RV Adventures…

After being released by the Tucson VA doctors, it was time to head north to get away from the heat that was heading to Tucson. I had thought of stopping in Yuma for a couple weeks but shelved that idea when it had gotten up to 100 F daily there when it was time to leave Tucson. So…I changed my plans and headed up to Pahrump, where it was just in the 80’s.

On the road again…

Goodbye Tucson.

And an hour after starting out, took the Phoenix bypass that takes me far west to Gila Junction, where I fueled up and then on to Quartzsite…bypassing the entire Phoenix metropolitan area. Which is a good thing. Ms. Kitty came out to object to the entire driving thing after we drove for 3 hours. Ears back, scowly face. Repeated meows of anger. She finally realized it wasn’t going to change and went back to her hide-y place.

Passed right through Quartzsite this time, didn’t even stop for a Silly Al’s Pizza like I normally do. And soon passed through Parker, AZ and across the Colorado River. Didn’t stop there either. It’s at least an 8 hour drive straight through from Tucson to Pahrump, arrival estimated to be 5 PM to 5:30 so I didn’t stop at places like I normally do. Normally, I’ll split the trip into two 4 hour days.

And here I’m bypassing Parker and crossing the bridge heading west to California.

And after crossing over from Parker to the California side, eventually turn right at the California fruit inspection station and head due north, end up back in Las Vegas, and bypass most of Vegas by getting on the Blue Diamond Highway which travels E-W and is situated south of Vegas. That highway takes me directly to Pahrump. I mention that because while on the Blue Diamond, a traffic light changed too soon as I wasn’t paying attention and I have to stomp on the brakes. And they are so hard to press, I’m nearly standing up pulling on the top of the steering wheel like a madman. Okay, then, what John told me about there being a problem with the brakes is definitely true so I’ll go ahead and for sure stop in Winnemucca for repairs at the same shop I’d stopped at last December when my fuel/water filter went bad. I was already planning on stopping there to have my tranni filters and fluid changed as recommended by Blackstone Labs (because last year when I had an oil change, the tech poured a quart of engine oil into the tranni fill tube. Dummy. So they had to drain it, flush it with ATF, then refill it with more standard ATF. All for free). I had had the oil tested when it happened and Blackstone thought it best to change the two internal filters, and the oil…so I bought the filters and the newer type of Transynd Synthetic oil. Stuff is suppose to be great for Alison transmissions. Bringing a host of advantages to a tranni including cooler operation, smoother operation, and longer life. So, I could have just not done it, but, hell, why not do it now, maybe get longer life from the tranni?

Once I got to Pahrump, got parked and settled in, and began enjoying the cooler weather. Didn’t really do much, sorta stayed home mostly. Called the shop up in Winnemucca and got an appointment.

And then, one day, after I’d been there for around 12 days, my heat pump just stopped blowing cold air. What the what? So I messed around with it and found that the condenser fan was frozen. No more spinney spin. Looked it up on the internet and found it is a $500 fan motor these days as it’s kinda custom as it’s 875 RPM and off the shelf motors like it are 1400 RPM. I spent a little too much time with the power on under the RV trying to get it to spin and eventually, the circuit breaker popped. Not a good sign. Likely means that the compressor failed. So I stopped messing with it. I wanted to make the appointment in Winnemucca so decided not to work on the heat pump (which is a chore pulling out of the basement compartment as it weighs 275 pounds) as it would be doubtful I could fix it in time before leaving Pahrump.

So, a couple days later, I left and headed north again. On the lonely road to Winnemucca.

Passed through Beatty & Goldfield on the way. Trying to keep a schedule this trip so didn’t stop.

Still some snow in mid May.

And I made it safe and sound after another 7 hours of driving. Here I am at the nearly empty Model T RV Park & Casino. Actually there were some people there, this middle row in the picture was undergoing renovations so no RVs allowed.

Lucky for me it was semi-cool. So I really didn’t need AC all that much but would have liked to have had it. In the high 70’s most of the 5 days I stayed here in town. And in the low 50’s at night.

Went over for fish and chips dinner which wasn’t very good. Actually better the next day when I reheated it in the MW. Just seemed to taste better after resting overnight.

I did do some driving around town but there’s not much there other then casinos. I was a bit worried about my RV and the cost of the brake job and the heat pump work so I didn’t go a lot of places. Mostly did internet searches of the problems to try to find ways of getting things done less expensively. Shops can screw you pretty easily if you don’t have some knowledge of the problem, parts prices, and the like.

And off in the distance from the RV park it’s rather dry looking. Not much snow either but I didn’t know how much the month had started with. Most of the west has been in a 10 year drought and this area is probably no exception. But the winter of ’22-’23 did much to alleviate the drought.

Nice views. Area has lots of ground water and a river so there are lots of surrounding farms and ranches.

One thing about the Model T RV park is that it’s the most economical park in the entire town that I’ve been able to find. Only $27/night where as the others all run in the $40’s. But that may change soon as they pay for the much needed upgrades to the RV park.

So that gets me to Winnemucca in mid-May. I pick it up in the shop and the story of the work there when I post next time.

Thanks for reading!