Our Next Trip is a Coastal Escape

Working on our next trip…looks like we are headed up the Oregon and Washington Coasts with a day trip to Victoria to see Butchart Gardens.  We can leave on Monday the 27th when our family activities are over.  Figure we can be in Coos Bay Tuesday night, and then we will slow down a bit until we get into Washington…we have been up he Oregon Coast before, and we love it...but we will really slow down the Washington Coast is an area we have not explored before.  Figure we will be back around August 22nd, give or take a few days, and travel around 2,000+ miles.

This last Sunday our trip back to the Sacramento area was fairly uneventful until we pulled into Arny and Sandy’s backyard.  It was a sunny, slightly cloudy day.  We went to church in Truckee again, and got a couple burgers to go from Burger Me…we were on the road by 12:45 for Sacramento.

When we got into the backyard, Arny was opening our house door from the outside (to let the dogs out) at the same time Marcia tried to unlock it … which jammed the mechanism inside the door.  This happened last year when I was unlocking it and opening at the same time to let the dogs out for their morning run. 

   

Above is an illustration of the door when it is locked…if you look at the red arrow, that little metal piece is to the left of the brass piece.  When you try to open the door, it does not move the brass piece, and the door remains latched (shut).

   

In these pictures above the door is unlocked. The metal piece has now slide under the brass piece—which is the movement of unlocking the door.  Now when you move the handle, it moves the brass piece and opens the latch.  What was happening was that this little metal piece was sliding into the hole of the brass piece, and sticking when the door lock was being moved to the unlock position AND the door was being opened at the same time.  In that position, it would not move the latch, requiring the door access panel be removed and then easily pry the latch open by freeing up this metal piece from the hole.  To fix it, we bent the brass piece back..so there is no way for the metal piece to slide into the hole.  Should have thought about that last time, instead I just avoided opening the door right as it was being unlocked. An easy fix, but it sure was frustrating trying to get the door open when it was locked close.

Before we leave in 12 days I will need to change the oil in the motorhome, and give it another bath.  Other than that, I think we are in good shape for a bit longer trip.  Of course, I will give things a good look over, including all the previously loose battery and power connections, and we will top off the tires which, over time, loose a little pressure as you drive along.  It is nice to have the troubles behind us, and we are looking forward to seeing Washington and little bit of Vancouver Island.  For now, we will enjoy our family time, and get a few things done.