Uh, Oh!

 

LesThora being towed to the Ford dealer in Fairfield.

    Some of you may be familiar with the children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. In that circular story if you give a mouse a cookie then the mouse is going to want a glass of milk and so on. Our story of LesThora being towed to Fairfield begins: If the campground gets firewood for the first time in a very long time on March 1, and continues: then Rob and Kathryn will have to move their bicycles out of the wood shed, and if they have to move the bicycles from the woodshed they'll have to put them on the bike rack on the back of LesThora, and to do that we'll have to move LesThora forward to more easily load the bicycles, and a week later when I want to ride my bicycle we'll have to move LesThora forward again to remove the bicycles from the rack, and that's when she wouldn't start - over two weeks ago. When we turned the key nothing happened - no lights on the dashboard and no engaging of the starter. We quickly determined it was not a dead battery and started considering what to do. Our experience in the past with AAA roadside assistance had not been wonderful, but we placed a call to AAA and found they could do one of two things - jump start the battery or tow it. We weren't sure where to tow it and asked AAA for a reference for a reputable mechanic. We found out that they can refer you to a mechanic for cars, but not for motor homes. Now what? We thought of trying to find a mobile mechanic, but first decided to call our son Shawn who, though not a mechanic, is very competent around anything that needs fixing. After talking to Shawn he was sure he could track down the problem - thought it was probably the starter or a solenoid - until he asked more questions just before he headed our way on Friday, March 12, with his two daughters coming along. He realized it was an electrical problem of some sort and said he'd try to track it down, but he wasn't sounding as confident as he had at first.

Shawn testing out connections on the "cluster" while Rob looks on.

Notice the hood up and the door open? Don't worry, we put the kitties in the bathroom with all their necessities so they couldn't make an escape.

    After 6 hours of trouble shooting on Friday, and another 5 or so on Saturday, Shawn was 95% certain that it was the "cluster" that pretty much controls everything in today's computerized cars. We were all pretty certain the problem had been caused by excessive moisture build up under the dashboard from condensation - remember, in the past I have written that keeping things dry inside LesThora is our biggest challenge? Even if he could be 100% certain him, or anyone, swapping out clusters was not an option - the vehicle would have to be at a Ford dealer so that the new cluster could be reprogrammed with factory settings from Ford. By Saturday I was calling around to find a Ford dealer that would work on motor homes. Most of the service departments were closed on Saturday, but their sales departments were able to tell me that no, San Rafael, Novato, Petaluma and Richmond Ford dealers did not work on motor homes - the closest would be in Fairfield about 60 miles away, and of course their service department would not open until Monday morning. Sunday we decided to take a chance, call AAA and arrange to have LesThora towed on Sunday if possible and dropped off outside the Fleet Service center at Fairfield Ford. AAA did not disappoint us this time and within two hours of my call Diego Trucking Company was here to competently tow our rig across the bay to Fairfield with us following behind in the Subaru. When we got to Fairfield Ford I was both encouraged and nervous about our decision. The Fleet Service area was huge - with quite a variety of commercial and recreational vehicles in their vast parking area - they looked like a place that could take care of us. I was nervous because there were so many vehicles I wondered how long we'd have to wait for them to even look at our vehicle.

    When we talked to the service manager Monday morning he said he'd work hard to fit us in, so on Tuesday morning a technician began to diagnose it - one progress report sounded just like Shawn's - 95% certain it was the cluster! By afternoon he was 100% certain and the part was ordered. It arrived on Thursday morning and we were told we could pick it up by 4:30 after they got it programmed - we arrived at 4:30, but it wasn't ready - the programming had failed which could be indicative of a bad cluster part, thus needing to order another one that wouldn't arrive until after the weekend, or maybe just an interruption to the programming process that takes an hour or so and is done over internet connections, or something else wrong. I did not sleep well Thursday night - what if LesThora was some how totaled? What if the needed repairs cost way more than we were originally expecting? What if it needed to stay in the shop for another week or even longer? After all, LesThora is our, and our cats, current home.

    Those of you who are more interested in how our cats are doing than anything else are probably wondering, what happened to Straus and Elsie through all of this? Did they stay locked in the bathroom? On Saturday when it became pretty clear Shawn was not going to be able to solve the problem I called Erin, our daughter who lives in San Bruno and Angel Island, and she came Saturday afternoon to pick up the cats and take them to "Camp" in San Bruno for the duration. 

Elsie and Staus on Erin's bed in San Bruno not long after their car ride in a crate.

They seemed to adjust quite well to their strange surroundings.

Elsie at "Camp"

Srtaus bathing with Elsie in the background.

He couldn't have been too stressed, though he did spend a good deal of time under the bed.

Another picture of Straus at "camp"

    Sunday night after leaving LesThora and he keys in Fairfield Rob and I headed to Colfax, where we had planned to go on Monday anyway for Rob to get his final dental bridge installed at the dentist in Auburn. Tuesday night we went to San Bruno and spent the night in the bedroom with the cats - Erin was back on Angel Island where she would be for the week working. Wednesday morning we got up bright and early to eat breakfast and pack our lunches before making the 1 1/4 hour "commute" to our volunteer responsibilities at Samuel P Taylor Sate Park. Wednesday we were scheduled to be in the entrance kiosk by 9:00 AM  greeting visitors to the park as no staff were on duty that day. After finishing about 5:00 PM we drove around the campground in the gator pedaling firewood and shower tokens before heading back to San Bruno for the night. Thursday we got to the park later to cover our campground check duties at noon and then headed to Fairfield only to find we'd be sleeping in San Bruno again Thursday night.

    Friday morning we finally got the call that the programming of the cluster had worked, but not everything was working correctly. After authorizing another two hours of labor (over $200 an hour!) the problem got tracked down and we were happy to go pick up LesThora and return to Samuel P Taylor to spend the night. Saturday, I headed back to pick up the cats and the food we'd taken out of LesThora's refrigerator and transported first to the refrigerator in Colfax and then to San Bruno.

    So, what did we learn from this "mis"adventure? Lot's of things! One of course is that condensation is nothing to ignore - we are now keeping electric heat running all the time and have gotten a larger dehumidifier that is also running all the time while we are in this damp environment and plugged into electricity.  No more cold mornings below 50 degrees! We've both also learned that, for now, there is nothing we'd rather be doing than living in LesThora as campground hosts and traveling.  And LesThora, our 26 foot motor home, is the perfect RV for us - not too big, not too small, not too fancy, not too sparse - just right. And we're so grateful for our children who are taking care of our houses so we have a place to live in when we're displaced from LesThora, for Shawn being so willing and able to help, for Erin being able to take the cats. We figure if Shawn had not been able to come do the trouble shooting he did we probably would have gotten a mobile mechanic that we would have paid lots of money to before having it towed to Fairfield in the end anyway. This lifestyle, but living in general, is not for the faint of heart!

The new dehumidifier on the kitchen counter between sink and stove top.

We already have a smaller version of this in the bathroom.

Sophia and Naomi coloring in the tent while Shawn worked on LesThora on Friday.

This was a rare quiet moment while they were here - they spent lots of time riding scooters, bikes and playing with new friends they met in the campground.

    While in Colfax I got to walk my favorite route out the door, down the driveway, down the road a bit and then up and up to the Boardman canal and up and up again to the top of the hill where I can see the snow crested Sierra in the east. It's a little over 4 miles round trip and I don't always have time when we're there to get this walk done. Rob occasionally does it with me, but not if I'm leaving soon after sunrise.

A manzanita bush in full bloom

Close up of the blooming manzanita

A mallard pair in the canal

A picturesque barn through the trees from the canal path

A large fern near the canal

Beautiful sky on Monday morning

Tuesday morning looking up the same road as on Monday, but slightly different spot.

The blooming Japanese Plum Trees in the front yard in Colfax

A Colfax neighbor's beautifully shaped Japanese Plum tree

On Wednesday morning I got to walk around the block in San Bruno at sunrise - looking across the San Francisco Bay from the hill above the San Bruno house. The "block," because of the steep hilly terrain, is over 8/10 of mile long, and involves VERY steep hill climbing.

A film shoot at Samuel P Taylor State Park

    I came on this scene a week ago Saturday morning. It was a film shoot for a sporting wear company - properly permitted which meant paying a park ranger overtime to supervise their activity - quite a pricey film shoot.

Some interesting fungi on on a log

More interesting fungi on another log.

Notice the trillium on the bottom right?

A Butterbur beginning to bloom

A lovely Hounds Tongue blooming - there are lots of these in bloom now.

A little water fall on "Wild Cat Canyon" Creek.

    This little tributary creek to Lagunitas Creek was dry when we arrived in November, but has continued to flow since the first rains. The flow had significantly decreased until we got rain this week on Thursday. I was surprised by a visible increase of water flow. Yesterday a park visitor said they saw a couple of large Steelhead in Lagunitas Creek, so apparently spawning season has not ended - this latest rain has brought enough water flow to bring at least some fish up stream from Tomales Bay.

One of the many Redwood violets now blooming in the park

A few blooming Redwood Violets

Violets and trillium together

Trilliums blooming amongst the dead fern fronds.

    The dried up sword ferns are some times alarming. We have noticed them ever since arriving in November and thought that low precipitation was the cause. Some visitors to the park have speculated that the ferns are sick. I finally asked Ranger Nick today and learned that this is part of their natural life cycle - sword ferns are annuals so they grow new plants each year. I have begun to see lots of evidence of newly unfurling of all types of ferns including Sword ferns in the process called circinate vernation.

Two pretty trilliums

This trillium is much larger than the little white ones, and has taken forever, it seems to finally open.

Giant Wakerobin Trillium

These large trilliums had tight buds for literally weeks before opening, and this is apparently about as far as these, not white, blossoms open.

Straus and Elsie back home in LesThora in their most common perch

The Claw

Notice Elsie's claw reaching out saying, "Please pet me."

Straus cuddled up on the bed this morning.

Both cats seem quite content to be home!

    One reason we were anxious about getting LesThora back before the weekend is that tomorrow, Monday, March 22, we leave for a week at Yosemite. This was a camping trip we made reservations for 5 months ago, but with COVID shutdowns and extending our time as Camp Hosts at Samuel P Taylor we weren't sure we'd be able to go. The rangers have given us their blessing to take a week's "vacation" and our reservation is confirmed for March 22-29. If fire wood had not arrived at Samuel P Taylor, making it necessary to move our bicycles we might be finding out tomorrow morning that we had a problem starting LesThora!