A Quick Stopover in Phoenix - Monday, March 7, 2016

Today's destination was Lake Pleasant Regional Park northwest of Phoenix. We had another long travel day from Deming, NM, to the northwest side of Phoenix. Our goal was to be in the regional park all set up and then meet up with Bob's aunt and uncle, Skip and Sally, at 4:00 pm. We arrived at the park a little later than we thought, so we called Skip and Sally to let them know we'd be arriving about 5:00 pm.

Aunt Sally prepared a wonderful dinner of chili, cornbread, and salad. We visited until about 8:00 pm, then had to head out so Bob could purchase a charger for his work MiFi. (He left his at the office in San Antonio.) As we drove toward Best Buy, I noticed the battery light on the truck dash and asked Bob what that meant. He thought either the battery or alternator was going out. As we drove, we looked for a repair shop that he might return to on Tuesday morning for a diagnosis of the problem. Plus, our AC was not staying cold. It would be cold for a while, then just blow out warm air. Hmm.

After the purchase of a charger at Best Buy, we filled The Beast with diesel and headed back to Lake Pleasant. We were exhausted so we got a good night's sleep. At 7:15 a.m., Bob was out the door to try to be the first in line at the repair shop. Two minutes later he was back in the 5th wheel. The truck wouldn't start. He asked the campground host if they could jump start his truck and they said no, they couldn't. When he returned to our campsite, the people camping across from us were having their morning coffee and Bob asked them. He was very happy to help out and within minutes, Bob's truck was humming nicely.

He left for the repair shop we had seen. About an hour later he called me and said the repair shop he went to couldn't look at it until the afternoon. There was a guy in line behind Bob who heard about our predicament. He stopped Bob and gave him the phone number of Impact Diesel Auto and Truck Repair shop he takes his truck to. Bob called Impact Diesel and explained the problem. The mechanic said it sounded like the alternator was going out and if he brought the truck over, they could work on it right away.

When Bob got there, they tested the truck and it was the alternator. The mechanic said he could fix it, but he needed to order the part from Ford. Bob asked how long that would take. The guy said, "After we talked and I knew you were coming over, I ordered the part. It should be here shortly." Bob was thrilled. Not only that but the mechanic told Bob that his truck batteries were 2-1/2years old and it's normally good to replace the batteries when the alternator is replaced. He said the batteries were still under warranty so Bob could get two new batteries and would only have to pay for the labor to install them. Cool! Speaking of cool, we also had new Freon put into the air conditioner. We were happy so many things on the truck were fixed at once.

After the truck was fixed, Bob gave me a call to let me know he'd be back to the campsite in 1/2 hour. I got everything ready to go, pulled in the slides and took some photos of our site and the lake. Check-out time from Lake Pleasant Regional Park is noon and we pulled out at exactly noon.

The view from our back window - pull-through site #25

Lake Pleasant Regional Park -
pull-through site #25

Lake Pleasant

In addition to the pick-up truck problems, the top step of the 5th wheel came undone on one side so that it felt like the top step was collapsing when you stepped on that side of it, and our living room fan now has a broken blade. If it's not one thing it's something else. Those two repairs will have to wait.

We're off to Las Vegas!