North to Oregon

On Friday June 22, we pulled out of Morgan Hill California and headed north.  Our final destination would be Florence, Oregon.  After dumping the tanks and hooking up the car we were finally under way @ 11:30 AM.  It was later than I wanted but we were only going to Win-River Casino just out side of Redding, CA that day.  Everything was going good; good until I stopped for fuel.  I pulled into a Pilot to get some fuel for the motorhome.  Pulled into the refueling stall, shut off the engine and turned of the frig.  After paying for the fuel I started up; well I tried to start up.  NO crank I tried everything I knew looked at all the fuses I knew about for ignition nothing.  A trucker in the stall next to us came over and tried to help me.  He couldn't but did show me where some more fuses were.  YEPEE more fuses!!!  Called emergency road service(ERS), told them my situation and they sent out a repair man.  Three and a half hours later we were back on the road.  Actually the mechanic was only there 45 mins the rest of the time we sat waiting for ERS to find a mobile mechanic and then for the mechanic to get there.  He got us started; I asked if there was anything I needed to replace.  He said no it all looked good.  So we drove another 60 miles that day and stopped short of the desired destination but at a place we had been before and felt comfortable.  Rolling Hills Casino has a huge lot for semi's and rv's.  I was tired so we stayed the night. 
Day 2:   We get up and have our breakfast.  Not in too much of a hurry because we weren't going very far.  Went to start the engine and NO CRANK.  I called ERS and they trouble shot it with me over the phone and we got going again.  About 2 miles into our days journey I spotted a TA(Travel Center of America, refuel) with a garage.  I yanked the rig off the interstate and down the exit ramp at a slightly excellerated speed but under control heading for possible solution to my, now, on going problem.  I pulled into the repair area and left the engine running while I went inside to see if they would/could accommodate me.  Well I was in luck, they had what I needed and could do it.  With only 1 mechanic on duty and on lunch too, we were lucky again because there was no other work ahead of us.  I told the tech we were in no hurry and to finish his lunch.  He may not get another break.  He was delighted and when he finished we got 2 new chassis batteries installed which has eliviated the problem.  It turned out when tested my old batteries were good but the repair facility had another way to test and found I had no cranking power.  We finished the short journey to Win-River Casino where we spent the night.  We hadn't planned on paying for camping but had no choice in the matter.  Camping was $24 but the casino gave each of us $10 to play on so camping really only cost $4.  And since we were new members we each received an additional $5 to play on.  We used their $30 and played it to $26 for us.  So our camping was all paid for.  Actually 92 cents came from 2 tickets we found outside in the potted plant.  I guess that 92 cents wasn't worth the effort to whom ever tossed the tickets, well, it's no effort at all to us and we are 92 cents richer for it.

Day 3:  We left the casino at 9:30 AM and had no more mechanical troubles.  We arrived in Canyonville Oregon, parked and went into the casino.  We left $1.32 richer. We have found that it's not as much fun playing with your own money as it is when you play with the casino's.  Still we did come out ahead. 

Day 4:  The final leg.  We only had 100 miles to travel this day.  It was spotty rain most of the way.  We came across a horrific accident that had traffic backed-up.  A semi truck and trailer was embedded in a bank and a little car was ripped in half length wise still in the road.  There were 8 trooper cars and 5 ambulances along with other rescue personnel.



  Looked like front axle was back by trailer

     We arrived at the preserve in one piece, found a site and went searching for people we had worked with 6 years ago.  At first we were unsuccessful but had good leads that later turned into reunions.  We have discovered that no one had changed a bit, literally.  Everyone, of course, was 6 years older but that was all.  Even the town is the same.  The casino remodeled but that was already in the works before.

I totally forgot the accident we saw between Fairfield and Vacaville, CA. on the first day.  It was a semi with double trailers hauling building supplies.  It was in the west bound lanes of I-80 when we came by.

We think the wind may have gotten him.  As far as we could tell there were no other vehicles involved. 

Interesting trip for sure.