Hi all yโall,
The journey from Huachuca City AZ to Fresno CA was interesting and eventful, with both good and bad events, but nothing horrible. I left Mountain View RV Park at about 10:00am Saturday morning after sharing coffee and pleasantries with a few of the parks long-term residents. I took the photo of my RV and โtoadโ just before leaving. My motorcycleโs packed inside my toad (them toadโs will eat anything!).
The drive through Arizona was interesting and a few of my questions were answered regarding hot weather driving comfort in my work-in-progress rig with a non-functional AC system. Fortunately, I grew up in the pre-AC days and have endured several summertime cross country trips sans AC. However, Iโd heard numerous RV horror stories regarding the amount of heat generated by the in-cab engine box. Thankfully, though its 20 years old, my Holiday Rambler was a premium rig in its day and both the floor and engine box are very well insulated. Though it was in the upper 90โs and +100 going through Phoenix, I drank lots of water and drove through the day no worse for wear.
Before entering California I gassed up in Arizona where gas is still โcheapโ. When you have a 75 gallon tank and an engine that gets low mpg you keep an eye out for cheap fuel. My first bad event (which later became a good event) happened in California where I found the state rest area Iโd planned to stop at was closed. I was angry because Iโd researched the CDOT website just to avoid such an event, danged CDOT liars! I ended up parking in the corner of a truck stop at 8pm. The manager told me it was okay to park there and rest, however he never told the later manager of our conversation and I was awakened at 2am and nicely asked to leave. No problem, actually heading towards LA on I-10 very early Sunday morning was excellent. They did let me stay for a cup of coffee and some yummy biscuits and gravy and I was on my way on the nearly empty highway.
My next event was cresting the 4,183โ Tejon Pass and the dreaded โGrapevineโ. I drove I-10 west to highway 57 and then hopped north to I-210. I-210 was a pretty drive, not too hilly with pretty mountainous views on either side. I finally reached I-5 north and immediately was directed by highway signs to take the truck route. Whatthehell? For the next 6 miles I steadily climbed first to 1,000โ elevation, then 2,000โ elevation, onwards and upwards I crawled at a steady 35mph. Finally, it leveled out slightly but I still climbed at 45mph. When I reached Tejon Pass I found a rest area, actually itโs a brake check area. How odd is that, why should I worry about my brakes, I was just happy my engine was still running good. Anyone ever hear of the dreaded Grapevine? Thankfully, Iโm well aware of brake fade on long down grades and had swapped out my rigs 20 year DOT 3 brake fluid for DOT 5.1 severe duty, high temperature brake fluid (not to be confused with DOT 5 brake fluid). Between keeping the rig out of over-drive and staying in lower gears, with occasional brake applications, I made it through the Grapevine none the worse for wear.
My only real bad event occurred about 100 miles south of Fresno. Iโm cruising along at 60mph on cruise control and I begin losing power, whatthehell! I disengage the CC and pump the throttle and it temporarily regains power only to falter again, jeeez am I running out of gas, now what? It finally shuts down and I coast off the road. Ever try to stop something like this on a dead engine, brakesโฆ what brakes? Not only did the engine die but it barely cranked over, strange because before I left AZ Iโd installed a new group 65 750amp battery. Thatโs one helluva battery and according to my amp gauge itโd been charging steadily the entire trip. I sat for about 20 minutes checked a few things and decided to give the engine another try. Danged if it didnโt fire up and run great as if nothing had happened, I swear sometimes this rigโs like a little kid โGee, sorry about that Steve, Iโll be good now!โ I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and made it to The Big Fresno Fair RV Park with no further events. Anyhow, I have a month parked to learn what caused the temporary engine failure and correct it*.
The Big Fresno Fair RV Park is an interesting place, Iโm sitting with my 20 year old Holiday Rambler next to a beautiful late model diesel pusher rig probably worth at least $100K and across the way are a classic 1974 Foretravel rig and an old 5th wheel TT. On the other side of me is a guy โcampedโ in his Chevy sedan. However, heโs also a park maintenance guy and doubles as security. Only in California would basically a homeless guy living in his car also be park security. Anyhow, heโs a pleasant enough fellow and thatโs all I care about. I think tomorrow, after Iโve had a day of rest, Iโll be heading to Yosemite in my Caravan. Yosemite mid-week is probably as good as it gets from a crowds standpoint.
Steve
*see http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27692241.cfm
**I ended up visiting Kings Canyon and Sequoia NPโs this past week. They were simply beautiful parks!
The journey from Huachuca City AZ to Fresno CA was interesting and eventful, with both good and bad events, but nothing horrible. I left Mountain View RV Park at about 10:00am Saturday morning after sharing coffee and pleasantries with a few of the parks long-term residents. I took the photo of my RV and โtoadโ just before leaving. My motorcycleโs packed inside my toad (them toadโs will eat anything!).
The drive through Arizona was interesting and a few of my questions were answered regarding hot weather driving comfort in my work-in-progress rig with a non-functional AC system. Fortunately, I grew up in the pre-AC days and have endured several summertime cross country trips sans AC. However, Iโd heard numerous RV horror stories regarding the amount of heat generated by the in-cab engine box. Thankfully, though its 20 years old, my Holiday Rambler was a premium rig in its day and both the floor and engine box are very well insulated. Though it was in the upper 90โs and +100 going through Phoenix, I drank lots of water and drove through the day no worse for wear.
Before entering California I gassed up in Arizona where gas is still โcheapโ. When you have a 75 gallon tank and an engine that gets low mpg you keep an eye out for cheap fuel. My first bad event (which later became a good event) happened in California where I found the state rest area Iโd planned to stop at was closed. I was angry because Iโd researched the CDOT website just to avoid such an event, danged CDOT liars! I ended up parking in the corner of a truck stop at 8pm. The manager told me it was okay to park there and rest, however he never told the later manager of our conversation and I was awakened at 2am and nicely asked to leave. No problem, actually heading towards LA on I-10 very early Sunday morning was excellent. They did let me stay for a cup of coffee and some yummy biscuits and gravy and I was on my way on the nearly empty highway.
My next event was cresting the 4,183โ Tejon Pass and the dreaded โGrapevineโ. I drove I-10 west to highway 57 and then hopped north to I-210. I-210 was a pretty drive, not too hilly with pretty mountainous views on either side. I finally reached I-5 north and immediately was directed by highway signs to take the truck route. Whatthehell? For the next 6 miles I steadily climbed first to 1,000โ elevation, then 2,000โ elevation, onwards and upwards I crawled at a steady 35mph. Finally, it leveled out slightly but I still climbed at 45mph. When I reached Tejon Pass I found a rest area, actually itโs a brake check area. How odd is that, why should I worry about my brakes, I was just happy my engine was still running good. Anyone ever hear of the dreaded Grapevine? Thankfully, Iโm well aware of brake fade on long down grades and had swapped out my rigs 20 year DOT 3 brake fluid for DOT 5.1 severe duty, high temperature brake fluid (not to be confused with DOT 5 brake fluid). Between keeping the rig out of over-drive and staying in lower gears, with occasional brake applications, I made it through the Grapevine none the worse for wear.
My only real bad event occurred about 100 miles south of Fresno. Iโm cruising along at 60mph on cruise control and I begin losing power, whatthehell! I disengage the CC and pump the throttle and it temporarily regains power only to falter again, jeeez am I running out of gas, now what? It finally shuts down and I coast off the road. Ever try to stop something like this on a dead engine, brakesโฆ what brakes? Not only did the engine die but it barely cranked over, strange because before I left AZ Iโd installed a new group 65 750amp battery. Thatโs one helluva battery and according to my amp gauge itโd been charging steadily the entire trip. I sat for about 20 minutes checked a few things and decided to give the engine another try. Danged if it didnโt fire up and run great as if nothing had happened, I swear sometimes this rigโs like a little kid โGee, sorry about that Steve, Iโll be good now!โ I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and made it to The Big Fresno Fair RV Park with no further events. Anyhow, I have a month parked to learn what caused the temporary engine failure and correct it*.
The Big Fresno Fair RV Park is an interesting place, Iโm sitting with my 20 year old Holiday Rambler next to a beautiful late model diesel pusher rig probably worth at least $100K and across the way are a classic 1974 Foretravel rig and an old 5th wheel TT. On the other side of me is a guy โcampedโ in his Chevy sedan. However, heโs also a park maintenance guy and doubles as security. Only in California would basically a homeless guy living in his car also be park security. Anyhow, heโs a pleasant enough fellow and thatโs all I care about. I think tomorrow, after Iโve had a day of rest, Iโll be heading to Yosemite in my Caravan. Yosemite mid-week is probably as good as it gets from a crowds standpoint.
Steve
*see http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27692241.cfm
**I ended up visiting Kings Canyon and Sequoia NPโs this past week. They were simply beautiful parks!
