Wednesday, Sept.14th

As we are sitting in the Customer Lounge awaiting the work on our coach to get started, I decided I need to get an update written and sent out. We are back at Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, OR to get eight new shock absorbers installed and a broken shock mount of the front end repaired. We have been here since Sunday when we left South Jetty Thousand trails preserve in Florence.

We left the Monaco Western End of Summer Come Home Rally on Sept. 2nd with our close friends, the Clarksons. We drove to through Eugene to Florence and spent a wonderful relaxed week on the Oregon Coast. Between visiting the local Fred Meyer, Bi-Mart, and Grocery Outlet, we enjoyed the rest and relaxation. We shared several meals with the Clarksons and Andy and I attempted teach the girls how to win a game of Pegs’n’Jokers! We found a small microbrewery in Florence that has only a 7-barrel capacity, but a quaint tasting room located in a very industrial part of town. The owners, a local Dr. and a lady that is an entrepeneur, opened the brewery and make their beers on the doctors acreage south of town. They store their grain in the industrial building and decided to open a tasting room to help pay for the rent. The building is a basically a one-stall garage that has been outfitted with a few sofas, a couple of tables and chairs, and a make-shift bar with stools. It’s very basic, but gives a warm feeling when you enter the room. They have four taps and a refer for varied bottles of beer, wine coolers, and some soft drinks. There are salted peanuts to munch on, but no food served in the room. Patrons can bring a pizza, sandwiches, tacos, etc. in to eat and enjoy the brews on tap. We enjoyed their Happy Hour from 4-6pm and met some very interesting local folks. Florence is a fairly small town that caters to the inland folks that drive over for the Oregon sand dunes. There are several state parks that are designated off-road sand toy locations. While we were in South Jetty we saw many trucks or trailers with quads or other sand toys being carried to the dunes. The park is a pretty park with lots of trees and a row of 50-amp sites. We chose to park in one of those sites to get satellite and enjoy the luxury of 50-amp electrical service.

On Sunday, the 11th, Clarksons left to go south to Brookings and we departed to return to Eugene for the shock absorber work. Once we arrived at OMS, we found there was only one other coach parked in the parking lot. I picked a site that was near the back of the lot since we didn’t need to be close to the service bays for several days. We then headed for Walmart to do some stocking upon groceries and supplies. With the new refrigerator it’s easy to buy the thing we need and keep them on hand. We’ve been to the local Costco, Bi-Mart, and Walmart for our shopping. I also had a couple of items to pick up at NW RV Parts in south Eugene. Northwest RV Parts is a collection of outdated parts and supplies from the old Monaco and Country Coach days. If you need a part for a coach like ours (12 years old), it can probably be found at NW RV Parts. Joe, the owner, has purchased all of the Monaco parts inventory and is expanding to a new location in downtown Eugene. Walking through NW is like walking through a kid’s candy store. You can find so many items you would like, but may not need!

Bob Vinson has assured us he will get us into the shop and out as soon as possible, which probably means we’ll be on the road by tomorrow afternoon headed for Grants Pass. Our goal is to get down to Eureka where we’ll meet the Clarksons at the Elks Lodge, and be able to spend some time with cousin John & Ruth Anderson and their daughter, Tim & Rachael Mecham. There are several attractions in the Eureka area that I want to share with the Clarksons, so we’ll have a busy weekend!

I’m beginning to get anxious to get back to Santa Rosa for a visit and then on down to San Diego. It’s been a very interesting and enjoyable summer in Oregon, but I’m ready to get back to familiar territory for a while. The next Travelogue will most likely be from Sebastopol.

Tuesday, Sept. 27th

This has been a wild and wonderful two weeks! When we finally got the coach into the bay at OMC, the techs discovered that I had three broken shock absorbers! We were aware of the one on the front, but two more were discovered and had to be repaired. Actually, it wasn’t the shock mount that had broken - it was the bolt that holds the shock in the mountings. Three of the bolts had sheared and had to be drilled out. I had ordered a set of eight Bilstein shocks absorbers from shox.com, located in El Cajon. They were waiting for us when we returned to OMC. It took a bit longer than originally expected to get the bolts drilled out, ream out the new shock absorbers mounts, and get the installation completed. The guys at OMC worked extra hours to get us completed and ready to leave on Friday morning, the 16th. We were able prepare the coach on Friday morning, get the bill paid, and get on the road by 9AM. We drove to Grants Pass, refueled the coach, and decided to continue to Eureka. It became another 300+ mile day!

When we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Eureka, we were greeted by our friends, the Clarksons, who had arrived on Thursday afternoon. Those extra miles proved to worth the effort. None of us wanted to cook dinner that night after all that driving, so we decided to check out the Lost Coast Brewpub in downtown Eureka. We drove over to Tim & Rachel Mecham’s house on Saturday afternoon and joined Mechams and cousin John & Ruth Anderson for an afternoon of college football. I picked up some pizzas and we all cheered the Univ. of Nebraska to victory over Washington State. It was a great afternoon spent with some family members that I thoroughly enjoy!

Sunday morning we awoke and drove to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Eureka. It’s the site of an old lumber mill and the cookhouse still serves meals family-style with plenty of delicious food. We had five nights in Eureka and had the chance to visit the Eel River Brewing Co., the town of Fortuna and the now-defunct Pacific Lumber Company, and the adjoining towns of Rio Dell and Scotia (where Linda Clarkson grew up). We had a great time checking out the area and sharing some of our favorite spots with the Clarksons.

When we left Eureka, our destination was the Russian River Thousand Trails preserve in Cloverdale. It’s located only 45 miles north of Sebastopol and I was getting anxious to get back to see my Mother and sister. I was also aware of the three big packages I had waiting for us in Sebastopol. Those packages were a replacement Baby George rotisserie oven, a new laptop computer to use in the motor home to monitor the engine performance, and a special speaker box that can be used with an MP3 or sport radio. There were several mail packets also waiting for us.

On the way down from Eureka I noticed that the engine was registering an unusually low reading of the turbocharger pressure. Where I normally should be able to get 23-24”, I was only getting a max of 17”. Clarksons were following us and told me the exhaust was heavy black smoke and I could feel the loss of power on the hills or inclines. There were no errors displayed and no warning lights coming on. I knew something was wrong and needed to be checked out.

About this same time, my brother in Melbourne, FL had accepted a call from the First Presbyterian Church in Daytona Beach and was preparing to move there and have an official service declaring him the pastor of that congregation. Mother wanted to send his three siblings to Florida to share his celebration, so the girls decided to go. I declined to go as I needed to stay with Dottie and Mother while Peg was gone. Because of this we left Russian River after four nights and drove the coach down to Sebastopol on Friday. Peg left early Saturday morning and we stayed with Mother and to take care of Peg’s dogs. Andy & Linda drove down to Santa Rosa on Saturday and parked at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds.

We have had a wonderful time showing them the attractions (read that brewpubs) around the Santa Rosa area. We watched the Charger game at the Third Street Ale Works, we have toured the famous Korbel Winery, we plan to visit Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Dempsey’s in Petaluma, and tour the cheese factory between Petaluma and Bodega Bay. They haven’t decided when they will move on down toward Yuma, their winter home. We plan to stay here for a couple of weeks.

I received a phone call from the Bakersfield Cummins Coach Care Service facility about 5PM this afternoon. The Service Manager has assured me that he can get me into their schedule and diagnose the engine problem and get my power back where it should be. He also guaranteed me that I won’t have to take out a new loan to afford the repairs! That took a HUGE load off my back and gave me some relief. They have the facility to stay with the coach and have electric hook-ups for us full timers. I’ll give them a five-day notice that we’re leaving Sebastopol and heading their way. They will get us in and solve our power problem. What a relief! It may feel like a new coach when they complete the work!!

So, we’re enjoying the Northern California weather, the fun of being with family members, and the anticipation of getting back to San Diego for the winter. We’ve had a wonderful summer traveling and getting some major improvements done to “our house”. As we get closer to return to San Diego, we’ll be looking forward to seeing a lot of friends and church family!

Wednesday morning, Oct. 5th

Sadly, the Clarksons departed Santa Rosa last Friday morning and headed for Yuma. We sure had a great time driving them around this area and showing them the finer points of Santa Rosa.

Last Wednesday we drove down to Petaluma and visited the Lagunitas Brewing Co. It is a local microbrewery that is known for some outstanding beers. Their IPA is distributed around the country. In fact, they distribute their ales to 37 states! We arrived just in time to take their tour. Ryan, a big 6’4” guy, gave a very informational tour preceded by a visit to their private tasting room for some samples of their staple beers. He told us of the history of Lagunitas and some of the problems they encountered with Gov’t. intervention while they were an upstart brewery. Then we were able to go into their brewing plant and see some of the actual processes. We ended up the evening with a delicious sandwich in their Brew Garden. We left Lagunitas and returned to sister Peg’s house to engage a few more games of Pegs’n’Jokers and allow the women a chance to win a game or two.

On Thursday we managed to get out to the Marin Cheese Factory between Petaluma and Bodega Bay. We sampled the cheeses and enjoyed the quiet environment around the factory. We didn’t make it in time for the tour, but it was still a pleasant drive to get there. Then we returned to Petaluma and stopped at Dempsey’s for a couple of beers. Dempsey’s is a local pub that carries quite a collection of microbrews, some made right there on-site. We didn’t have our dinner there since I had plans to fix dinner at Peg’s. We had a great meal followed by another opportunity for the girls to win a game of Pegs’n’Jokers. Not! Andy and I are still holding the winning streak intact.

We hated to see the Clarksons leave, but I knew that the Sirens of Yuma calling to Linda and she wanted to get back there. Since their departure, it sure has been quiet around here! We’ve been getting a few chores accomplished and preparing for our appointment in Bakersfield on Monday morning. We’ll leave here on Sunday morning and drive to the Fresno Elks Lodge. We plan to see Jim and Kathy Bolen, who live in Fresno. Then we’ll get to Bakersfield on Monday morning and hope we can get the engine problem resolved. Without knowing the problem, we can’t make any firm arrival date for San Diego. We’ll hope it will only take a few days and we can be back on the road. We also hope to see Ed and Cindy Walsh, who will have just moved to Murrieta from Minneapolis. Ed works for Buffets, Inc. as their head of Security. It’s been over ten years since they left California! I’m sure they’re in for a shock at the growth of that area.

In the meantime we’ve been to River Rock Casino with Mother and sister Harriet. We went up there yesterday and had a great time playing the machines. The girls gambled; I sat in the bar, sipped a couple of beers , and played with my laptop. We all gobbled up the buffet luncheon and stuffed ourselves. When we returned home by 3PM, I cooked a chicken and rice casserole for dinner and allowed for lots of leftovers. The refrigerator is reaching the point where it may need to be re-stocked once we get back to Super Wallys - maybe in Bakersfield. It doesn’t seem possible that our stay in Sebastopol will be ending soon. We’re already planning for the return trip around Christmas. The weather has been rainy and miserable for the last few days, but today the sun is shining and will allow for some outside chores. Southern California is finally getting the rain we experienced this week. It’ll be wonderful to see the sun again!

Tuesday, Oct.11th

We are on the road again - sort of! We regrettably left Sebastopol on Sunday morning with an overcast sky and misty. The further we drove inland, we experienced the sun trying to break through the clouds. By the time we hit CA-99 we were in beautiful sunny weather. Our goal for the night was to get to the Fresno Elks Lodge. We finally arrived about 3:30, parked the coach, and phoned Jim & Kathy Bolen, folks who I had worked with on the SDPD over ten years ago. They now live in Fresno and love the move they made! Jim & Kathy drove over to the Elks Lodge and brought a bottle of local Chardonnay wine to share with us. We got caught up on our separate lives over the pasty ten years. We heard about Jim’s Harleys, his volunteering at a senior home, Kathy’s volunteering at a wild animal rescue center and how she nurses these wild birds and animal back to health before re-releasing them to the wild. Then we all went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a fantastic evening getting reacquainted and sharing some wonderful memories.

On Monday morning we were on the road by 8:30 headed for the Bakersfield Cummins Coach Care facility. When we arrived around 11:00am, they were waiting for us and immediately got a service tech to look at the coach. Our drive to Bakersfield was almost uneventful - fairly level terrain and almost 9 MPG! The first thing he checked was all the piping going to the charge air cooler. The CAC is a giant radiator that carries air from the turbo charger to the intake manifold. As the air is compressed by the turbo charger is heats up. The CAC cools the dense air back to near ambient temperature before it goes through the manifold into the combustion chamber. If that air doesn’t get the pressure it needs, the fuel doesn’t burn as clean as it should resulting in a loss of power. There’s a simplified lesson in diesel mechanics.

The tech found a large hose that is connected to the CAC that had worked loose. He reattached it and tightened the metal straps. Then he drove the coach around to the dynamometer to put a load on the engine. He could only get the turbo pressure up to about 19”, less than the prescribed 23-24” that should be showing. He did more testing and found two leaks on the sides of the CAC that were visible cracks in the metal. Now we knew the cause of the problem.

There are a few options to consider. First, and most expensive, is to order a new CAC from Monaco. It would have to built and shipped to Cummins. The cost of the new Monaco CAC is $3700! Another option is to send my CAC to a radiator shop in Los Angeles that will rebuild it and use an epoxy-like material to fill the cracks. That option was quickly discarded since the heat ranges on the CAC would probably crack open those repairs and I’d be right back to where I am now. A third option is to order a new CAC from the original manufacturer that supplied Monaco with their equipment. This company will only sell to established customers and Cummins is NOT one of them. We could go through Source Engineering in Eugene (owned by two former Monaco employees - I know both of them well!). We could get the CAC built in one day, have it delivered to Cummins Sacramento, and it would be shipped to Cummins Bakersfield the next day.

The fourth option is the one we decided to try. Cummins Bakersfield has a brand new CAC that was ordered a couple of years ago and it was the wrong part for the coach. They have had it in storage in the original packing crate and it’s designed for my ISC350 engine. The tech is removing my CAC and will compare it to the new one. If it’s adaptable, Cummins will sell it to me at a discounted price to get it out of their inventory - over half of the price of a new one from Monaco! So, we’re parked at Cummins in a not-so-great part of Bakersfield, but still enjoying finding out about this town that most people go THROUGH!

We drove through Bakersfield this afternoon and went to the Sam’s Club to get fuel for the car. We also scoped out Lengthwise Brewing Co., a local microbrewery and brewpub. We’ll be enjoying an afternoon and dinner there at least one night this week.

It’s really amazing that this Central Valley area of California is usually not a destination, but a “pass through” location. As we drove around Fresno and Bakersfield, I’m finding that there are some really nice locations that could easily become home. The neighborhood around Cummins is not a great place to be - we’ve been told to NOT walk or drive the streets after dark. The gang population is a real problem and they seem to live in this area of town. But the nicer areas of southwest Bakersfield are beautiful! We saw many subdivisions with manicured lawns, wide well-lit streets, and neighborhood services and shopping centers. I am looking forward to scouting out this area and seeing what some of the attractions might be. Jim Bolen gave me the phone number of retired SDPD Motor Officer Steve Smalley, who I also worked with. Steve drove over to Cummins today and we had a great reunion. We’ll have dinner with him tomorrow night and are looking forward to be able to spend some time with him. So, Bakersfield isn’t all bad! Plus we have our own bedroom and shower in the coach. We’re very comfortable is what could be a miserable situation!

Monday, Oct. 17th

We are back in San Diego at our comfortable old parking spot at Palisades Presbyterian Church. It’s good to be “home” again and back with our church family.

Last week we had decided to go with the fourth option on our leaking charge air cooler. Cummins West in Bakersfield had a brand new one, still in the shipping case, that Lisa, the Service Tech Supervisor, remembered. It had been ordered for a Country Coach with the Cummins ISC350 engine that we have. So, Darren, our Service Tech, began removing our CAC

from the coach on Tuesday morning. I had some instructions that had been emailed to me on how to remove the CAC without having to remove the complete radiator package. Darren got started on it and had it out of the coach by Tuesday afternoon. He put the old CAC next to the new one and they were almost identical! On Wednesday morning he started installing the new CAC and replacing a couple of radiator hoses that were covered with dirty oil. By Wednesday afternoon the new CAC was in place and all of the parts were back in their original locations. He left the decorative grille off the side of the engine because he wanted to test the engine on their dynamometer on Thursday morning.

When he arrived on Thursday, he discovered the dyno was not working due to some routine maintenance be

ing done. So we took the coach out for a test drive. I was amazed at the numbers I was seeing from the turbocharger! I haven’t seen numbers that high for over ten years. Instead of 19-20” of pressure, the turbo was reading 23-24” of pressure. That means I’m finally getting more power out of the engine and it’s running the way it should have been.

As I was watching him double-check all the fittings and securing the grille, I was also watching another Tech working on a small generator. I asked Darren if there was anything I should be watching on our 7.5 KW Onan Quiet Diesel generator. He told me the belt for the water pump and cooling fan should be changed every 500 hours. Oops, I have almost 1800 hours on mine and it’s never been changed. He offered to check it our since I was in the shop and all the tools were handy. So we opened the generator housing and he removed the belt. It was shot! You could see all the cracks in the rubber belt and the weak spots. He also checked the air filter and we replaced both of those items. He fixed a magnetic contact on my steps by applying what he called “Super Snot”, a gooey adhesive that will dry, but remain flexible. He offered to check anything else that might be needed since the coach was on the rack and we could easily reach things on the underside. Everything looked good, so we brought the coach down and he completed his work order.

I had paid $19.95 to join the Cummins Power Booster Club which gives a 10% discount on any parts and labor for work at the Cummins shop. And I had remembered Monaco’s quote of $3700 for a new CAC. When the bill was presented to me, it came to just under $3700 - total! I was thrilled to get all those things done for that price. Cummins West sold me that new CAC for only $1500! I got a great deal and they got it out of their inventory. We both won!!

By noon the coach was ready to roll. I had checked the forecast for San Diego and saw that El Cajon was expecting 104 degrees! I asked if we could stay in Bakersfield for another night, and they said we could stay as long as we wanted - and to stop by anytime we were going through Bakersfield and park in their RV spots. We were able to make another Wal-Mart run and stock up on some items we needed.

While we were in Bakersfield we made contact with Steve Smalley, a former Motor Officer from SDPD that I had worked with. We went to dinner at the 420 Club, a small club that is owned and operated by mostly CHP officers from Bakersfield. Once a month they have a dinner at their clubhouse/meeting place and they were serving BBQ ribs on Wednesday night. We met Steve and his girlfriend there and joined them for dinner with a group of retired guys who were absolute characters. It was a lot of fun and a terrific meal!

On Friday morning we were up and preparing to head to San Diego. We dumped the holding tanks, refueled, and started up the Tehachapi grade toward Lancaster/Palmdale. It was warm already at 10am so we just kept on moving. We arrived in Menifee around 12:30 and stopped long enough to see Cindy and Amber Walsh. I was hoping to see Ed, but he is already working and was at a meeting in Corona. Ed and his family are special friends to us and we’ve known them for well over twenty years. Ed took a job with Home Town Buffet and was moved to Minneapolis many years ago. With all the difficulties in the economy and the changes in his company, Ed has had to move back to California. They are renting a house in Menifee for a year before deciding to buy a house here. Amber is a beautiful 19-year-old young lady who will go to college about three blocks from their house at Mt. San Jacinto College. When we arrived, the movers had just left and we couldn’t stay for long. It was a disappointment not seeing Ed, but enjoyable to be able to chat with Cindy and Amber. I’m looking forward to seeing them all soon!

We left Menifee and hit the beginnings of rush hour traffic coming in to San Diego. We arrived at the church about 3:30 and got settled in. It’s good to be back and see our “family” on Sunday morning. We’ll be here for only a month before we go to Yuma for Thanksgiving with the Clarksons. Then we’ll return to the church for a couple of weeks before heading back north for the Christmas Holiday.

Things are good! Dottie is slowing down and using her walker more. Being in comfortable surroundings helps a lot and she is familiar with this area and the environment. We hope to see our kids a little more this time before we have to leave again.