Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Kirsten's new GPS mouse and her camera were finally delivered to the campground so she had some new toys to play with. So far (!!!) everything seems to be working as
it should. We left Wellton and took a photo of Helen Street on the way out and then continued to Quartzsite where we wanted to check out solar panels. But the place
was shut for the season until November!
The next day we continued north and checked out the GPS by putting in our route and letting it guide us. Big mistake!! Within only a few miles the GPS sent us the
wrong way and we had to do a U-turn. In the next town the GPS couldn't handle a roundabout. But fortunately we were going to the library and we saw the building which
meant we could ignore the confusing directions the GPS and "Mary" (its voice) was giving us.
Our next stop was a Wal-Mart but when we arrived where the GPS took us there was no Wal-Mart in sight! So we headed out of town and about 3 miles further on, we found
a Wal-Mart!!
Now that we've got a GPS we can get lost in style!!!
We drove into Henderson, Nevada and checked out numerous things including new blinds and mesh for the windows and bought several items that we needed (converter,
camera bag, and bikini!!) We also got a quote from Camping World to install two new 12 volt fans in the roof and take out the air conditioning.
The next morning, Kirsten got onto the roof and spent one and a half hour getting the roof cover off the air con as we have used silicon and aluminium tape to seal it and we
wanted to cut down on any charges for labour work. We put the cover onto the passenger seat as we didn't want to dispose of it just in case something went wrong with
the installation of the new fans and we had to leave the air con in.
As it happened we did have a problem. One of the fans was supposed to be installed in the front skylight. When the skylight had been removed we were told that the
electrical wiring wouldn't be able to cope with two 12 volt fans. Plus, the fans are square and the holes in the roof have rounded edges! You'd think they would have
been able to tell us that BEFORE they had started work. Camping World are supposed to be the experts for motor homes!
Then there was a big discussion about the price which was suddenly more for the installation of one fan than it had been in total for two!!! They took $140 off the
bill because we only had one fan instead of two, but then added $180 for the extra labour work. Ridiculous!!
We finally managed to get the labour charges down but it left a sour taste in our mouths. The only good thing was that we finally got rid of our air con which weighed
an absolute ton!
The whole operation took most of the day and we didn't get finished until after 5pm. Then to top things all off, we noticed coolant leaking underneath Winnie and we
hadn't even driven anywhere!
We took a look under the bonnet and found that the leak was coming from the hose where it was attached to the radiator. So we tightened up the clamp and hoped that
had saved us about $50 in a garage and would do the trick!
Winnie now looks very different. He is now less than 9 feet high and weighs about 50kg less. We have got rid of the rattling air con cover every time the wind picks
up and there is far less cold air getting in so we manage to keep more heat inside. When it gets too hot we have a fan that works without electricity so we can switch
it on any time when we need to cool down. Sounds perfect. Hopefully we still think the same in six months time!
Our next adventure happened in a Wal-Mart when we went to get an oil change done. The assistant, Cindy, came out to put our details into her hand held device. We
don't have a phone number so she made one up. The telephone number immediately changed our details to the person who has that phone number…. Big Willie!!! No joke!
That's who it came up to! Cindy is not going to forget us any time soon!!
We headed towards Utah and ended up driving all around a town called Mesquite looking for the free camping area. In the end, we just gave up and found a gravel
parking area where other motor homes were parked.
Into Utah, we stopped at various visitor centres to get information on walks in Zion National Park that we wanted to do, including "The Subway" for which we would
need a permit plus footwear to wade through cold water. Then we went and bought waterproof neoprene socks and a pair of wader sandals for Helen. Kirsten already had
some sandals she could use in the water.
That evening we were on a Wal-Mart car park when we were approached by a man from another RV who told us that President Obama had a fake birth certificate and was
going to take all their weapons away. Then he scared us to death by saying we had to get a weapon to protect ourselves because every one needed to protect themselves
against the government and a Mexican invasion. His wife joined in and said the same things!
