. Gave Josh a big hug as he headed off to work. No work for ME:) Sent a text mail to Lynnel to bid her bye.

Hooked up the rig and headed down the road. This time we made it about 5 miles. Can't believe my new jeep just QUIT. We were stunned. We sat in dis-believe for a long time staring at the road and then at each other. Said a few prayers.

After a 10 minute wait, it started again and we drove a few miles heading for the nearest Jeep dealer. It quit again after about a mile. This sounds very familiar. Waited again, drove again, same thing. Warning light says to service the 4w Drive. We place a call to Jeep to arrange towing because traffic ahead is dense and we are approaching a construction zone. If we try to drive through the zone and stall it will be real bad....major traffic jamb. The tow people have a long and frustrating menu system and a long wait but we finally get a live person, a least I think she was live, I forgot to ask. She start to arrange a tow, but after several calls back from her, she is having a lot of trouble finding anyone willing to tow a trailer AND a car. We wait. Several police drive by and ignore us, but that's OK. Better for them to chase bad guys. Finally a policeman comes up behind and turns on his lights, but then I noticed he was pulling someone over right behind us.

I decided to go for it. After a 20 minute cool down, I cranked the engine being careful to time it with the red light ahead and breaks in the traffic behind. The engine caught and off we went through the construction zone. Susie was praying for the light, the traffic and progress through the zone. We made it through and all the way to the next turn. Zap, it shuts off again but now the road is wide and there is a full extra wide parking lane, plenty of room. That is a big relief from all the traffic on the narrow road we were on.

The GPS says its only ONE more mile to the dealer. Wait, crank, zoom, stop, wait, crank, zoom, at last the dealership is in sight. The motor stops, but its down hill and there is no traffic. We coast again. Boy this is familiar. Barely rolling, we pull up to the sevice lane on a dead stick blocking the lane with our Jeep and trailer.

After a short chat with the service person, she tells me to move the Jeep over there and unhitch the trailer anywhere I can. I told her, "Sorry, we are not going anywhere until you fix this thing." She says, "OK, will just part the trailer somewhere and we will pull it into the service bay and check it out." "Can you help me push it?" I reply. Suddenly the light dawns and she begins to really listen. After a 15 minute wait, I drove the jeep across the street to a construction site where I asked permission to park in their lot. It is a busy work zone with large trucks and construction workers scurrying about, but they said it was OK. Unhooked and set up.

Susie is working on the scrapbook again. I got the car into service and began typing this long blog and listening to Rush Limbaugh on the wireless internet. Its 2:00 PM and the service person just informed me that they found the trouble. A crank shaft sensor. They don't have the part in stock and they cannot really identify it properly without pulling off, thus disabling the Jeep completely. It may be a day or two before we are on the road again. Hey! We are on vacation, right.? Jesus knows. Looking at the WX in the courtesy TV, maybe this is the best place to be. Maybe we will see Josh again sooner than we though.

Dec. 14th

Sunday. We got up early and made our way to Mc Donalds where Susie and I met with Lynnel to see how she is doing and spend some time with her. That went OK but no progress was made with her situation.

Off to church at the hugh Central Christian church. You can check it out at centralchristian.com.
They have every imaginable technical gimmick in use, three screens, loud band, visitor center, teen service in another chapel, etc etc. It was enjoyable but I'm not so sure I would want to go there on a regular basis. The pastor did give the gospel but I did not think it was made very plain. His message was on "The Christmas Conspiracy," how God was plotting to save the world.

In the afternoon, we all took the jeep to a geocache on the edge of the desert wilderness to check out the length of a giant keychain that is growing in length. Each time a geocacher visits the site, you are suppose to add something to the chain. We added a few thing and took some pictures. It was our second visit to this cache. Click this link to see the cache page.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a97bb925-4250-4fad-98fb-53aecc024162

Upon returning, we had supper at a big buffet that is about a mile or so from Josh's house then went home to watch a movie. We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth.

WX radio warns that heavy rains are coming to Vegas...we'll see. Still looks nice out.
Back in the sack.

Gambling is everywhere in Vegas. It is supposed to be lots of fun here but you rarely see a smile on anyone's face as they sit in front of their slot machines. I think there are lots of better ways to have fun.

Dec. 12th

Friday. Up early and hit the road. We are heading down 95 S from Twin Falls, ID and into some remote and bleak terrain. The day is perfect. After some morning clouds burned off, it was clear all day and not too cold. We made pretty good time and stopped along the way to find 4 or 5 geocaches. One POI (Point of Interest) was a rest stop that was featuring a pony express rest stop. There was a nice history of the pony express and some images of tough riders on their horses. Out in the middle of nowhere of course.

We arrived at Josh and Lynnel's house around 8:00 PM. Vegas traffic is awful and we were driving through during one of the calmer times.

Lots of hugs for the kids, Tyler and Katrina, and also for Josh. Lynnel is nowhere in sight.
Every one is sad, but glad to see us.

Dec. 11th

Its Thursday and we are on the road again. The turbo diesel engine is awesome. Pulls that trailer with lots of muscle to spare. We tune in the Ipod and start listening to the unabridged version of "Jungle Book". The various movies by that name do not resemble the book very well. Audio books work very nicely on the Ipod and I have a free converter that converts the .mp3 files that are so common to the handier .m4A type audio book format. When in this format, the ipod remembers where it left off in the book, very handy. I converted the 5 year Thru the Bible series to this format and you can download it with permission at www.drjvernonmcgee.com

The day went well. We scurried along, finding a few geocaches along the way and arrived at Susie's mother's house about 7:30 PM. Missed dinner, but we had already grabbed a snack at Costco before heading to her house. We visited with her for a short while and then headed over to Susie's sister's house to visit with Kathy and Jim and spend the night. The temperature took another sharp drop and it was windy and the neighborhood was noisy, but we slept well. The WX radio said the big storm would hit around 4 PM on Friday and we planned to scoot south to miss it....but we would have to go through some high desert terrain to do so.

The Cat is fine. She had one panic attack on the first night when we first camped at Walmart on monday. She thought she was home and wanted out of the trailer so when I opened the door she bolted out in a mad dash. Sudden she realized she was in an alien zone and dove for the cover of the car. When Holly is outside it is almost impossible to catch her. Shoot, you can hardly touch here anyway. She is just one of those mean, untouchable cats. Well, she was so scared, that when she saw me set the pet carrier down by the car, she came right over and humbly scooted right in. She has been a different kitty ever since. All the pride and snootyness is gone and she quitely sits in the cozy trailer and refuses to go near the door. During the day she rides in the pet carrier and behaves nicely.

New Rig

I decided to talk to the salesman to see what they could do. He showed me the only two rigs that he had that were already tricked out for towing. The first one was a real dud, but the second was very impressive. It is a 2007 Grand Cherokee with 3 liter turbo diesel engine. I decided to do some horse trading and buy it. Its hard to trade horses when they have you over a barrel, believe me. It took all day, but by the end of the day, I had transferred all our gear to the new rig and was heading back to Walmart.

4:00 PM. Upon arriving at Walmart, I noticed that the new car has the hitch mounted about 10 inches higher than the old Jeep. Big Problem!! When you hook up the trailer it jacks the front end way up, too far for safe towing. Gotta do something.

Walking over the to RV dealer that I noticed earlier, I talked to the service guy there and he dug through his supply of new and used hitches. Finally found a very nice drop down hitch that looked like it would work, so I had him rig it up with a sway control ball and a new hitch ball. All this cost an unexpected $408.00....ouch.

Back to Walmart. Hooked up the hitch with the load levelers and the swaybar from my old hitch and it all looked very good. By now its getting dark and getting very cold. The WX radio is still blaring threats of snowy gloom and doom. So we again, bed down for the night. I managed to find a wireless internet connection floating in the parking lot and shot off a couple of emails.

Thursday Morning we got up and got ready to head out. I walked over to Walmart and went to the customer service counter and thanked them for letting us camp out in their parking lot and mentioned that we bought plenty of stuff while there.

ZZZZZzzzzzz.

Dec. 10th

Its Wednesday. We should be in Idaho, but here we sit at Walmart with our hopper busted.

The engine being dead cold and having hot wired the cooling fan, we decided to give it a try. We cranked up and headed down the main drag. After only 1 mile, the radiator was boiling and at that point I was sure that we had blown a head gasket and maybe more. Short trip.

Back to Walmart at 8:30 AM. Unhooked the camper and got ready for some major trouble.

Susie settled into the camper with the heater on nice and cozy. The WX radio said a serious snow storm was heading our way and that if we were smart we would get out of town. She is going to work on a scrap book all day while I take care of the car.

What to do. I drove the jeep down to the dealership and pulled into service as the radiator started to do its thing again. I played my Frogger Gameboy game while I awaited the verdict that I already new. After 1/2 hour the service man returned wagging his head and showed me the bad test report. As I suspected, a blown head gasket with some possible transmission damage from the overheating. $2500 to $4000 estimate with a possible Walmart stay of at least a week as we wait for the repairs to be accomplished and a snow storm is on the way.

Hmmm.

Problems begin

We drove with no problems to The Dalles where we arrived at our favorite mom and pop breakfast place in time for a yummy breakfast. After breakfast we headed on to Pendleton and managed to find two geocaches along the way. If you don't know what that means, check out http://www.geocaching.com for info. We are pretty heavy into it.

We started up the steep grade past Pendleton and into the Blue mountainsl. All seems well.
Then it began. When we arrived at the Summit sign, marking the top point of the Blues, Susie noticed that the heater stopped working. I checked my temp guage and was shocked to see that it was pegged in the hot line. I shuttered.

Raising the hood, I was greeted with steam and water spraying out of the overflow. We sat for 15 minutes to cool off, got some water from the trailer and filled the radiator. Cranked up and drove about 1 mile and it immediately overheated again. I started thinking as the engine cooled for another try, "its either a bad water pump, a bad fan, or a blown head gasket. My heart told me that it was the head gasket....big repair."

We filled and drove again, noting that the fan was indeed bad, but we made it only 2 miles and repeated the steam scene. I figured that if we could only get to La Grande, 18 miles away, we could get some help. Its mostly down hill, so we cranked the engine, started coasting and shut it off coasting on dead stick. A risky business but we were desperate and desperate people do desperate things.

We coasted all the way to La Grande starting the engine only on short uphill legs. When we wheeled into town, we spied a Walmart. Ahah!!! Free camping. After spending 2 hours traveling only 18 miles, we were tired so we set up camp in their parking lot and looked around for help. To our surprise, we were 6 blocks from the jeep dealer and 1/2 block from an RV dealer. Be had some supper, did some shopping, hot wired the fan, in hope, and then bedded down for the night.