DuEtte’s Travels

We were all prepared to hit the road early on our way home, but we had a little hiccup instead. Our slide started to go cockeyed again 😢! Our tech had given us some tips yesterday so we were able to get the slide closed to drive and we found an error code on the controller. Then, we immediately called the service center and they said they wanted to see it again. 10 minutes after we got to the service center, we were on our way again. Luckily, a wire connection had come loose so it was an easy fix. And, now we know what to look for. Still learning! Anyway, we did hit the road. Now we are stopped in Yermo at Peggy Sue’s diner which is a Harvest Host site where you can stay over night for free. We are hopeful to be home sometime tomorrow…

Well, this was the big day this was the day our RV was scheduled to into the repair shop to fix ou slide fiasco. The estimate was a 6 hour job. We scoffed! We already had grocery bags packed for a week’s worth of waiting for our rig to be fixed. About 2 hours in, the mechanic came out with the parts our manufacturer expedited to the repair shop specifically for our rig, in essence, his words were, look at what the ?!:;/,?! happened to the parts they sent us - they are damaged! So, I naturally said, so should we book that hotel room after all? The mechanic turned to me and said ‘oh no, I didn’t say I was done yet!’ Then, thinking it may be an omen, the Las Vegas skies opened up and it began to snow! But, as a countermeasure, the body shop next door bought lunch for the service center. And, our new buds offered some to us. I was starving and said yes, but N stuck to her practices and skipped lunch again. So, feeling a little better, I felt vindicated when the the mechanic came out and sa...

Back to civilization and, at least some, Internet! We came back to Vegas today after a wonderful time in the Valley of Fire State Park. If you ever have an opportunity to travel through this park - take it! Many manageable vistas from the roads and just a magnificent setting. We spent most of our time hiking, reading, puzzling, and watching the Big Horn Sheep. One of our hikes was to a slot canyon. Not the most dramatic, but still cool! We also hiked to some petrified logs (not to be confused with a petrified forest), and some petroglyphs. If we’d had more time, supposedly there are dinosaur tracks in the park - next trip! We are anticipating our RV appointment tomorrow morning. We heard from the manufacturer that they expedited some back ordered parts to the service center for us, so we are hopeful that the repairs will be quick and effective - although not too quick because I haven’t seen a casino yet in our travels and I have a little burr in my bonnet…

We heard from our manufacturer in Canada today that they have sent our parts to the dealer in Vegas. So, it looks like we are full steam ahead for our appointment on the 14th. Yeah!  We’re now thinking we may just stay here in the Valley of Fire until Monday. It is so beautiful and you can’t beat the price at $35 a day for full hookups. We’ve seen Big Horn Sheep every day that we’ve been here!

We headed north to Valley of Fire State Park. This is Nevada’s first state park and it is a beauty! The campsites here are first come first served. We were lucky enough to get the last spot with full hookups. The Internet service is a little spotty and we have a few loud neighbors. But, it is nice enough that we may stay here a while…

Spent our second night at Lake Mead. After making Nan her Omelette Bowl winning breakfast outside on our induction cooktop, we went on an excursion to Hoover Dam. That’s been on Nan’s must see list for a while. It was very interesting.  We are moving on to somewhere, so don’t worry if you don’t hear anything from us…

So, another 3 days without Internet and we still survived. We left the LTV Rally on Friday. Stopped to pick up some more groceries and plumbing supplies because our connection at the campsites has a been very unwieldy. In any event, after shopping, we headed to our mini, post rally at Red Rock Canyon. Let me just say - beautiful!  Surprisingly dramatic vistas out in nature. We were ‘boondocking’ which just means no hookups. So, we made sure to fill up our fresh water tank and propane tank (first fillup!) and we emptied our gray and black tanks. There is a 13 mile scenic drive in the canyon that has many pull off spots to take in the gorgeous views. It is so heartwarming to see all of the snow in the mountains! We bonded with some of our mini rally neighbors over Rumikube and s’mores over the wood fire pit.  Then, today we moved on. First we had to find some Internet access so we could do research on our next stops. We decided to go to Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument...

Today was the last day of our Las Vegas rally, so low key.  We had a putt putt contest in the morning (J tied for 3rd, but apparently lost in the ‘play off’ 😞). Then, we had DuEtte washed for her next adventures, J then participated in the Paint ‘n Sip session (what?!?), followed by a group pizza night… Here is the evidence - don’t laugh too loudly… P.S. - WiFi until Sunday may be spotty…

Today was a day of continuation. We learned more and talked more to the other owners. There was a business meeting in the morning for this club - The SouthWestern Leisure Travel Vans (LTV) RoadRunners. This included a discussion about the election of officers (all the incumbents won), finances (not as complex as Trilogy’s), discussion about planned rallies (a.k.a. activities) and encouragement for ideas for additional rally sites, and a demo of the new website. So, in essence, very similar to one of our Board meetings. Then, this afternoon, we had a representative from LTV give us a talk about the state of the factory and how they are still experiencing shortages. Dealers still have a backlog of orders with some going out 3 or 4 years! We wrapped up the day with a group Movie Night where we watched the Long, Long Trailer - very apropos!