Free At Last

Meanwhile, back at my new home – the car lot – we are patiently waiting for my transmission coolant housing unit to show up. It was coming from Memphis, which was about six hours away. We found out that we needed a new one on Friday, but it did not show up until the following Wednesday. I spent two nights at the WoodSpring Suites. Sounds really classy but in reality the best thing I can say about it was that it was super clean. The second night, I was fortunate? to get the last room. They did not want to rent it to me because evidently a dog had chewed up the blinds. I decided that if they had a blanket, I could put it up over the window-what can I say - I was tired and cranky. I got up to the room and the bed needed to be made but Pedro, the front desk guy was up there quick as a flash and made up the bed and covered the window. Miko spent both nights curled up under the bed. I don't think she was into the whole living the high life in a motel.

The transmission coolant housing arrived around 11:00 am on Wednesday. I can't tell you how excited I was that I was finally going to leave the car lot and move on down the road. It took Mike, my personal mechanic a couple of hours to install the unit and he tripled checked everything to make sure that it was all good and then I was on the road. What joy!!!!

Ten miles down the road, I'm climbing a hill and I see that the engine is overheating almost to the red line again. I pulled off onto an off ramp(I'm an expert on what to do when an engine overheats now and I know what to do – pull over and call Joe). Joe sends Mike and another guy out to see what the problem is. Turns out, a hose had burst. What are the chances that all this stuff happens all at once – cracked radiator, broken housing unit and a burst hose? Mike replaces the hose and I'm again on my way.

Nasty little slit

I want to take another moment here and talk about how good Crain Buick/GMC in Springdale was to me. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't taken me in. There was Mike, the mechanic, who really put his heart into getting me fixed up – I know he felt my pain as each new thing went wrong. And then there was Matt, the Service Manager who did everything in his power to make my 10-day stay as comfortable as possible. Lastly, Joe – the Service Adviser – the one who worked so hard to make sure I did not lose it during this whole process. If there was something that needed to be done, Joe would magically make it happen. These three guys went way above and beyond the call of duty. There are good people in the world and I am so grateful that I ran into these guys.

Now, not being of the sissy sort, I am heading into the mountains of Arkansas. There is no need to baby my engine, no need to break in these parts gently. I am going to really put these new engine parts to the test. I am heading to Lake Fort Smith State Park which is only a measly hour's drive away. Nobody had mentioned to me that I have to go over a mountain and then even worse down a mountain to get to the park. The drive up the narrow twisty road wasn't too bad, it was the drive down into the valley that got to me. I practiced my mountain driving skills but my brakes still smelled a little bit burny by the time I got to the bottom.

Miko and I really needed to spend some decompression time after our ordeal and this was the perfect spot. We didn't talk to anybody for a couple of days, there was no online presence, total solitude. We hiked – actually a rather grueling hike up and down the hills, it was a little bit rough on this winter body of mine. We saw armadillos – weird little creatures who have no idea that anybody is anywhere near them. We also saw a snowy owl and several hawks. Mostly we just sat and eased on thru the days.

Waterfall for the day - Arkansas desperately needs water, it is very dry here

This little armadillo wouldn't even bother looking up at us

Lake Fort Smith #13 - you can sorta see the lake thru the trees

A most glorious Arkansas sunset

Don't Fence Me In

I've been on the road for almost a week now and haven't made a lot of progress, both in my travels and my blogging. What can I say – I've been busy. I'm making up for it with this blog. It is going to be super text heavy.

It was difficult getting out of town this winter. Let's start with the car crash in the beginning of January which totaled my beloved Mini Cooper. Of a lesser note, it also fractured a couple of bones in my hand, not bad enough that I needed a cast, but bad enough that I should wear a brace for the next few weeks. I'm thinking that I sure would not want to be a car owned by me – it seems every two years some major hurt happens to a car owned by me.

After running around furiously (I have a time table to follow – like get out of Minnesota before I freeze), I end up buying a Ford Focus – same car that caught on fire a couple of years ago, except this is a manual instead of an automatic. I have to get the tow bar and supplemental braking system installed so I can tow it behind the RV.

I left on a Saturday, which was important because there was a major snow storm predicted on Sunday and ended up in Osceola Iowa at Lakeside Casino where I always stay my first night on the road. This was of note because I think it was one of the few times that I stayed there and there wasn't a blizzard or high wind warnings out. I woke up to an extremely dense fog, got gas and headed out.

Past Kansas City, near a town in Missouri called Nevada (said Ne-vay-da) all of a sudden I notice the RV coolant indicator heating up. It is climbing higher and higher. Just as it reached the red zone and the 'Reduced Engine Performance' light came on, I pulled over and shut the engine off. Roads in Missouri are usually not built with much of a shoulder. Those semis going by were really rocking the RV. I turned the engine back on, it was a normal temperature and started off again. This time the temperature climbed much faster. Time to call Roadside Assistance. They had a couple of guys come out ( think guys that looked like they belonged in Duck Dynasty) and they put four gallons of coolant in. They could not see any leaks and thought the wind had just blown the coolant out. Sounded a little fishy, but what do I know?

Proceeded on down the road, into a torrential rain storm. Got a little lost and finally got to the park I was staying at and settled in for the night. Have I mentioned that Miko seems to have developed a new nervous trigger (besides her travel in the RV phobia) which is rain storms. Lovely, soothing rain on the roof sets her all a-tremble. The next morning, I looked at my coolant and it looked low so I put another two gallons in. At this point I figured I needed to get this looked at, but I'm in the middle of Nowhere, Missouri.

I get as far as Arkansas, engine is heating up again. I pull over into a hotel parking lot and start making phone calls. First I call RV places but they tell me that they can't work on it because it is an engine problem, they only work on RV stuff. I then call Ford dealers because I have a Ford engine. Nope, they can't work on it because I'm too big for their bays. I find a place called Truck Service of Arkansas and give them a call. Yes – they can work on it. Yay!!!! I pull in, get in line (they are first come, first serve). After about an hour, they tell me – Nope, we can't work on your rig – you are a gas engine, we only work on diesel engines. What am I supposed to do now?

I call and call and finally find a guy who takes pity on me. Bless his heart. Joe actually said when I told him my story, as an exclamation – 'Oh Good Gravy' How can you not like somebody like that? I end up at Crain's Buick/GMC dealer – nicest people ever. After they diagnosed the problem – cracked radiator - They dealt with my extended warranty people which helped a lot. The warranty paid for a couple of nights in a hotel, so Miko and I stayed at La Quinta. First room's sink would not drain, the second room's ceiling would drip when the guy upstairs took a shower.

Crain ordered a new radiator which took a day to get here and then when they opened the box, it turned out the radiator was all bent up. So they had to order another one. At this point the RV is up on blocks. I spent last night in the RV, behind the locked fence with the three rows of barb wire up on top. It actually wasn't too bad, I guess I felt pretty secure here. If I can't get out, I figure no nefarious creatures can get in. They think they will have the radiator replaced today, but I'm not so hopeful. We shall see.

Update: Radiator is in (YAY!!!), but they have found that something called a Transmission Coolant Housing unit that is cracked. They have ordered the part from Memphis but it will not be here before next Tuesday. So I guess I am living in the car lot until next Tuesday at the earliest. These guys at Crain though have been so wonderful to me. They have me hooked up to electricity, they have filled my tanks with water – they have given me a key to the gate – I cannot say enough about how great their customer service has been. Although I don't quite understand why they haven't ordered a name plate on my chair in the customer lounge – I mean I've been sitting in that chair for almost a week. :-)

My nightly view - can't see the barb wire, but it is there