Some of these friendships are only a few months old, other friends Don has known for a life time…one as far back as fifth grade.
This being said, the Foster’s are on the road again, this time on an official Snow Bird Trip to warmer temps in the south. While we had talked about and more or less planned this trip, when the temperature at our house dropped like a rock to a minus 26 degrees about two weeks ago, we couldn’t get out fast enough. Yes, it was an extremely unusual thermometer reading and one I hope to not see again.
We are heading to Southern California, Arizona and Texas before heading back home in March. We expect to see a lot of old friends along the way.
When we pulled out of our driveway Friday morning, we were happy the snow had melted and we didn’t have any problems getting the motorhome out of the driveway and on the road safely.
All was going well for about the first 150 miles when we began to lose power in the motorhome going up hills. We were OK on the flat road and then came a big hill. I was wondering if I would have to get out and push as we crawled to the top. We rolled down the other side of the hill and into the tiny town of Dorris, California where we stopped on the side of the highway in the middle of town.
Let me tell you about Dorris. The highway zig zags through about four or five blocks and you are done. The end. No more Dorris.
There is a tiny market and a very dumpy Mexican restaurant that was just across the street from where we stopped. Houses were probably built in the 1930’s and not much more has been done to most of them since. I would guess the population might be about 200 when everybody is home.
You have now just seen most of Dorris,
California.
First Don called a tow truck…a very large
tow truck.
This is not really the view you want to see when
starting out on a two and a half month RV trip. It was decided that towing would
not work as there was an air pressure leak and lifting the front end of the
motorhome might result in dragging the back end.
Next was to call a couple repair guys out from
Klamath Falls for their expert opinion. By this time it was Friday afternoon
and so we were looking at the possibility of spending the entire week end in
Dorris. Oh, joy! We pulled into the large parking lot of the little Mexican
restaurant across the street and got off the highway.
To all of you non-RV’ers, let me explain working on
the engine of a motorhome. Some of it can be accessed from the back of the rig.
The rest of it is accessed from under the bed. So one guy worked from the back
and the other one in the bedroom. He braced up the bed and crawled halfway
underneath.
The views in Dorris were not great, but this one was IM-PRESS-IVE!!!
The views in Dorris were not great, but this one was IM-PRESS-IVE!!!
Don wonders about the quality of the repairs on our
engine as this guy must be a plumber!!!
As you might expect the problem was diagnosed but
there were no parts available. Finally on Saturday afternoon, Don located the
parts at a Cummings dealership in Medford, Oregon so we hopped in the car and
took off toward Medford, a three plus hour round trip.
Fortunately Cummings has an after hours/emergency
parts phone number where the parts guy came and met us when we arrived. He put
$100 + worth of small parts in a VERY small paper bag and we were headed back to
Dorris. The repair guys came back about 5:00 and got everything fixed. Then we
drove back up the big hill to make sure we were in fact good to go. All was
finished by about 7pm.
We decided to spend one more night in Dorris because
it is such a “lovely” place… oh, and we didn’t want to drive through the Mt.
Shasta area after dark.
Sunday morning arose with a bright blue and cold sky.
Off we went.
A way down the road we pulled into a familiar rest
stop where we used to occasionally stop when we were traveling from Southern
California to Oregon before we built our house. This time it was just for me to
make us lattes before going further. This motorhome rolls on it’s
stomach!
It wasn't much further along before we found
ourselves in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. Always an impressive sight, especially on
blue-sky days.
Later on, we crossed Shasta Lake. It is always
beautiful but this time it was at the lowest level we have ever seen.
About noon we arrived at the Rolling Hills Casino,
just south of Corning, CA. RV’ers love to park in casino parking lots because
there is lots and lots of room to maneuver and park. Like Walmarts, casinos
usually welcome RV’ers, they are just a lot easier to park in.
Tomorrow we will be driving to just outside of
Sacramento to see old friends there (and to park in another casino parking
lot).
