The Good News or The Bad News????

First we can start with all the good stuff, okay????

Today marks 2 weeks since we have been on the road.  It's been a crazy adventure, for sure.


We had a delightful visit with with Merikay and Craig.  When the weather cleared some, we took a drive around the area and looked at the park and the dam and all that other fun stuff....  It was cool, but at least the sun was shining.  Some of the snow was melting.  Not all.

I worked on a meal of chicken alfredo lasagna and also traditional lasagna for supper. Merikay baked up a loaf of basil bread! I set my festive table with my southwestern dishes and pretty tablecloth from Mexico (remember those Goofy Mary?)  It was another great night of conversation, RVing stories, and fun things to see down the road.

The dogs kinda hung out under the front dash in their little doggie hideout area,

and when company went home, they came out to claim their space on the loveseat!

They are really adjusting well to this RV lifestyle.

We woke up to sunshine and warming and melting all that danged snow.  My lawn chair was finally dry enough to sit in!  Sitting and soaking it was very pleasant... ahhhhhhh

Merikay and Craig were busy getting loaded up and hooked up and ready to roll.  They wanted to reach Tucson, AZ before the end of the day, so getting on the road by 10 am was their schedule.

Heartfelt hugs and "See Ya Laters" we called out as they rolled on west....

Now it was time for Steveio to get to work!  He got down and dirty to figure out the busted brake line, and take measurements and get a good idea of what parts he would need to fabricate a new line. 

With all of his notes in hand, we trooped on into town.  He dropped me at Walmart for a grocery stock up session, while he hit the autoparts store with his list of items.  Sadly. they didn't have what he needed!  

Now here it where it turns into the GOOD NEWS!!!

The guy standing in line behind him says: "Hey, I own a truck repair shop down the highway and I can custom make that brake line for you, just bring the old one on over and we can set you up!"  Wowzer!!!! After some discussion, he said it would be better if we could drive the rig right over to his shop, and he can examine it first before fabricating the new line. He even offered to let us stay in his lot overnight if we got over there too late in the day to get started on the job!

Amazing!

What are the odds that Steve would be standing next to one of the only truck repair places in 50 miles around who can custom make brake lines and has all the lines, fittings and tools to bend them!

We rushed back to the campground and Steve donned his overalls.  (yes, he takes them along on the road just in case!)   He was able to temporarily patch in a piece of line with some compression fittings to get us limped down the highway 25 miles to the truck place.  We also have our Pac Brake engine exhaust brake to help stop us, but best to patch this line in the meantime and we have brakes enough to get down there.  So here is my Mr. FixIt Guy laying on an old Thanksgiving table cloth as he works on patching the line.

He was done and out and bled the lines while I pumped from inside. Everything held and we were good to go.


And this is where we hit the BAD NEWS!!!  

Are you sure you want to keep reading this?  I am typing it out in words to be cathartic and still sniffling and weeping as I type.  Bear with me....

We always do our hookup job on the Tracker to tow behind the motorhome on a towbar setup. Steve has 4 jobs on the outside of the Tracker hooking it up, and I have four jobs on the inside ....  We never talk to anyone while doing it so we don't get distracted.

He does
1. bars,
2. locks,
3. safety cables and
4. wire harness hookups.

I do
1. key in ignition and move the wheel back and forth,
2. emergency brake off,
3. shifter in 2nd gear and
4. transaxle in NEUTRAL...

and I am SURE I had it in neutral!!!!!

Then we swap and he checks my stuff and I check his stuff....  perfect.
It has NEVER failed us before.   And he swears he checked it all was fine.

Well.... we drove out of the campground and up to the main gate. I always watch the Tracker in our backup camera and make sure the wheels turn the first few corners and watch for the steering wheel to return top dead center.  Fine. Good to Go.

We stopped at the main gate to obtain a credit slip from the gals that we can use at the next park.  We had already paid for the night at this one and since we were leaving to get the repairs done at 3 pm and didn't think we would be back.  So as we pulled up to the main gate, we heard a loud THUNK sound behind us. We were on a steep angle to park while I got out to go into the office. Hmmmmmm I told Steve I would walk around the Tracker before going into the building, all appeared fine. He said maybe it was just a rock.   I went in and came back out, and we were on our way.

UNTIL......  about one mile further, heading down the road towards the interstate we heard a horrible CHATTER CHATTER CHATTER.... and tugging on our back end .... oh no.....

(we just destroyed the engine in our Tracker!) 

Yes... I said that.

You heard me. 

We just 

DESTROYED 

THE 

ENGINE 

IN 

OUR 

TRACKER!!!!   

Evidently the transaxle jumped into 4 wheel drive gear or perhaps on the backwards angle we stopped at the main gate, it somehow got into gear.  And we destroyed it.  Trash.


I am sick over it.  I feel so bad.  It's my job to put that transaxle into N... and I have done it hundreds of times now.  And Steve double checked it.  But I still feel so bad.

(also Steve said it was my final stomp on the brake pedal as I drove the motorhome onto the leveling blocks the other day that blew the brake line!  He didn't mean it and was teasing, but I take things like that to heart!)


So I cried.  And cried.   Not sure what we are going  to do yet.  It's trashed.  It's only a $2,000 beater vehicle, but it was such a good little billy goat of a vehicle.  We have already invested in the expensive base plate for a Tracker so we might as well remove that and everything of our own inside of it.  Perhaps tomorrow Steve can place an ad on Craigslist and sell it to someone who wants to toss a new engine in it?   The title is up in our safe in Wisconsin, so we would have to mail that later.

He is looking on Craigslist right now for perhaps buying another one the same, so we can just swap the baseplate over and we can keep on towing.  Or we can travel without a toad vehicle and just see sights from the motorhome as we go along. It doesn't make sense to tow this one around a thousand miles and then back home another 1,500 miles.  Or does it?

You know, if we do get another Tracker, from now on I am going to double triple and quadruple check that transaxle shifter!!!!!

On a positive note, we arrived safe and sound at Harold's truck repair place.  Called Emergency Truck Repair right off the highway at Caballo Lake, NM.  It's comforting to see that he is working on all the local folks vehicles, the county ambulance, and even the Derry Arrey Fire and Rescue vehicle.  If the locals trust him with their things, we should be in for a good experience.

Harold came out and checked the line on our rig, and yes, he said that he can easily make that line.  Steve suggested that perhaps he should make up the other front brake line and also one of our rears.  We had already done one on a trip to Florida, so now we will be good to go if Harold can make them.   The only problem is Harold can't do the labor himself to install them, he hurt his shoulder really bad... Harold thinks he tore his rotator cuff.  His doc appt is tomorrow afternoon.  So he said to Steve: "If I make the parts in the morning, can you do your own labor??"   YESSSS !!!!  That will save us in labor costs, and Steve is more than adequate at handling the installation of the new lines.  We even have along a power bleeding tool device that runs off our air compressor. Whew.... that is a good thing!  Silver Lining, perhaps?

So tonight we are comfortably resting in the fenced in secure lot of the Emergency Truck Repair Service of Caballo Lake, NM.  I am still sniffing.  But it will get better.  I hope.

And I ate two big slices of Merikay's basil bread that she baked as my "comfort food" with our leftover lasagna tonight.  Even the dogs got to lick the plates clean!

Tomorrow will be a better day. 

It has to. 

Dreary Thursday - and a No-Camping Weekend coming up

Ahhh it's a cloudy Thursday here in Wisconsin and its gonna rain on and off all day, and even worse tomorrow with thunderstorms moving on in.   Might get some weaving done today when this little beetle bug Chelsea takes a nap.

So gloomy looking out there and grey skies.  It's a good thing we took a fun ride out in the Tracker last night!   It was sunny and nice and warm yesterday.  We popped little Chelsea in the back seat to deliver her to her mommy after work, and we stopped to bring the numbers to our insurance agent so the coverage would be completed.  He had previously covered us over the phone, but he needed the vehicle ID number to finish the paperwork.

Then we flipped the top all the way down and back behind the back seat and took off for the beach!   LOL... actually the breakwater harbor in Oconto.   It sure is a fun little toy, and the hair was whipping, the sunglasses on, and the music cranked on the stereo.  I think we are kids again?

(see the bits of rust on the below each door?  that is what we might get Lowell to work on) 

Speaking of kids------  

My cousin, John, drove his Harley up from Saukville to the U.P. of Michigan to visit Mom and Lowell.  He bought the Harley from them last spring and decided on a little road trip.  He is going to stop by here on his way home tomorrow... so we are going to hang around tomorrow for that.

Then Saturday, I have some cooking to do to prep for Heather's big wedding shower on Sunday.   We are making it a Fiesta Shower!  Taco bar and dips and chips and margaritas--- yummmm   Mom will be coming down too, and they will also bring down our towbar from my brother's house. 

Those happenings are what is taking up our weekend, so no camping AGAIN!     But by next weekend we are taking off for 2 weeks vacation.  Nothing planned, just wandering in the motorhome.  Will see where we end up.  We think going along western Wisconsin, up to Northern Minnesota, perhaps up into Canada.  Who knows?  If we find a nice place, we might just hole up for the whole two weeks and relax.

Tonight Steveio is going to work on installing the power windshield shade on the motorhome, so I will post some pics tomorrow when it's all done. 

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Two new RV toys--- Tracker Toad and powered windshield shade

Oh that Steveio is in heaven today....

He took a day off work as a vacation day, and it was well worth it.

We loaded up granddaughter, Wee Chelsea, into the car and headed out this morning.  First we drove west 95 miles to Wausau to King's Campers.  They had an extra powered windshield shade in their overstock inventory that someone didn't want, so we called them and said SAVE!   We saw the one Mel and Paula put in their Safari when they stopped here on Sunday, and they said there was ONE more there at King's Campers!  The price was right and it will be nice to have that instead of the crinkly wrinkly curtain to manually pull around the windshield each time we stop for the night.

We got that 8 foot long roller shade and put it in the Saturn, with half the back seat folded down and the shade all the way up between our seats.   We stretched our legs a bit walking around the sales lot, and Chelsea got to check out some motorhomes.   She wants her parents to buy one to go camping with us, she said so!   LOL   We like what we already have, so nothing was appealing to us.

Now for the next part of our journey.

We were picking up a 1995 Geo Tracker 4x4 to tow behind our motorhome.  In RV *slang* it's commonly called a TOAD.   Get it? a *towed* car?   yuck yuck guffaw!  These little Geo Trackers make great toads because they are lightweight, under 3,000 pounds and do not require a supplementary brake system.  This one had been towed by Wendy and Pat's parents, so it was all set up with the towing base plates and the required wiring for the brake and turn signal lights.  We already own a tow bar, that my brother was using.  So we will get that back before going on vacation in a few weeks.

So once we left Wausau, we drove north and west for 50 miles up to Antigo and checked out tires ahead of time, as we knew the Tracker needed some badly.   We had gone and test drove the Tracker last weekend and decided to buy it this week.

We compared and configured and went to Fleet Farm and Walmart.  Chelsea bug was smiling all the way and enjoying her day with us.  We grabbed a sub lunch in SubWay and Granfaddah fed the baby while I ordered  the subs.  He did a great job, and didn't get too much on her clothes and none on his!  The elderly Wal-mart Greeter on the other side of the window was watching him with glee on her face.   LOL

Now it was close to 1 pm, so we drove north another 25 miles to Pelican Lake to pick up the Tracker.  The seller, Wendy, and I, let Chelsea out on a blanket on the grass while Steveio and Pat conducted the final business.  This couple also found out they were going to be new grandparents soon, so Wendy was enjoying the baby-itis of the new visitor.  Business done, money and title exchanged and off we went again....   driving a bit slower as the tires showed some cracks and we wanted to make it the 25 miles back to Walmart without a problem.

We made it to Wal-mart for the new tires, without a blowout thank goodness!  We wandered the store for an hour while they did the tires, and also we had the oil changed, fluids all checked and new wiper blades installed.  Steve double-checked all their work, and the date codes on the tires were only 2 months old.  

Our little traveler Chelsea was swiped away by her Mommy!   Erin was driving through Antigo on business from Rhinelander and Eagle River, so she was driving past the store we were in.   She was happy to see her munchkin who had already put on 190 miles already since breakfast.   We handed her off and became childless.

The Tracker ran just fine Steve said, so now I got to drive it, (I think he wanted all the fun first!)  We headed on homeward bound.  Steve followed in the Saturn.  I cranked the Kenwood stereo to some good 70's tunes.  I had forgotten to take along a couple CD's to test out the player portion of the stereo, but the station selection in the northwoods was okay....

I thoroughly enjoyed my drive home in the cute little thing, it drove well, tracked straight and handled nice, even if it wasn't power steering.  It was snappy, spiffy and sporty.  Has a nice tight clutch, good shifting and lots of pep.

Whew.... 277 miles later, we pulled into the driveway!   What a whirlwind of a day====

And here it is, at home, ready to be hooked up to our motorhome! 

There is some rust on the lower edge of the doors, but the frame underneath is all good.  We might ask Lowell to do a bit of body work for us and then a paint job.  Thinking silver would match good with the motorhome?   The vinyl cover is good and no rips or tears, and the inside is in very nice condition.  

But of course, Steveio had to vacuumn out the grass from the lookey-loo folks 

who stopped to see it on the roadside at Wendy and Pat's cottage. 

He did a little of this and a little of that, while I cooked up supper. 

Soon he was done

and we flipped back the top portion of the sun roof....

I covered the back seat with a blanket, and we loaded up the doggers.

It was time to go for a ride for ice cream! 

They approved. 

and someone was really having some fun!!!

We saw three deer just down around the corner, and I managed to snap a pic of one

Here is a shot from our laps upwards, to see the sky out of the open sun roof... how fun! 

After stopping for ice cream, we cruised through the local campground.  We do that often, just to see who is camping or look at the rigs that pull in and out in the daily sites, or see the seasonals that are there too. 

I guess we all voted, this is gonna be a fun little vehicle! 

I suppose my next blog will be about installing the powered windshield shade....

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