Quartzsite in December

The month of December went so fast that it's now time for us to wish everyone a very Happy New Year 2019!  We'd also like to share some of the highlights for this month, which are in no particular order.

Our grandson, Joseph, made Corporal at the military academy that he is attending in Camden, SC.   He is currently in ninth grade.   We are so proud of him!   His goal before he graduates is Second Lieutenant.  

The hiking paths in this area of the Desert are really nice so we take advantage of them whenever we can.

What a footprint!

It’s not everyday that you can have the Goodyear Blimp flying overhead.  This was such a surprise and so neat.

Friends ~  and a special Birthday to celebrate!

Louise & Glenn from "Beautiful British Columbia".
We met them at Five Palms (in California) boondocking back in 2013.  

Gee, I wonder who's Birthday we're celebrating???
The pizza at Silly Al's in Quartzsite is absolutely the best.

A new addition back in Minnesota.

(l-r) Kay's sister, Jan holding little Edward born Oct. 30; sister, Quinn who
will be 3 years old; Jeff's brother, Brian, holding Levi who will be 2.
Lots of time with these little ones!

More amazing splash-color sunsets ~

A little bit about Quartzsite, which lies in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, 879 feet above sea level.  It is world famous for its winter show season which starts January 5-14 with the Rock & Gem Show, then January 19-28 with the Tent Sale and finishing off January 20-28 with the RV Show.  

The town hosts thousands of vendors at these famous outdoor and indoor swap meets where shoppers can find anything and everything they could possibly want to buy.  Needless to say, with all of the people in this town the flag goes up and our next scheduled move will be Senator Wash near the Foothills of Yuma.

Here are a few fun things we'd like to share with you before we leave Quartzsite for now.

Anyone for a Bobblehead?

The nationally famous bookstore for a rather unique experience.  The only
thing missing at this visit was the owner who is also very unique.
I guess maybe he only comes out when the weather is much warmer.

What a collection of stuff - just need to blow some of the dust off first!.

Don't you just love his footwear? Ha-Ha.

The tomb of Quartzsite's famous Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly),
a camel driver who worked for the army in an
experiment to use camels as pack animals just
before the Civil War

And last but now least, Kay's new step hand made by Jeff.   Yahoo!

See you at Senator Wash with an update on a very special visitor that is traveling with us.  Hugs to all

More Phoenix Time Needed in November

I guess you could say that we feel like we pretty much bought stock in Cummins for the month of November; just a waiting “game” with their Service Department.  It was good that they have the site called “Camp Cummings” where people can park with 50 amp electrical hook-ups available while their rigs are being worked on during the day.

What a paint job!

Some of the people that we met while staying in the customer lounge.

Leilla & Greg, from Michigan, who wanted to know everything about boondocking.

Juliana, from California, who was having work
done on her Class B

We did, however, have to stay at a motel for one night as the work done on the coach needed the batteries to be disconnected.  This was definitely not good for us, or our cat, Abby.   She didn’t sleep so no one else did either.  That next day after another test drive of 6 miles was done on the coach, we got the okay that the check engine fault did not come back on.  (Note:  All of this work is being done to correct a problem.)  We were pretty pumped because all of our waiting time spent in the customer lounge area was going to come to an end. Kay actually cried from happiness! 

The 7 days spent at the dealer in November (plus the days we spent in October) was getting to wear on us.   But, little did we know that when getting on the road - after a mere 67 miles – we were going to get the dreaded “check engine” fault . . . again.  Yikes!!!!!  No way are we turning back to Phoenix just yet!  So, we continued our journey to Quartzsite and from there called Cummins to set up an appointment for the following week - after we had our foggy windows repaired.

We finally arrived in the Desert.

A much needed appointment to have our windows repaired.   They look like new and we highly recommend this company (based out of Lake Havasu City).

All windows were fixed in their parking lot in Quartzsite.

If you spend any time in Quartzsite you’ll come to find that there is perhaps someone in the area who can help you with a problem. And Jeff did find Dave’s Diesel Diagnostic Service on Main Street in Quartzsite for just that reason.  The way Jeff looked at it, he was going to do the leg work on just what needed to be done by Cummins in Phoenix before we got there.  

It was the best $100 we spent.  Jeff came away with detailed printout on the coach – from Cummins software - which gave us information on just what needed to be done to correct the problem. 
  

·        Fault Code 1878 – The after treatment diesel particulate filter outlet temperature sensor was not working with engine operating conditions

·        Fault Code 1667 – the after treatment diesel oxidation catalyst inlet temperature sensor was not working.
This information was emailed to the Service Manager and when we got back to Phoenix for another three days, Cummins installed a new after treatment jumper harness and all new after treatment temperature sensors.  the coolant level sensor was wired incorrectly.  They even determined that the ground strap on the engine block was missing.  Isn’t that odd? 
 We’re good now and even better because we are on the road back to Quartzsite.  No check engine fault messages coming up on our message board either.  One of the bits of info we found were that our ISL 8.9 is only operating at 27.5 percent!   We are happy campers - finally leaving the Phoenix area.
      
     

Hugs to all!