In anticipation of the upcoming Alaska run, I’ve ported the blog over to a new machine at a new location.
We purchased a place to park the Motorhome in Salinas, California and the webserver is now in the basement of the little shed we got with that property.
The old motorhome (our beloved Itasca) was getting a little long in the tooth and was starting to have issues, so we took her out for one last Caravan to pet whales in Mexico.
A number of minor adventures were had (afterall, it is Mexico) and some fascinating side trips to things in Mexico but we got back safe and sound with the once-in-a-lifetime experience of whale petting. Unfortunately too busy to take pictures of the whales…
When we got back to the United States, we sadly turned in our Itasca for a new Motorhome. We had looked at a lot of Motorhomes including our vendor of choice Winnebago/Newmar. Unfortunately the Winnebago offerings really did meet our needs and we settled on a Tiffin Phaeton 37BH that we custom ordered.
We picked up the Phaeton from Happy Daze in Sacramento (Kudos to you guys) and quickly learned why the Phaeton is the single best selling Motorhome in the market. We also learned you double check your toad (tow car) hookups.
When we finally got it home and parked in the lot in Salinas and tried to put the jacks down. We then noticed a growing pool of hydraulic flud on the ground. We had blown the hydraulics
A Trip to Red Bay
After calling around and realizing the locals really didn’t know how to fix the hydraulics and/or they would need it for a minimum of 6 months, we decided a trip to Red Bay Alabama was in order.
The Motorhome was built in Red Bay and one thing we learned with the Itasca, is that you cannot beat factory service. So we headed out to Red Bay. That jacks were lashed up, the slides were locked in which meant that home part of the Motorhome was pretty uncomfortable. So we drove hard and for long hours and got there in three days – even with some trouble towing the Toad.
The good folks at Tiffin have a special campground for warranty work complete with water, sewer and 50 Amp power.
After waiting three days to bubble to the top of the Queue, as predicted the wonderful Tiffin techs fixed the hydraulic problem and some other nits we had noticed during our short ownership.
Note: The good folks at Tiffin should expect to see us again after we get back from Alaska.
After we left Red Bay we visted our nephew Wyatt and who dances with the Memphis Ballet and of course no trip to Memphis is complete without a pilgrimage to Graceland. It should be noted that Claire fell in love with a vegetarian BBQ place.
After Graceland we made a fairy easy drive pass through Amarillo Texas, Home of the Cadillac Ranch and the Big Tex Steakhouse.
After Amarillo we continued our easy drive home, stopping in the town of Williams Arizona at a wonderful little rv park that is marked for a return visit.
We then made it home with no furthur issues