A day of Fantasy......

7:55 am - Friday - March 15th - Indio, CA - 56º F, 30% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest.......clear blue skies today with a forecast high here in Indio, CA of 80º F.

Waking up Thursday I realized that all the tasks which stood between us in Arizona and our kids in SoCal were now complete.  We had been in Arizona since January 26th taking care of chores, repairs, doctor appointments, surgeries, recoveries, etc. Now, on March 14th we were free to merge on to I-10 and head for SoCal.  I slept as well as I have slept in quite a few weeks, and waking up to warm temperatures, and clear blue skies was such a tonic.

By the time we pulled the Newell out the bus bay on Wednesday and got situated it was late, so I suggested to Leo that we settle the bill in the morning since we were not planning to leave All Aboard America before 10 am.  No one wants to drive through Phoenix during rush hour......no one.  By 9 am Leo had the paperwork done and we went inside to pay the tab.  In all we had the drive axle brake pads replaced, a new spring kit, new drums, a new left axle seal and gasket, new bushings for both rear shocks, and finally tighten up the bolts on the torque rod above the differential housing.  Parts were about $750, and labor was just over $1,500 for a total just under $2,400.....a little painful, but very necessary.....functioning brakes do come in very handy from time to time.

We were pulling out of the All Aboard America parking lot just before 10 am, and merging onto I-10 by 10:15 am......it is just 342 miles to the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge.  Of course, you know I am not going to drive 342 miles in one day, right?  Minus a gun to my head I prefer to keep my daily mileage under 300.  Since I hadn't driven much in the prior 5 weeks we decided to knock out the bulk of the 342 miles on Thursday......268 miles to be exact.  That distance would get us to Indio, CA and just 88 miles from home.

In about 30 minutes we had escaped the gravitational pull of metro Phoenix and the big views returned.  We both kind of exhaled and smiled.......

 

.....I turned to TLE and said "Nice to be moving again, right?" to which she replied...."Yeah".  There is nothing which brings a smile to my face more quickly than seeing the road opening up in front of me.

By the time we reached the California border we were down to 1/4 tank of diesel.  We hadn't filled our tank since the Route 66 RV Park (Casino) just west of Albuquerque, NM back on January 25th, and had covered over 840 miles since then.  There is a Chevron station just shy of the California border on the Arizona side that we have 'paid the rent' at numerous times over the years before we reenter the 'People's Republic of California'.  Diesel is at least $1.20 higher per gallon in California than almost anywhere else in the USA.  California taxes the hell out of gasoline and diesel.  We ended up taking just over 135 gallons at $2.77/ gallon for a total just under $400, so Thursday ended up being a very expensive day for us.....  

.....within 5 minutes of departing the Chevron station we were crossing the Colorado River which forms the Arizona/California border and had the Newell back in California after an 11 month absence.

We stopped one more time at a Rest Area about 15 miles east of Indio to take a break, and then began our descent into the Coachella Valley.  The first fuel station we saw as we entered Indio had a price of $3.95/gallon for diesel (that's the cash price.....credit would have been $4.01/gallon).....see what I mean?  A $1.20/gallon difference would mean that 137 gallons of diesel we bought in Arizona would cost us $164 more in California....easy decision.  The way I have it figured, we will not need to 'pay the rent' again until we hit Nevada.

The bugs were out in force Thursday and you could see the evidence of the massacre on our windshield......

.....we pulled into the Fantasy Springs Casino RV parking area around 4 pm, and quickly found a place to park facing east (we don't like to have that afternoon sun beating in our windshield......much better to have it in the morning to warm up the salon quickly)....

.....there are close to 100 RV's in the dirt parking area adjacent to the Casino, and some appear to have been here for some time.  There is no time limit here, and no charge, so it is quite popular in the winter.

By 6:40 the sun had set, and we were spending our first night back in California in the Newell in 11 months......life is good.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Leaving Wittmann........

7:23 am - Thursday - March 14th - Mesa, AZ - 39º F, 67% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast......clear blue skies today with a forecast high in Mesa, AZ of 63º F, but we will not be here for that high.....we will be on our way to SoCal!  Roll our wheels in 3 hours!

I was up at 4:30 am Wednesday in advance of our desired 6 am departure time.....this is why I wanted to leave for All Aboard America on Tuesday so I would not have to get up at 4:30 am.  The wind blew all night, and the rain came and went right up until I turned the 6v92 over at 6 am.  We were moving within 10 minutes.  The one mile of dirt road was a muddy mess, but we made it to the pavement without getting stuck.  The key is DO NOT stop once you start moving.

Traffic for a weekday morning was relatively light and we arrived at All Aboard America just after 8 am......perfect.  Leo wanted us to be ready to move into the bus bay by 8:30 am so they could get an early start on the brakes.  We actually removed the VW from the trailer, dropped the trailer and had the Newell ensconced inside the bus bay by 8:25 am.....again, perfect!  

We had not eaten breakfast yet so TLE found a Starbucks a few blocks away where we each got a coffee and a pastry.  We spent the next 2.5 hours sitting outside (me in the shade) reading our books, and passing the time.  We knew at a very minimum they would need the entire day to get the scheduled work finished: reline the brakes shoes, either turn the existing drums, or replace them, plus install new bushings on the torque rod above the rear axle.    At worst the work might not be finished until Thursday, but we were hoping to be finished Wednesday.

Around noon we drove across town to meet our good friends Charles and Bobbie for lunch.  We haven't seen them since Acadia National Park back in September.  Originally we met at a local Thai restaurant, but they were, inexplicably, not open, so we drove a few blocks to their favorite Chinese restaurant arriving there by 1 pm.  We had a lovely lunch, and great conversation getting caught up on each others lives before bidding them adieu around 2:15 pm, and heading back across town to All Aboard America hoping for good news on the Newell.

We arrived there just before 3 pm to find they had installed new rear brake drums......

We have new rear brake drums!

.....the original drums had over 165,000 miles on them, and there was not enough left to "turn" them.  Additionally, one of the brake shoes was down to the rivets, and had scored the brake drum pretty badly. We were prepared for this eventuality, and we are really happy to have brand new rear drums, and brake shoes.  As it turned out the problem with the torque rod was not bad bushings.....the bolts affixing it to the frame were just loose, so Leo tightened them up and we were good to go!  The left axle seal was also replaced.  They had the dualies reinstalled by 4:15 pm, and we were able to move the coach out of the bus bay a little before 5 pm.  Since it was now in the middle of Phoenix rush hour we asked Leo if we could spend the night in their parking lot to which he immediately agreed.  In fact, he provided a 50 am hookup for us just outside the bus bay.....

She's a little muddy, but she'll clean up just fine

......after a long day it was time to close the curtains and relax for the evening.  We watched a couple of recorded programs, and then watched the current episode of 'Survivor'.  We were in bed by 10 pm looking forward to getting up with the sun once again!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.