Hawthorne Nevada to Redding Ca

Art woke up a few minutes before 7AM and in spite of making as much noise as possible without being obvious, at 7:15 had to go in to wake Gillian. We weren't sure how long the drive to Redding would be, but knew it wouldn't be a short trip.

Finally at 8:35, after bring in the slides, retracting the jacks, letting the air pressure build and doing all the air checks we were ready to go, though the temperature gauge had quit again. . . but Gillian was still out with the dogs on their last walk. Art shut off the engine, so as not to gas the campsite, restarting a few minutes later when everyone was in position and ready to go.

Front air gauge showed no pressure! Rear gauge pressure was just fine. There was no low air alarm and we had not heard any great rush of air as would be expected from the loss of 130 psi of air. This was very puzzling. Finally Art found someone who showed him the Heavy Duty Mechanic shop up the street a bit. So off we drove, carefully, though Art suspected it was a gauge fault and not a loss of air problem.

The owner was out on a call and was due back soon, but they didn't usually work on motorhomes. He described the problem with a gentleman in the office who agreed that it was indeed puzzling. He said that while the air pressure gauges were usually fed directly with air, perhaps in motorhomes they might be electrical in nature. While waiting Art dug out a screwdriver and removed the back of the instrument panel console and began prodding the wires the lead to the back of the gauge. Bingo! Full Pressure! A few minutes to re-attach the console (and the control for his ham radio) and we were finally under way at 9:35

We continued our boring run across the uninspiring Nevada scenery, today thankfully, without the wind. At noon we stopped to refuel--our last chance at cheap diesel before California--$2.159 US per US Gallon. Yesterday we had filled at 2.099! Nothing out of the ordinary at this fuel stop though. While Art pumped diesel Gillian made him a sandwich as it had been 4 hours since his breakfast. He bought a coffee in the store and was good to go, happily munching and sipping as he drove.


A bit over an hour later Gillian suggested that it was lunch time so we watched for a place to pull off and soon found a spot beside a Shoe Tree, (click the photo) where we heated up some bean soup that we had carried in the freezer all the way from home! Still good!

Doing the walk around before pulling out Art notice some drops of moisture on the hitch, they looked like they had been blown there by the wind. Closer inspection showed a drop of green fluid hanging from a rad hose clamp. Then it fell and another started to form. There was still lots of antifreeze in the coolant reservoir so there was no urgency but here was an other job for Redding Freightliner. Back on the road Art noticed that the engine temperature gauge was working again! Three days in a row it has started to work only after lunch. We figure it must be a union gauge on the afternoon shift! We will have it checked again in Redding.


Soon after passing through Susanville the scenery changed; Trees, Lakes, Green, Snow. . . (snow just in the shaded areas under the trees and beside the road). The road was good for most part, Trekker appeared a bit less stressed and actually fell asleep for a few moments.

We made good time, turning onto the I-5 at a bit after 5:00PM, the thermometer showing 22 degrees C. Much better! Within a few minutes we arrived at the RV park where we had stayed in October by 5:30--and were given the same space!!! Redding Freightliner awaits at 7:00 AM so we will be up early tomorrow, before dawn!