Resting Easy in Spokane

At Willow Bay Campground, Nine Mile Falls, north of Spokane

I am happy to report that, for the moment, all of our significant RV troubles are fixed.

For the moment.

What troubles, you ask? First of all, our chassis batteries weren't holding a charge. Mark wasn't sure whether there was some electrical problem putting a drain on them or if they were simply old and needed to be replaced. Then, on our way back to Minnesota to have our leveling jack repaired, our generator started acting up, particularly when we attempted to run the AC. As a result, we decided not to run the AC on the generator, which meant no dry-camping, which meant we needed to overnight in an RV park on our way to South Dakota, an expense we hadn't planned on. On top of that, after leaving Minnesota, we began to have overheating problems. We'd been through that before on our first coach and saw the dollar signs beginning to pile up.

In a happy coincidence, Dale and Susan Prichard (some of our Alfa Roadrunner friends) were work-camping at a campground in Custer, SD--right in the neighborhood of where we were going, and Dale offered to help Mark with our Alfa ailments. So we booked a couple days at Custer Mountain Campground in hopes of figuring out the most economical way of solving our problems.

Our site at Custer Mountain Campground

You'll find these painted bison all over the place in South Dakota. 

 Getting over those "hills" to the campground took us a little while, because the overheating had gotten to the point where we were pulling off the road to cool down about every couple miles. We arrived late afternoon on Sunday, and settled in. Susan came by and invited us to join them and a group of friends for some yummy appetizers. It was as though a huge burden was lifted. Here we were among friends. We knew God had brought us there to be helped, refreshed, and encouraged. And we sure needed it!

Dale and Mark discussing the engine problems

Getting some advice on the awning problem (that I didn't talk about)

The next day, Dale and Mark got to work trouble-shooting the problems. They were able to get the generator back in working order and some of the problems with the radiator sorted out and fixed. And Dale's opinion about the batteries was that they were simply worn out and should be replaced. Tuesday morning we headed out to our original campground destination-- Hart Ranch, located a little south of Rapid City.

Hart Ranch - spacious and beautiful

Hart Ranch is a beautiful RPI park, well-kept and worthy to be called a "resort." It had a nice big heated pool and hot tub, good paved roads, level cement slabs, spacious sites, mowed grass, a store, a gas station, and even a golf course (if you care about golfing - we don't). As an RPI member, we can only get a week at a time there, but it is definitely on our "return" list.

We left Hart Ranch that Friday and stopped at Interstate Battery in Rapid City to buy new chassis batteries, and then we were on our way west to Spokane.

In no time at all, the engine started overheating again. We got on the phone and started looking for a Freightliner service center on our route, and found Floyd's Truck Center in Gillette, WY.  It was Friday afternoon, their closing time was 5:00, and they would be closed for the weekend. But after Mark explained his dilemma, they offered to stay open late if necessary to help us out. God bless them! We pulled in and they took care of us right away. The mechanic told us we had only about a quarter cooling capacity because the radiator was full of gunk. They cleaned it out and we were out of there by 5:30 and headed to a Walmart to spend the night.

In all, what we worried might cost us thousands of dollars, ended up costing only a few hundred. That, we can handle.

Our trip to Glacier National Park has been put on hold until next year. Mark is having increased vision problems in one eye because of a cataract, and we've decided to have his surgery done in California where we will be able to stay in campgrounds for longer than a week at a time (thanks to our Thousand Trails membership). We also scrapped our plans to volunteer at the "Balloon Festival" in Albuquerque for the same reason. Instead, we will arrive in California about a month earlier than originally planned so Mark can see again. This is important because I do not want to ever have to drive this beast of an RV. Silly, I know. But I is what I is.

This week we are in Willow Bay RV Park, about 20 miles north of Spokane on Long Lake. We're parked right on the beautiful lake. The view is amazing. The park, not so much. There's no phone service, no internet and no amenities of any kind. We were able to get a 50 amp site with water, but we have no sewer (again!), which we didn't count on and so didn't prepare for, and so came with  half-full waste water tanks. They not only have no sewer at the sites, but they have no dump station. Consequently, we've been radically conserving water usage. So far, so good.

View from the windows at Willow Bay

Lesson:  Always ask about sewer, not just power and water.  Eventually we hope to actually learn that lesson.

On Monday we move to Cheney where we stayed last year-- Ponderosa Falls Campground, which is also an RPI park.

Then I can catch up on my laundry.

Until next time, safe travels to all!