VACATION– STRANDED on the corner, in Winslow Arizona….

(this post is about Friday and Saturday,  April 1st and 2nd)

Well, the injector did come in, via Fed Ex… but not till 2:30 pm on Friday.  

We spent the morning driving around town, hitting a few rummage sales we found in a flyer at the Dairy Queen.   Notice … there are both “Food Sales”  and “Rummage Sales” listed.  You go to peoples houses, and they serve you food! 

They usually have up a sign saying something like Burritos or Tacos or Beans etc. with the prices next to each item.  They sell you cooked food on paper plates!   I think it’s a way to get cash for the food stamps they are given each month, as each home that had a “Food Sale” was rather decrepit and shabby.  

Needless to say, we didn’t buy any food!

We got back to the Hi Chaparral shop by noon, and the Fed Ex truck didn’t show up till 2:30…argghhhh  The guys started tearing down our engine to get to the injector, but the boss suddenly had to leave to Phoenix.  They were part way into the work and ran into a snag…. so decided to wait till Saturday morning to be sure of their next step.  That was fine with us, because the day was already waning and we would just spend another night in the lot.   They offered us a hookup for electric or water, but we were fine as is.

We did another Dairy Queen Run… this time asking for a cupful of ice cream with no cone.  We had fresh strawberries, short cakes and whipped cream, we just needed the ice cream for a wonderful dessert!

Saturday morning dawned with a nice warm day, but boy oh boy these guys here got REALLY busy!  We had big semi trucks coming in all day---- 2 or 3 or 4 being worked on at a time, and the guys were scrambling!  Some would dash off in their fully equipped on the road service trucks, and other times parts stores were bringing items in to the shop.  It was a very busy place with lots of action going on.  Steve had brought in a box of doughnuts to the guys, who wolfed them down between gulps of coffee from their thermos bottles while they were working on more and more semi trucks.

About 10:30 a.m. Steve went in to inquire as to where we were in the line-up.  They were working as fast as they could, but many of the truckers coming in were independent haulers.  If they don’t get fixed on a Saturday, they have to sit till Monday.  Each minute they lose is money outta their pockets.  We understand.  So we said fine, putting us off until later afternoon would be good with us.  We went back and made lunch and did some projects. 

I spent the morning cranking socks and getting a few things caught up on in the motorhome.  By 11am, I took the Tracker  and hit a few shops downtown.  Didn’t find anything particularly interesting to buy, but I did wander into a little courtyard.  It was so cute…. 

 

 

I sat in there for a while before I noticed a little dachshund doggie sitting on bench across from me… watching me!   I went over and petting him, he was elderly and comfortably resting on the bench. 

There were a few folks in a nearby barbershop talking, so I think the dog belonged to them, as they glanced at me while I was petting the dog.  He had on a current rabies tag, but no name tag.  He accepted my pats on his head with grace, but I think he just wanted to doze in the little courtyard and not be bothered by “tourists”  … what a peaceful little guy!

 

 

I came back to the Hi Chaparral shop and found Steve chatting with another trucker.  We had seen him pull in, and noticed his adorable little wheaten colored Scottie dog named Mickey!  We invited them in to our rig for a visit.  He was a trucker who hauls slot machines for a company as an independant, the new ones outta Vegas and the old ones back to Vegas.   He and little Mickey enjoyed visiting with Duke and Ducky. 

 

He shared good places to see on our trip east, and we shared information on the good dental work we got in Mexico.  We passed on Doctor Roberto’s card to him and told him how easy it was to locate him and get some work done.   He, in turn, shared with us that this place we were at was THE BEST to go to in the entire area, and though they were taking up our time, they were worth it.  He always gets his work done here when he is in the area.    He has an interesting truck with a big portion of a camping RV section that he had made between the main cab and the hitch area.   His little dog rides along wherever he goes, and lives full time on the road in the rig.   His truck was done, so we waved a “see ya soon”  to him.  His rig is so distinctive, that if we ever see him on the road again, we will give him a hearty blast of the air horn!

 

Now, we thought we would be next in line to get our motorhome finished…. but …. but…. a single gal trucker was having some work done to her dark purple rig.  She was really raising some cain in the office and being very demanding and plain ole “b*tchy* to each and every one there.   Steve went in to see what was going on and how we were lining up as it was almost 4pm.  The owner of the place seemed to be having some medical issues and was gulping pills from 2 different bottles and not looking too good.  The gal was giving them so much grief, and the boss assigned the guy who was destined to help us on OUR engine, to go over to HER rig to double up with the guy trying to do some difficult maneuver on her dreaded Mercedes engine her truck.  He apologized to us and asked if we wanted to stay one more night, he would come in on Sunday with his best guy to work on our rig.  Amazing!   Most places would say: “Tough luck, come back Monday”   …. but since our rig is half torn down, we can’t go anywhere anyhow. 

We watched those guys working on her rig, well past closing time, and not finished till almost 7pm.  She flounced off with an attitude and I am sure they were glad to see her go!

 

Fellow RVer Roger said they are just keeping us here to get more doughnuts!  

 

We took a little ride after supper out to a county park south and east of town.  RVing buddy Airplane Roger told us about this spot.  On the way out there, the terrain changed from flat desert to big big glops of brown stones, that looked like big big dinosaurs pooped them out on the earth!  LOL

 

We found the park, and it was such a nice place.. I t had been made on a reservoir that had been dammed up with a pumping station for fire engines to get water from.  http://freecampsites.net/mchood-park/

 

It was a county facility and had a nice picnic area, and then a campgrounds that was FREE!!! 

 

We drove around on both sides of the reservoir, and saw some great scenery as the sun was going down.

 

The colors were amazing and I took another ten gazillion pictures!

 

Huge boulders rimmed part of the river, see how large they are compared to the picnic pavilion?

Yes…. campsites around this blocked up water into a little lake.. and all FREE!   We will add it to our maps of places to go that are free.   No hookups of electric or water on the sites, but that is fine with us.

 

Here is the awesome sunset we saw on the way back into town…   what a great ending to another day of “Stranded on the Corner, in Winslow Arizona!”

 

After getting back to the rig, we are contemplating another run over to Dairy Queen tonight.  Steve needs to replenish his stash of Dilly Bars in the freezer!   Shame on us!

 

about 15 miles travelled today in the Tracker

no miles travelled today in the motorhome