On the road again, Cummins, Quartzsite and Lake Havasu Jan 15 - 17th

On the road again!

Monday took us a bit to get fully loaded up since we didn't do anything yesterday. Ray still had the screens to take off the windows, load the bikes and then he checked fluid levels and tire pressure. He found one inside rear tire low on pressure. We filled it up with our onboard compressor with me holding the gas pedal down to keep the air pressure up (since we have the air leak. With only a 40 minute drive this morning, there's no hurry. I drove the car instead of hooking up as it did not seem worth it for such a short drive.

We hit the road at 10:15 am and were parked by 11 at Cummins in Avondale. It's nice, being a holiday, that traffic is very light. After a minimal setup, it's off for lunch at Red Robin's and a small Costco shop.

Back at camp we sat outside for a couple of hours chatting with our neighbour, Lindsay, who also has a Tiffin and is from Nanaimo, BC, an hour from our house. Small world.

The clouds moved in a bit later in the afternoon, so we were treated to a beautiful Arizona sunset. Tomorrow the coach goes in bright and early at 7 am.

Tuesday morning Ray woke at 5 and I followed at 5:15, of course my clock read 6:15 as it got bumped on yesterday's travel. Good thing we got up early as we received a call at 6:15 am from Jerry, our service guy, to bring the MH into the lineup ASAP! Boy we had our clothes on and teeth brushed within 10 minutes and motorhome closed up. Fastest yet!

After signing in, we took off to IHOP for breakfast. Back at the shop upstairs in the lounge where we "assumed the position" of waiting. Thankfully they have comfortable chairs for Ray. The plan now is to have the new hose manufactured this morning and then use the old hose to pull this one through, as it's 12'/3.7m long, hopefully by noon. We shall see.

At 9:30 we headed out to another huge antique store also called the Brass Armadillo. This old car is in front of the store.

Ray may or may not have bought some more houses for his Christmas Village. lol

We came back at noon to check on progress. Of course our service guy "Jerry" said "I don't know!" This guy is terrible at his job. When we were there the end of November to diagnose the problem, he should have called then and found out that the hose had to be manufactured and we could have stayed and had it fixed then. Instead he called us two weeks before this appointment and told us that they could get a hose and one would have to be made. 

So it turned out we paid for 2 hours of diagnosis as they had to put everything back so we could drive off instead of only 1 hour plus the fix!

It took them until 4 pm before we got the coach back and a $1300 bill later. Ray was livid! Considering they had our coach from 6:30 am until 4 pm, unbelievable! I managed to calm Ray down somewhat,  this is about the 4th time Jerry's done this to us over the years getting service work done here. We will not be back at this location, Cummins Coach Care in Avondale.

We headed off at 4:15 pm for our 2 hour drive to Quartzsite, where we will spend the night at the 14 day LTVA. Fortunately after the first 5 miles, traffic's moving great all the way to Quartzsite.

We managed to find a good spot just off the road and were all set up for the night by 7 pm. Good thing as it was dark shortly after that. Lunch was a long time ago, so it's toast and peanut butter for dinner lol A very long day. We were in bed by 8:30 pm.

Up at 5 am and watched a lovely sunrise at 6:15 am.

No rush this morning as check-in at Lake Havasu isn't until 12:30 pm or so. After coffee and waiting for the sun to rise, we both showered and put the coach in travel mode before heading out for breakfast at the Times Three Diner. The have an eclectic Christmas ornament display, amongst other themes.

Next up is a wander through the Tyson Wells Vendor area and then the Rock and Gem show. We're amazed at how empty everything seems. A whole lot less vendors than last year? Also the LTVA area seemed alot emptier too. Where are all the people? The big show starts in 2 days.

After an hour of that, we went back to the coach and started heading to Lake Havasu, 90 minutes away. Fortunately traffic's light in our direction, but much heavier heading to Quartzsite.

We arrived at the state park gate at 12:30 and were able to go straight to our site, C-18 in the Cabin Loop. Ray parked the rig, unhooked the car and we headed out for lunch at the Sake Sushi. We ate here twice last year and really enjoyed it. They did not dissapoint again. They actually had Uni (sea urchin roe) available. Ray's not had since the Charlottes, 20 years ago.

We drove to the Balloon Festival store on McCullough, but they were closed. So we headed back down to the London Bridge area to find where all the festivities would be located. I managed to spot a Volunteer Tent so Ray went over, got a program and asked some questions. It turns out that a lot of the stuff is in the State Park at the end parking lots closest to town. We should be able to ride our bikes down there and chain them up just outside the entrance gate. Bonus! This way we can come and go easily without worrying about parking.

Back to camp for set up.  Love our spot, with great views. Met our neighbours, Donna and Mike from Oregon, close to Countryside Interiors in Junction City where our driving seats were recovered.

Beautiful sunset tonight had Ray running outside for the "best views".

This one below is the view out our front window.

As we waited it got even more spectacular.

A short video Ray took around our campsite.