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2023 Trip #2 – Grand Canyon to Tucumcari

From Lake Havasu State Park we drove to Grand Canyon’s Trailer Court RV Campground in a day. Interstate 40 from Kingman, AZ to Williams, AZ was HORRIBLE! Avoid at all costs. On our return trip, we’re going to travel on old Route 66 instead.

Shortly after arriving in Trailer Court RV Campground, we set off for a short (1.5 mile) walk to the Grand Canyon – just as we did when we camped here before in 2019.

Starlink

It’s everywhere . . .

El Tovar

We stayed in the El Tovar Hotel in 1974. It was incredible. We rented an upper floor patio that faced the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Panorama

Homolovi Ruins State Park

Our first stop after leaving the Grand Canyon . . .

Tecumcari

While traveling to our next campground in New Mexico, we received a text message from the RV park saying they had to cancel our 2-day reservation because the campground was badly damaged in a fall flood the night before.

2023 Trip #1 – We’re Off

Our first stop was an RV park in Bakersfield (180 miles). On Monday, it was on to a KOA in Barstow (140 miles), then to the Lake Havasu State Park on Tuesday (another 180 miles).

We’re in Lake Havasu City until Friday. It’s a chance to meet old friends, dine out, and shop before leaving for the Grand Canyon.

A day after we arrived in Lake Havasu, we had our RV’s living room slide out fixed. I suspected that a slide out shear bolt had broken which was causing the slide to go out and come in unevenly. When we were in Mariposa we received two quotes on getting the slide out repaired – one quote was for about $250, another for over $700. And those prices were for just showing up!

Our Lake Havasu RV repairman fixed it for $175.

Our campsite came with its own “private beach” on Lake Havasu. Flirt loved it . . .

Our Jeep Blew Up!

Yep. Our 2008 Jeep Wrangler gave up the ghost a little over a week ago. It went like this . . .

After I stopped by Bob Blackburn’s Mountain Automotive and RV Center (where we get our RV and Jeep serviced), I tried starting our Jeep which I had just driven to Bob’s a few minutes ago. However, as soon as I turned the ignition key I knew immediately that the engine had “blown”. It raced, faltered, and make very loud knocking noises that shook the whole vehicle.

We had been having some issues with rough starting for a week or so, but didn’t think much it. Boy, were we wrong.

Bob (of Bob Blackburn’s) gave a listen and pronounced it DOA. He figured a piston was destroyed and that the Jeep would need a new engine. That’s about $6 to $12k. More than our Jeep was worth, so it was a total loss . . .

. . . and there is about 2 weeks left before we’re supposed to leave on our cross country RV trip, and we have no car. Super.

So after owning our 2008 Jeep Wrangler for 6 years we sold it for a pittance to an auto mechanic who plans to install a new engine.

Now we need to find a new used car – fast. And we did . . . thanks to some of Jan’s Mariposa friends with local connections.

Long story short . . . we rented a car, found a used 2011 Honda CR-V and bought it 3 days ago. In the 3 days we’ve owned it, Bob Blackburn’s moved the RV braking system from our dead Jeep to our Honda. And today a local mechanic installed a towing system on our Honda. The mechanic worked 12 hours and said he loved doing it!

Good Karma’s back . . . at least for the moment.