Relaxation Done - Driving into Arizona

 

The Enchanted Trails RV Park is a very friendly (starts with owners and staff) and one of our favorite Commercial RV Parks.  If it only had grass...but at 5,400 feet in the dessert like atmosphere, it just isn't feasible.

Many of the RV Campsites have some sort of vegetation separating it from neighbors.

Our visit did include a couple of hiccups.  First, the wind blew from around 9 am till 9 pm each day...with some gust up in the 30 mph range (see flag above).  Second, there are some fires which brought smoke into the valley, despite the winds which should have blown it out again.  Its just that the smoke kept coming in that it looked like it stayed.  Last, it was a bit cold on Tuesday and Wednesday nights...down in the lower 30's.  But the sun was out each day, and had it not been for the wind, it would have felt very comfortable during the day.

We got on the road about 7:45 with another sunny morning, and lots of trucks and traffic on both sides of the road...just can't see them on our side right now.

I have always enjoyed driving I-40 through New Mexico.  The scenery seems to change as the miles go by, some of it in the distance, some of it pretty close.

After perhaps 15 miles on the road, all of the sudden our GPS/CD/DVD/Radio goes out on us.  What it says on the screen is, "DC Offset Error" in the upper left  and "Protect" in the middle. My first thought was our alternator is kicking out too much juice...but my cigarette connection voltage reader showed a 13.9 to 14.9 reading, depending if I put our headlights on, turned up the heater fan, and stuff like that. 

Do you know how many times I still looked down at the GPS to see how our progress is coming.  Can you say, "Dave is ADDICTED to the GPS in the Motorhome!"

We start just about every day of our driving listening to Alabama's "Angels Among Us: Hymns & Gospel Favorites" CD.  (Been doing this since 2014)  Now it is all silent...even the EVIL, I mean, "The Nice GPS LADY" who tells you that your exit is coming, or it is time to merge when two freeways merge together, or who...and this happens a lot, tells you to get back on the pathway (because the Highway has been upgraded and although I am driving on the new highway, she thinks I am driving in a field or something like that)...even she is silent.  I miss her already.

Meanwhile, we keep driving and enjoy the scenery.  There was one 'quick' stop along an exit (coffee does that to you), and I used that time to do a quick search on our "DC Offset Error"   "Protect" error.  One YouTube shows a guy taking the unit out, unplugging it, and plugging it back in to fix the error.  My first thought was "Why can't I just disconnect the battery and achieve the same result.?"  The second YouTube did exactly that...so I figured that when I got to Flying J to put 46 gallons of gas ($180 worth) I would disconnect the battery while the gas flowed in (and the $$$$$ flowed out of the credit card).

GREAT!  It worked!!!!   So off we go, guided by the most wonderful female voice in any GPS, and...less than 5 miles down the road....it went out again!  Darn that evil voice...it is gone again!!!!

So we continue to enjoy the scenery, we scoot through Gallup, and quickly coming to the end of New Mexico.

The Navajo have set up a nice "last stop in New Mexico" including places to get all sorts of Indian Jewelry, Food, Clothing, and such.

The two pictures above are of the same 'Rock'.  They have even included fake animals up on the rock...makes a very interesting scene.

Above is the same rock but from a different view.

And then it all comes to an end and into Arizona we come.  The thing is...I like driving through Arizona too.  😉

All the while I am thinking about the GPS problem.  In one of the YouTubes the guy said he was unsure WHY you get the error, but his research said that it could be a speaker wire shorting, it could be a power line acting up...seems there could be a lot of reasons.  So as we came to the first decent Truck Stop, I stop and rest the GPS again by disconnecting the battery.  This time, we are going to ONLY use the GPS portion...no CD, no Radio, nothing else.  

And it works for the next twenty miles.  So I chance the radio...and it works.  So I chance the thumb drive through the USB, and it works.  So we think it is the CD player that is causing this...will wait until we get to my sisters to worry about it any further.

With only 1,100 miles left from the Enchanted Trails RV Park to Citrus Heights where my sister lives, we decided to keep our drives down to the 250-300 mile mark.  Our destination today was the Meteor Crater RV Park about 15 miles east of Winslow.  This is another park we have stopped at a few times, and is typically quiet.  Suppose to drop into the lower 30's by morning, but we are prepared for it with only electricity hooked up.  Tomorrow we should just be into California, with 560 miles left to go after that.