I
have created many mental calendars since we left Washington in February, headed
south in Abe, anticipating many great adventures to report. We arrived at Chuck’s ranch in the foothills
of the Sierra, east of Visalia, CA, on Shrove Tuesday and are still here! We had many repairs to make on Abe and were
referred to Paul Everett’s RV Country (PERVC) in Fresno, a certified Tiffin
repair site. It took them until March 4
to get Abe scheduled into their shop and approved for the work. Jerry delivered it with a list of 21 items
that needed to be repaired. Sadly, some
of these items had been identified by the previous owner, but had never been
addressed. (We’ve learned quite a lot about
the inadequacies, inefficiencies, poor organization, and untruthfulness of the
RV industry!)
Jerry
has spoken with all of the entities involved, from the owner of the Tiffin RV
Company, on down the list to the service manager in Fresno, almost on a daily
basis. Part of the frustration has been
that he could not get a straight answer from anyone about the status of the
parts ordered, what work had been completed, and when we could expect the bus
to be ready to roll. Finally on Friday
March 27, all of the problems on our list had been verified, parts had been
ordered, and they had arrived at the service center. Does it seem amazing to you, as it does to
us, that it took 23 days for this to happen?
We
drove to Fresno Monday, March 30, to see Abe, review the progress of the
repairs, and to offer “encouragement.” We
did a walk-around with list in hand with Rod, the actual service person that
was working on the bus. He seemed
capable and forth coming but it quickly became apparent that not much had been
done. We reviewed a list of 21 items and
learned that 6 easy ones were done, 6 more were in progress, and the remaining
8 hard ones were not yet worked on. He
had also found 2 more problems…or created them?...and so we added them to the
list. It took Monday and Tuesday for Rod
to complete the driver’s side slide repair…much longer than few hours
predicted.
Theoretically
Monday, April 6, we will confirm that the list has been completed and do a
serious test drive. Once that’s done, we
go to a different service center in Fresno to resolve our transmission problem. Yep, the final big one! Once that’s done, I hope we are good to
go. When we arrived here in February if
anyone had told me we’d still be here until after Easter, I would not have
believed it! Looks like an optimistic
departure date is April 8 or 9.
We
still would like to explore some of the spots we’ve heard about in Arizona and
make our way to Pearland, TX, (just south of Houston) to visit with Lewis and
Bonnie Smith and see the 40 acres they’ve purchased. This land is their retirement plan for 2017
and they’re currently getting water and power to the site. After that visit, we’ll make our wandering
way to Illinois for a visit with the family.
We think we’ll spend the summer exploring all the spots in the Midwest
we have not seen: Door County, WI, the
UP of Michigan, Minnesota’s boundary waters, etc. We’re looking forward to trying dry camping
in the bus and cruising the “blue roads”.
Life
here at the ranch has not been too difficult and we readily admit that this was
the best place for us to stay as we resolved the problems with Abe.
We’ve
been able to help Chuck with some big projects:
cleaning and then painting the horse barn and the paddock fences,
tearing out the front lawn and re-sodding it, and helping with trimming,
mowing, and spring cleanup. It’s looking
pretty good around here!
Since
we’ve been here so long we’ve had the opportunity to catch up with lots of
Visalia friends we haven’t seen in awhile.
In the first few weeks we were here, we sometimes had 2 or 3 “dates” in
Visalia. What fun! Beth was in town for a quilting class so we
had lunch with her, then had our income taxes done, then went to dinner with
friends! We’re certainly caught up on
all the new restaurants.
We
spent one weekend with Jill, Bob, and Lauren and it seems like it’s almost time
to go again. They have converted their
guest room to a playroom for Lauren, so we stayed in a hotel…not quite as
comfortable or convenient. It’s better
for them, though, since it gives Lauren a place for her little tent, her train
set, her kitchen, her shelves, her stuffed animals, etc. etc. She doesn’t lack for toys. Spring had arrived in San Jose so we were
outside a lot. I had found a recipe for
bubbles and a creative way to blow big bubble snakes. Grandpa and Lauren loved it!
We
went to Ventura for 2 nights last week and caught up with friends there,
too. In the last few years we were in
Visalia, we would often go to Ventura for the weekend, finding this little beachside
community fascinating. Boating friends
have a home there and we spent a day with them.
It seemed a little strange as we were used to seeing them on their
Nordic Tug or ours! In fact they were
the couple we cruised to Princess Louisa Inlet two summers ago (2013) and
traveled together for quite awhile. They
sold their boat before we sold ours and they are also interested in a motor
home. I’m afraid some of our stories
made them reconsider that idea, though!
Chuck
and Bobbie have hosted two barbecues while we’ve been here and we’ve enjoyed
experimenting with his “grill”. Visalia
and Lemon Cove friends joined us for beautiful evenings under the stars. Chuck has lots of oak to burn and the
pyromaniacs (aren’t we all, just a little?) had a great time.
We’ve
even visited with Washington friends that we thought we’d see in Arizona. Instead, they stopped in Visalia as they were
headed north on the homeward bound part of their trips. Jon and Norma Owens were one of these
couples. We have known them since high
school back in central Illinois! They
drove out to Chuck’s in their RV and spent 2 nights. We took them up into Sequoia Park to see the
big trees and had a great day with them.
I’d hoped to show them the beautiful hillsides of poppies we’d seen just
the week before, but they were gone. As
you’ve probably heard, it’s very dry here and the wild flowers didn’t last
long. The south-facing hillsides are
brown and the rest of the hills will soon lose their green lushness. Yep, time to go!
It is lovely here at the ranch in the spring and I’ve taken advantage of the sunny weather to hike up the hills and find wildflowers. Some of my photos:
Fiddleneck on the hillside. These pretty flowers are everywhere…come early and stay late! I can remember calling them “weeds” in our lawn in Visalia. Not out here at the ranch, though.
Fiddleneck and “white flowers” (yep, I ought to know the name of them but I don’t!) on the hillside above Lake Kaweah.
Usually Chuck’s dog Mia comes with me to explore the ground squirrel holes and dart around the hillsides. One afternoon we scared up a small pack of coyotes!
After church one Sunday Jerry and I drove up Dry Creek Road to Mountain House and back to Woodlake on Rte. 245 to see the poppies. The hills were green and the flowers were in abundance. What a great time to be here!
This
drive has always been a favorite and many of our out-of-state company were
given this tour when they came to see us.
The route winds along a small creek up to about 3,000 feet where Dry
Creek Road ends.
Mountain House, a rustic tavern, sits at the intersection of Dry Creek and Rte. 245. I don’t know the history of Mountain House, but would not be surprised if it were an old state coach stop. Today it’s a lovely place to get a beer, a burger, and rest your posterior if you’ve taken this trip on your motorcycle.
There are a few ranches along this drive that have entrance signs indicating their establishment over 100 years ago. This is very much ranching and cattle country. We get a sense of the “old west” along these back roads.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Not a bad place to wait on Abe to be repaired. A little gin and tonic overlooking the lake at sunset helps relieve the frustrations.
Stay tuned…the Adventures of Smokey and the Bus Bandits will resume any day now!
I remember visiting Mountain House with you, such a nice deck out back.
ReplyDeleteWow- I didn't know you had this view from the ranch!!! BEAUTYfilled!! Thx for all the flower/nature pix- loved them! =) Be sure to stop in Waterman on your way north... soon, right??? When life gives you lemons... make gin and tonics!! Happy Easter BLESSINGS!! x0x
ReplyDeleteWow- I didn't know you had this view from the ranch!!! BEAUTYfilled!! Thx for all the flower/nature pix- loved them! =) Be sure to stop in Waterman on your way north... soon, right??? When life gives you lemons... make gin and tonics!! Happy Easter BLESSINGS!! x0x
ReplyDelete