RUN Dave and Marcia, RUN...back on the road again!

Yes, we are "back on the road again", running away from the safety and comfort of my sister's backyard, and that wonderful brother-in-law who can walk on water, I mean, fix just about anything mechanically, and from the shadow of mom and dad's house where warm, comfort and love abound. 

So we fought our way through Sacramento traffic to get to I-5...which was not bad since we left just before 3 in the afternoon...mailman came exactly at 2 pm.  We stopped at the first rest area to look over our tire sensors, for some reason two sensors, though put on right, were matched up with the wrong tires...a quick restart of the system fixed that.  Let me tell you, it is NICE to have a good idea what your pressures are on all ten tires at just a quick glance as it goes through each and every tire.  We got gas at a Love's station in Corning, stopping previous to that at a rest area just north of Willows to dump our tanks and walk the puppies.  And we got the camera out just after Redding.

Shasta Lake is one of my favorite lakes, definitely in the top ten.  Part of that reason is because I have been out on the lake in a "party boat" all by myself before for a few days, and enjoyed the peace and quiet, all the little coves one can hide in, and frankly to get away from the hustle of being a Restaurant Manager back in the 70's and 80's.

From the Interstate you get a few opportunities to get a quick picture, and Marcia did well...many to choose from.

Quickly our views of the Lake disappear...but Shasta Lake only comes before Mt. Shasta when one is headed northbound.

 

These pictures would be a heck of a lot better if the windshield was cleaner, but with no place to stop, it is what it is...but it shows why this area of I-5 is by far my favorite area of I-5.

Then we get to the west of Shasta, and Marcia and get a few pictures out her window...just a few areas where trees don't block your view.

The sun is setting to the west...about 15 minutes away.  We are 12 miles from the Weeds Rest Area which gives a great view of Mt. Shasta.  Speed limit is 55 in California if you are towing.  This is going to be close...

We continued to just past Yreka, next to trucks who are not, here in California, suppose to have their engines running while they break.  But we are on our way....a few more nights and we will be in Canada.  A few weeks after that, we will be in Alaska.

Generator - Easy Fix

I called McColloch’s RV repair and found out that they do not do generator work…but they do have a fantastic referral. Nick McColloch told me that they recommend everyone who needs generator work to Holley Generator & Equipment,  7945 14th Ave in Sacramento.  A call to Holley and I talked to Lanie Nizuk, and told him my problem.  He said, “Bring it on down.”  So we loaded up and arrived at Holley shortly after 10 am.  Not knowing what all this would entail, I towed the car, and unhooked the car at a park nearby, Granite Park, which is a no-leash dog park too, and Marcia followed me the less than a quarter of a mile to Holley’s. 

Brian, who is looking at the Generator in the picture above, quickly diagnosed our problem, taught me more about the generator, and showed me how to fix it if it does it again.

Holley Generator & Equipment is located in this building, and there is ample parking in the rear after you check in.  You can see the white “Snap on Tools” truck, we were parked right behind it.  In my phone conversation with Lanie I told him how we lived in the motorhome while we travel, and asked him if the generator repair was going to take a long time, could they remove it and let us drive away until they got it fixed.  He said, “Certainly.”   

Thank goodness our repair did not take very long, and was not real serious.  While I was in the office checking in and describing our problem, Brian grabs a starter and explains to me that when you activate it, the solenoid provides power to push this gear up against the flywheel and turn it, providing the “oomph” to get the engine running.  However, if the batteries are drained a bit, if they are old, etc., the solenoid sometimes does not have the power to pull the gear back away from the flywheel.  But when I told him the batteries were less than a year old, and in good condition, he looked a bit perplexed.

I left to quickly get us some breakfast, and by the time I came back Brian had pulled our motorhome, with Marcia and Skruffy inside, behind the "Snap Tool Van", and had already got the generator running.  He said that he was right in a sense…it was a battery problem.  One of my red cable connectors to one of our two house batteries had become very loose…he said it took three full turns and then some to lock it down tight.  He was able to giggle the generator real hard and that loosened the gear, along with having more power from the batteries.  He also showed me how one could do a “reverse polarity” on the solenoid as a last resort.  I feel more confident that I will know how to fix it “if” this happens again…but our fingers are crossed that we won’t face it again.

A little over an hour after we pulled in, and $130 shorter, our generator was fixed, including new oil, and Brian made a few adjustments which has it starting easier and quicker.  He told me that he felt the generator was in pretty good condition for having around 550 hours on it and being ten years old.  He assured me that using it at least once per month is ample to keep the generator going.

It is nice to know that we now have a good reliable place to work and look at the generator if we ever need it.  I wish it was closer to our home in Florida, but we come to the Sacramento area so often that it like our second home.  I called McColloch’s RV repair as I was returning to the park, Marcia following, in order to hook up the HHR again, and thanked Kerry for the good referral to Holley Generator. 

Last night we decided we needed one more item, and did a 2 day order with Amazon.  Once it comes on Wednesday, we will drive away again.  Depending upon what time of the day it comes, we might go a long ways, or just a short trip.  A two day set-back is not anything to worry about, after all, Alaska awaits the mighty squirrel hunters!