San Carlos to Alamos to Mazatlan

In spite of Art's unforeseen shower and cleanup we were rolling by 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning. Today was to be a relatively short to the old mining town of Alamos some 50 kilometres east of Navajoa. (The pen points in the photo mark the start and finish)

After 266 kilometres, 393 posos in tolls,($33.00) we arrived at Alamos, the entrance to the town marked by a large triple arch, reaching campground, Real de los Alamos, at 12:45.

We were able to get mostly off the road, the back end of the tracker partially blocking the traffic lane because the gate was closed. A moment later a man arrived to advise us that they weren't open for business yet – it was too early in the season, they wouldn't open until December! As we explained that we didn't need any services, just a safe place to park, a young man joined us and said a few very fast words in Spanish that we didn't understand, then we heard a voice call from the porch of the house and the man then told us that the owner said we could stay and that the boy would show us where to park. We quickly got off the road and were soon settled in. When Art checked the electricity (always necessary at most RV Parks in Mexico) he found the hot and neutral to be reversed. – no great skill to check this, a $10.00 plug in devise makes it easy.




This park is a large grassy field lined with trees and signs of a lot of recent rain. After we were set up Art went up to the house to pay our fees—260 pesos if memory serves and found the three men sitting on the porch. He was invited to sit and chat for a while; he learned that the owners name was Enrique, Cyrilo was the man who met us at the gate and Arturo was the young man. Art learned that a month ago the park had about a foot of water in places but was quite dry and firm now. Two years ago the place had been completely flooded from the rains of a hurricane. The owner said he had had a lake for several weeks! (The above photo was taken later in the day. Note the van. It had arrived while we were out sight seeing.)

Art mentioned what he had found with the power, but was told there was no problem, it was the same as the house used! Enrique seemed to understand about hot/neutral reversal, but didn't seem to believe that Art was correct and made no move to check it! Since we couldn't use it, (the inverter won't let it past into the coach) we didn't plug in. The batteries were fully charged and the inverter would supply any AC that we might need such as for the TV and satellite receiver. The weather was very pleasant so there was no need for the air conditioner. No chance of a discount on the rent either!




After a quick bite of lunch we headed into town. We soon found a guide, who led us around for an hour in his truck while we followed in our car. We stopped in several interesting places and learned quite a bit of the history of the place. The floods of two years ago washed out an entire neighbourhood of shacks and shelters of the very poor, many of whom were killed. The cemetery in the photo was flooded. The area between the cemetery and the river beyond is were the homes used to be.

(click to enlarge)

















Entrance door to a private residence, the tree outside--we are always amazed at how well trees do almost encased in concrete! Right; the main foyer of the Palacio Municipal (City Hall).


Alamos has been here for centuries and was getting quite run down when discovered by wealthy American and Canadian ex-pats who have been buying the old residences and restoring them to their former glory. Unfortunately, most of their character is hidden behind high stone walls, although some tours are available. We may return here for a bit longer stay another time.


When we returned to the motorhome, we found we had company—a small van was parked a few spaces down. There was no one around that evening, though Gillian met Katheryn, who's rig is was, in the morning, just before we left.






As we were hooking up the car Art asked Arturo if the small trees were citrus, and was told yes—lemon, orange, mandarin, tangerine and grapefruit. As we were pulled away Arturo dropped out a nearby tree and presented us with the one and only ripe grapefruit on it!





Katheryn pulled out right behind us, but turned right to town while we turned left back towards Navajoa and the long day's run down to Mazatlan. The time was 8:15, one of our earlier starts, but we knew it would be a long day.

By 11:00 AM we were ready for lunch and so we pulled into La Pilarica, a Spanish owned Pemex and truck stop at Los Mochis. This is another of our favorite stops—the restaurant serves good Mexican truck stop food—far from the typical fat, sugar and carb food found in US and Canadian truck stops. This time however we decided to just make a sandwich as Art wanted to stretch out for 20 minutes as well. By 12:08 we were southbound again, taking another 20 minute rest at one of the many toll booths two and a half hours later.

This is also an expensive run—lots of tolls totaling 1174 pesos—almost $100.00 Canadian.

At 5:20 we arrived at Las Jaibas RV Park in Mazatlan, a 620 kilometre drive.

Fuel on this leg; 203.1 litres

Mexican Border to San Carlos

We were on the road at 8.30 and 55minutes later we crossed the border into Mexico. This is a very uneventful crossing. Although there are officials here we have yet to be delayed more that a coupe of minutes—this time straight through.

21 kilometers and 20 minutes later we arrive at what is appropriately known as Kilometer 21. It is here that we get our tourist card, (like a Visa) allowing us to stay in Mexico for 180 days. The cost for this was $22.00 Canadian, each. Here we also had our passports stamped. Next was the temporary foreign vehicle import permit, also issued for 180 days for the tracker, our tow car. This comes with a hologram which is affixed to the windshield and cost $33.00 Canadian.

This year there was a senior official wandering around watching. He would occasionally approach the the line up, ask people what they were waiting for, and check to see if they had everything they would need at the wicket. Several people returned to their vehicles for papers, some had to go and get photocopies, and some even had to go back and get their tourist card, which had to be paid for at the wicket.

When we entered Mexico last year we were issued a 10 year permit for the motorhome, which has been available for several years now for motorhomes, trailers and boats. Last summer we had the motorhome windshield replaced and had the glass shop remove the hologram from the old windshield. We had stuck it back on the new one but it was obvious by even a cursory glance that it had been removed. We had come concerns about being stopped later and having problems with it.

Art took the opportunity (with some misgivings!) of asking the official about it, explaining what had occurred. He assured us that as long as the numbers on the hologram sticker coincided with the paper permit and the information on the permit matched registration of the vehicle, everything would be OK.

Back at the rig, new decal on the tracker and dogs walked, we were on our way an hour and twenty five minutes after pulling in. One last gauntlet to run—at the exit we again had to drive through customs. A few questions, where, how long, what were you bring in etc and we were finally on our way for real.

Shortly before 1:00 PM we pulled into the Pemex at Benjamin Hill for fuel and went into the restaurant next door for lunch. Diesel was 8 pesos a litre—about 67 cents Canadian at current rates of exchange (approximately 12 pesos to the Canadian dollar). This is a favourite stop either south or north bound, our first or last stop depending which way we are going and we are usually here for about an hour. We would now drive non stop to San Carlos, 265 kilometers which would take a little over 3 hours if the roads are in good shape. We drove through the City of Hermasillo using the eastern bypass with out incident. The 4 lane street here is in very good condition for the most part (though there is one small section in the city with a few nasty topes) and it takes a lot of concentration to maintain the 60 Km/speed limit—which is strictly enforced—especially against foreign vehicles!

The highway from Nogales to Magdalena wasn't in particularly good shape, Magdalena to Hermasillo was fairly good, and fair on to San Carlos. Fortunately traffic, especially truck traffic, was light and we had no difficulty maintaining a highway speed of 90 to 100 Km/H and arrived at the Totonoka RV Park in San Carlos at around 5:00 PM

We had a couple of gifts (one a small joke which had traveled all the way from Marrakech) for our friends Joe and Christine who winter in San Carlos but had not yet arrived. We were able to leave these with the owners of the RV park who know them well.

Note the topiary, especially the small tree in the middle. There were quite a few of these around the park. We stayed 2 nights here, got a load of laundry done and a bit of shopping and spent the rest of the day re-acquainting ourselves with the area.

San Carlos received quite a bit of damage from the hurricane last September but repairs were well in hand for the most part. There was a lot of water damage from the torrential rains and water run off. The property beside the RV Park was almost completely washed away and across the same was similar damage.






To the west, approaching the second section of San Carlos (the town is in almost 2 separate parts separated by steep cliffs on one side and a deep bay on the other) the eastbound bridge was impassible, all traffic using the 2 laned westbound bridge.







West of San Carlos is the tiny village of La Manga (the Sleeve) and we were quite concerned that it might have suffered a lot of damage. We drove up the dirt track and found it to be in very good shape. The little school had 5 large solar panels and signs of recent maintenance, there were several shacks with new “Restaurant” signs advertising seafood; the fishing boats pulled up on the sand testified to the freshness of the catch. Still a poor village but improving year by year, thanks in large part to American service clubs.


When we were getting ready to go in the morning Art proceeded with the outside chores while Gillian took the dogs for a last walk around the park. These chores included draining the black and gray water tanks. The gray is emptied first, then the gray, to flush the worst of the smelly stuff out of the hose. When the contents of the black tank had stopped flowing Art closed that valve and opened the valve for the gray water. It ran normally for a few seconds, then . . . . the connector came off at the valve, and the gray water poured out onto the ground and Art's lap! He managed get the valve closed before all 50 litres or so had run out. Inspection showed nothing wrong with the fitting, the only remaining being operator error, and it hadn't been secured in the first place! Art was quite pleased that in Tucson he had emptied the tanks and added about 20 or 30 litres of clean water and deodorant to help clean the tank as we drove.

Art hosed himself off, packed things up, stripped off on the steps and headed to the shower!

After a change of clothes, leaving the wet things on the floor of the shower, we were ready to go.




Leaving San Carlos/Guymas to the north, where the toll road bypass starts, the former overpass has been completely destroyed. Southbound traffic (us) is temporarily being re-routed through the Pemex station at the intersection. We were unable to take time for photos here as typically there were no direction signs and we had to watch carefully. If we hadn't known where we were supposed to go we would have found ourselves on the road back to Hermasillo! Once through the Pemex lot we did manage to snap a few pics through the windows, unfortunately due to reflections from the bright sunlight they aren't particularly good but you can see that they are hard at work rebuilding.




99.94 Litres of fuel.




.

Tucson

In Tucson we stayed two nights at the Prince of Tucson RV Park which is in the northern end of the city right beside the freeway, though quiet enough. We have stayed here before and quite like the place, though most of the spaces are very narrow—no room for the awning, barely room for a chair or two. They have a pool and a hot tub which Art took advantage of to soak his aching bones. They cater to long time snowbirds as well as over-nighters such as us and quite a number of permanent residents. They have a large lounge with TV, coffee on every morning, newspapers available, pool table etc. They also have wireless (for a fee—the free wireless seems to be getting rarer and rarer these days)

First item on the day's agenda was the laundry, which we soon got out of the way, then around noon we went out shopping, primarily for a copy of the 4^th edition of Mike and Terri Church's “A Traveler's Guide to Mexican Camping” which was due out in late September. Bookstores in Canada were hoping for an early to mid October delivery, but though we had a request in at Tanners in Sidney, it hadn't arrived by the time we left. We had even driven over from the RV shop that morning to see if perhaps it had come in. We really wanted the latest edition as we knew it would contain a lot of new information and the older ones would no longer be supported on their website update pages.

At Barnes & Noble in Tucson we bought the last copy on the shelf! It retails for $21.95 but I think that by the time we got out of the store we had rung up $100.00 or so between the two of us! We then found a large shady tree to park under so the dogs would keep cool, out of the sun and in the breeze, and went to Appleby's for lunch. Again huge portions, sharing helps though, and we usually end up taking some home for next day's lunch.

That night (Friday) we again went out for dinner, finding a very pleasant Italian restaurant. Art's tummy

was playing up again so didn't feel that he could face another huge American restaurant portion so he settled for an appy of steamed New Zealand green muscles. There must have been two dozen! A chuck of crusty bread to soak up the juice. . . . Yum yum! Gillian can't remember what she had—it was too long ago. We really have to be a little more timely posting these blog entries!

At the next table to us was a man in his thirtys with his daughter who appeared to be about 10 years old or so. When they were almost finished their meals, the little girl went to the bathroom and he dad told her that he would see her back at the car. A few minutes later he asked the waitress for a doggy bag then he too headed for the washrooms—and never returned! We later spoke to the manager about it and he said this was becoming more common. They used to be able to spot potential runners but it is getting more difficult.

Such a terrible example to a child.

What we do remember is driving home afterwords. Art turned right and there followed a discussion about direction. Just as Art was beginning to think Gillian was right (why does he even bother to doubt any more?) flashing red and blue lights appeared behind us. We pulled over and the policeman asked for drivers license and registration which were produced, and he asked if we knew why he had stopped us. We had no idea, we weren't speeding, Art had signaled the turn—it appears that a tail light was out. And, he went on to say, he couldn't read the license plate because of the bike we are carrying! He didn't ask us to do anything about that though! Art said he would go to the auto parts store up the street in the morning and get a new bulb and maybe a spare or two--no point is giving the Mexican Police a valid excuse! The policeman agreed that would be a good idea, called the info in on his radio and soon returned the documents and wished us a good night. Art also told him that we had been having a discussion as to the correct direction. He asked where we were going and when Art said “Prince of Tucson Road, he grinned and said, pointing to Gillian, “she's right”. So Art turned around and we were soon back at the RV Park.

Next morning Art pulled the tail light bulb (the left one wasn't working) and noticed that the filament appeared intact. Knowing that appearances can be deceiving, he pushed it back in the socket – and it worked! Must have been a dirty or loose connection. (Two weeks later it's still working).

Once again appropriate we topped up with water and dumped the gray and black tanks as around noon headed south. We planned a short stop at CampingWorld in South Tucson then to overnight at the Desert Diamond Casino about an hours drive north of the Nogales border crossing.

At CampingWorld Art found a set of safety cables for the tow bar—he had bought new ones at home just before we left but when he put them on he found them not really suitable. They were the coiled kind, designed for a different type of tow bar, and found that they got in the way of the tracker's emergency breakaway “brakes on” cable. If this cable is pulled, the tracker's brakes would lock full on!

We also bought a few other little things and Art put the new Brake-Buddy cables on. Much happier, we set of for Desert Diamond. You can imagine our surprise when we pulled in to find that the parking lot was almost full of RV's. There had to be a hundred! Art said “I hope all these rigs aren't going to the border in the morning! So much for a quick and quiet Sunday morning crossing! A couple from Campbell River soon put our minds at rest—there was a bluegrass festival going on!

If Art had been feeling a bit better he might had been tempted to investigate—we heard no music anywhere, though we didn't go into the casino. However we wanted to be up and rolling early, so we had a bite to eat in the motorhome and were soon in bed.

Tomorrow, we cross into Mexico.

Bryce Canyon to Tuscon

October 21st

Wednesday morning we were a bit slow getting going, not hitting the road until about 10:40! We were following Highway 89, through Kanab and Page towards Flagstaff Arizona. In retrospect Gillian was right and we should have turned south at Kanab on Alt 89 and had a good close up look at the Vermillion Cliffs and crossed the Colorado at Marble Canyon rather than at Page. However both routes are listed as Scenic Byways so we didn't really lose too much. There will probably be another opportunity. The scenery changed remarkably as we drove through southern Utah into Arizona as you can see.















Right: The Colorado River, highway and bridge construction, crossing the Colorado near Page.










South of Page if memory serves right.






At about 1:30 we stopped at a rest area near Page for lunch and here we discovered that the fridge wouldn't run on propane. Again! Art muttering things that don't need to be printed here, we drove on and about 5:00 we pulled into Greer's Pine Shadows RV Park

Meanwhile, Gillian had been perusing Next Exit” and found an RV Service shop not far away. Art called hoping to be able to be booked in for the morning and was told to bring it in now and they would take a look at it! We quickly disconnected the car and left it behind in our spot and set off on the 2 mile journey to the shop.

We were booked in and told that the tech was just finishing another job and would be on ours shortly. The tech questioned Art closely about what the previous shops had done, and neither of us were terribly impressed with the lack of detail on the work orders. We were also told that we were not allowed in the shop area nor in the rig while they were working on it so Gillian took the dogs for a walk and Art took the latest issue of the FMCA magazine into the waiting room. We also noted that the shop closed at 6:30, and the time by our clocks said it was already 5:30 and were surprised they took the appointment. Then we realised that Arizona is on Standard Time, so in reality to was only 4:30!

When Art sat down to read his magazine, he glanced at the stack of reading material on the table – the last several issues of FMCA Magazine-- the shop is an FMCA Commercial member. After a bit the tech came in to have Art come out to look at the fridge burner—Again covered in dirt and flakes of rust. He returned a bit later to say that also the burner jet appeared to be bent and was stuck in the fitting. It could be damaged in the removal process but he would try to get it out and straighten it. Otherwise, it would require a complete burner assembly—waiting for parts again!!!! But he was successful in removing it and partially successful in straightening it.



Art happily paid the very reasonable bill and by 7:00 PM we were back at Pine Shadows, the Explorer 75A was up and the Starchoice receiver was working—though we had missed the 6 o'clock news. Maybe we can stay awake for the 10:00 news.Later note: 10 days later the fridge is still working fine.




This morning we went looking for Trekker's 5 month supply of grain free dog food and as usual, found a good choice at a farm feed store, Olsens Grain in Flagstaff, only a 10 minute drive from the RV Park. We loaded up along with a few special goodies for the dogs and returned to the park to get ready to leave. We discovered that there was room the motorhome and car in tow if we just parked on the street beside the store, but it was just as well—finding places to stow 4 large bags of dogfood while the slides were in and the dogs underfoot would have been a chore. As it was we were on the highway to Phoenix at 11:25 by our time pieces and 10:25 by Arizona's clocks. An hour and a half or so later we pulled into a rest area just north of Phoenix for lunch—and of course to set up the Explorer to record “Destinos”; This was Episodio 1 – which we had missed recording some months ago.


At 3:45 PM (Arizona time) we stopped for almost an hour for fuel and a rest at the Flying J in Eloy then our last stage of the day, a bit less than 2 hours to the Prince of Tuscon RV Park where we will stay for a couple of nights. This will give us a full day for a rest and an opportunity to pick up a few last minute things before crossing the border into Mexico on Sunday morning. And they have a hot tub!


Fuel at the Flying J: 203.3 litres--again! $143.67 US this time though.

Most of these days were over fairly flat ground, but we were impressed the the mileage: 11.52 miles per imperial gallon (9.57/mpg using US measure.)

Bryce Canyon, Utah

We woke this morning to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof! Serves us right for the chuckling last night as we watched the Victoria weather forecast!

As the morning progressed things didn't improve any but we decided to press on exploring anyway.

Highway 12, the road that takes us to the turn off to Bryce Canyon runs through Red Canyon--with it's own interesting rock formations, in a couple of instances the road runs through the rock itself.

This entry will be mostly photos. For more pics and info click http://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm

Remember--click on a photo to enlarge it, then use the back arrow to return to the blog page.


Red Canyon


















Bryce Canyon National Park

From some of the viewpoints, on clear days, the horizon is some 250 miles away; visibility only being limited by the curvature of the earth!

Rainbow Point is at the end of the road in Bryce Canyon National Park. They suggested that we drive to the end first and visit the various viewpoints on the way down, which is what we did. The photos are more or less in that order.

Even though it was mid week in October and the weather was not conducive to out door activity the park was fairly busy--there were several people at each stop. We hate to think what traffic would be in mid summer.
















These hardy guys were discussing whether or nor they should re-think their clothing choice!











Some of these photos may be attached to the wrong sign, but won't be far off. Sometimes we snapped the sign before taking the pictures and sometime after!

















In spite of all the information and notices about not feeding the wildlife people obviously do. This fellow perched right beside Gillian looking for a handout.







This formation was immense. The picture doesn't do justice to its majesty or vibrancy of its colours.




























Did I mention that it was cold? We use this thermometer in Mexico to make sure the dogs are not too hot. We can peek in the window to check the temperature with out disturbing them. Art decided to hang the outside sensor out the car window while we were parked at one of the view points to see if was as cold as it felt. It was.




































Fuel in Beaver Utah; 203.3 litres, $147.00 US

Mexico Again! 2009/2010

Once again we are southbound! Though not without "issues" Yes, "issues" again!

One of the luxuries Art HAD to have for the trip this year was a fully automatic seeking satellite dish for our Starchoice satellite TV system. This will allow us to keep up with news and (giggle) weather reports from home. The manual dish was sometimes difficult to aim, some times we would give up, and not get it working for a few days. This one would only take minutes and therefore should allow us to check in almost daily. The only drawback is that to move the dish we'll have to move the motorhome! We will have to be a bit more careful when parking that there is a clear shot to the south. Parking under trees could prove a problem!

Due to a series of things out of our control, the dish wasn't installed in August as hoped, it didn't get done until a few weeks before departure. We tested it while parked in the drive way in front of the house and the system worked extremely well. On the plus side of the delay was we got the very latest system--we only hope it was well tested! It's quite neat watching the dish turn this way and that, twisting left and right, moving up and down, then finally locking on to the signal.

Those of you who followed our last year's blog will remember the ongoing adventures. This year's adventures began with our discovery, just a few weeks before our planned departure, that the fridge in the motorhome is on the recall list--risk of fire!

We contacted Norcold ( the fridge manufacturer) who confirmed the recall and promised to ship the modification parts to the dealer as soon as the dealer contacted Norcold. An immediate phone call to Triangle RV in Sidney solicited a promise to get on it at once, as they knew we were leaving shortly. We made a tentative appointment for 10 days later, a Monday. A week or so later, the Friday afternoon, Triangle phoned to say that the parts were not in yet so they canceled the Monday appointment, saying they would reschedule the moment the parts arrived. The following Wednesday evening Triangle called--the parts were in, the first available appointment time was Thursday, October 15th! Our departure day!

So much for the 10:30 ferry to Port Angeles. By taking this ferry we miss all the heavy traffic through Vancouver and the Seattle corridor and pick up the I-5 freeway just south of Olympia Washington. This gives us a leisurely picturesque trip along the inland waterway of Puget Sound and we make our first night's stop near Portland Oregon.

We had not realised that the fridge would have to be removed so we had loaded up before we left home, so on arrival at Triangle RV Art had to unload the fridge and freezer. They kindly loaned a large cooler which held all the frozen food, (prawns-smokies-cheese) and the rest he just placed on the dogs bed (dinette) and covered with a blanket.

They worked quickly getting the job done with time to spare to install a light fixture that had failed some weeks ago--the replacement had just arrived the day before! As it was, we were in plenty of time for the 4:00 PM sailing (there are only 2 per day) . . . and so we had time to watch and record episode 46 of "Destinos" (a tele-course in Spanish that we want to review) right there in the ferry lineup, thanks to our newly installed automatic Starchoice satellite dish! It's a tough life!

We had mostly light rain for the first evening's drive and as we were both tired, having been up since 6:30 AM, we spent the night in the first Rest Area south of Olympia Washington. We woke up in the morning to find that the fridge "Flame Out" alarm going "ding-ding-ding". The fridge restarted ok, but the problem resurface a couple of times more that day, and next day we gave up and turned on the inverter and ran the fridge on A.C. as long as the engine was running to keep the batteries up. We finally got it fixed Monday morning in Draper, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City)

Friday night we overnighted again in a Rest Area, now in eastern Oregon up on Highway 84 just about clear of the Blue Mountains. From mid Oregon on the weather improved markedly and became quite pleasant.

Idaho along the I-84 was as we remembered, a bit boring. Not a lot to see. We passed and were passed by several very large loads of potatoes, so we knew we were in Idaho. We did stop for fuel near Twin Falls,

Gillian remembering this Flying J as the one where a couple of years ago we found the mobile mechanic service which fixed for the final time the alternator problem in our previous rig which had been plaguing us since northern Mexico.

Saturday we stopped in Brigham City Utah , staying at the Golden Spike RV Park which we knew, and also remembered a very nice bakery on the corner. As it was very close to closing time, Gillian got dropped off and Art carried on the last block to the park to register and get set up.

Sunday had a slow start, after visiting with 3 young men from England who last year had traveled extensively in Mexico by RV. We didn't get away until 1:30 to stop a couple of hours south in Provo Utah, to be nearer the RV service shop where we hoped to get the fridge fixed.

As we fired up the rig and prepared to depart everything was fine except the front air pressure gauge was reading zero! However, as the air suspension had come up and the low air alarm had was not sounding, we r

ealised that once again there was probably a poor electrical connection at the gauge. This had happened once before, on our way home last year so we carried on.

A couple of hours later we stopped at a park we have visited a couple of times in the past, the Lakeside RV Park where there is a nice riverside walking trail and is adjacent to a State Park. Here we hoped to e-mail and do the laundry but couldn't get the internet to work and since is was Sunday there was no one in the office to sort it out. Gillian did get the laundry done however, while Art filled and drained the appropriate water tanks. He then dis

covered that the car battery was dead. When being towed, the auxiliary brake system takes power from the car battery--3 days of towing and braking had taken its toll. He pulled out our battery charger and got that set up, fortunately the battery recovered by the end of the day. The next job was to remove the console cover to check the air pressure gauge. Re-seating the plug firmly into the back of the gauge cured the problem once again. For how long? We'll have to wait and see.

Monday morning we arrived at the RV shop at about 8:30. They got us in quickly, diagnosed and worked on the problem while we stayed in the rig and had breakfast!

After breakfast Art took the car to supply store still trying to find some replacement cubing for the motorhome windshield washers. -- That's another story. We had noticed that the Tracker wasn't idling this morning, and in fact would stall if not given a bit of throttle. On the way back from the partially successful parts hunt he noticed an auto service centre a few blocks from the RV shop so he pulled in. They were able to get him in right away and had a look while Art went across the mall for a coffee.

Here he noticed that the coffee had a funny taste that he recognised immediately: For some strange reason the first sign of illness is that coffee tastes "funny", almost a metallic taste. That would explain why Art had been a bit tired and out of sorts for that last day or two. A bug was attacking! Oh well, not much to do about it.

He returned to the auto shop and had a chat with the mechanic. Art had told him about the dead battery yesterday and had asked him to check it. The mechanic said that the battery tested "good" and asked if had been completely dead. When Art assured him that it had been, he told Art that the car's electronic memory had forgotten all the parameters and would have to re-learn such things as how much fuel it needed at idle etc., which it would do after 30 or so starts and stops and a few miles of driving. It was already improving. There was no charge for this!! Art gave him some dollars anyway and told him to buy box of donuts or something for the shop.

Back at the RV shop everything was done so we paid the bill and were soon on our way again .

Weather was still very pleasant, the drive comfortable--Art and Gillian sharing the driving while Trekker checked out the RV Park possibilities in the Woodall's book.

Which brings us tonight to the Hitch-N-Post Campground in Panguitch, Utah. We will spend tomorrow exploring and touring Bryce Canyon.

Gillian is very pleased that she did the laundry yesterday !

Fuel this leg, 131.6 liters., though not filled to the top. We started this trip from home with 300 kilometres on a full tank.