Tempe, or Bust!

Well, we almost got "busted", by equipment problems enroute, but somehow we made it with two Penske rental trucks loaded with almost our entire worldly possessions.  Lanie and I had already been down in Tempe, AZ for over a month before flying "home" to Eugene on Oct 29th, preparing to pack up our household goods, packed away in two storage units there since the sale of our house in May, 2013, and head to our new home in Tempe, AZ. We had precious little time to catch up with good friends in Eugene before getting down to the business of packing up and heading out. For that, we had the help, on Saturday, Nov 1st, of two hired hands from a local moving company, plus brother-in-law, Bret and his wife, Mickey.

 By Saturday night, we were all packed up and ready to go... sort of... it's hard leaving a town we'd both lived in for all (Lanie's) and most (Me) of our lives.  Good friends Connie and Addison had put us up (again) for our short stay in Eugene; and we were grateful (again) for their hospitality.  And then, Sunday around Noon, son-in-law, Drew, flew in from Denver as our "hired driver" for one of the Penske's (Lanie was to fly back to the Phoenix Valley Monday). Drew barely had time to get his feet on the ground in Eugene before he and I were headed down the highway Sunday afternoon on our 1250 mile trek to Tempe.

At a rest area near Roseburg, OR, My rig plus "Tessie", the Toyota, on a tow dolly behind

Day 1 – Sunday, Nov 2^nd – Intended Destination– Ashland, 190 miles -   Actual Achieved – Same

Okay, things started out well enough on that Sunday afternoon, except for when we had to park the  rigs that evening at a “too small” Hotel Parking lot in Ashland.  But before that, I discovered that my rig, the "Yellow Penske", a diesel,  loaded to the max and also towing "Tessie" (our Toyota RAV4), herself heavily loaded with boxes of dishes and fine china, was a  real "Pig" on the passes between Roseburg and Grants Pass.  We got down to 35 mph or slower several times, with my right foot urgently pressing the accelerator to the floor as we chugged up the inclines.  So it was a SLOW trudge down to Ashland, not a promising sign with the much higher and more difficult Siskiyou Pass looming the next morning... 

But, back to the Parking Lot Debacle.  I had been assured by Hotel Staff in Ashland that there was plenty of parking for "big rigs" in and around the hotel.  However, they would not let me, with my Yellow Penske and attached "Tesssie Tow Dolly", occupy most of the back half of their hotel parking lot.  So it was on to the street we went, to a cul-de-sac turnaround that he hotel clerk (again) assured me was plenty big enough to accommodate my truck and attached trailer.  

IT WASN'T!  Midway through the circle, I had the truck tires pressed to the curb, the trailer behind me was nearly jackknifed, and I was "stuck".  But Drew, up in the hotel room, and with a good view out the window of my predicament, came down to help guide me; and we were eventually able to inch our way out of a big jam and park on the street heading out to the highway.  Then, next morning, early, we were off, RIGHT ON SCHEDULE (the last time we could say that during the entire trip).

Drew walking away from his rig during a stop near Roseburg, OR.

Day 2 – Monday, Nov 3^rd – Intended Destination – Lost Hills, CA, 520 miles – Actual – 360 miles, overnighting in Paterson, CA.

Monday morning went well... it was the afternoon that unraveled in a hurry... but more on that later.  Anyhow, we chugged up the Siskiyou Pass out of Ashland.... VERY SLOWLY!.. the speedometer on my truck dropping all the way to about 28 MPH as we crested the summit. And for the next 100 miles or so it was slow slogging as well as we went UP and DOWN, and so forth and so on, until we cleared Shasta Lake and dropped into Redding and Red Bluff.  We'd survived the hilly Northern part of our route, and were on the flats of North/Central California, setting sights on Lost Hills, CA, just above Bakersfield,

At Weed, CA rest area, Mt. Shasta up close and personal!

And we started to make better time on the long, mostly straight, if also boring, stretches of I5 between Red Bluff and LA.... UNTIL we weren't!  But we'll get to that "UNTIL" bit in just a bit. First, have to explain that  I5 in this stretch clear of the mountains of Northern California is REALLY boring; and, since the Penske Diesel I was driving was so noisy I couldn't hope to hear the radio, I did the next best thing to combat boredom, singing my own songs, no doubt off key (trust me, my singing in a noisy truck cab with nobody else around is the only safe time for me to be opening my mouth like that.... I'm a terrible singer!).  So there I was cruising into and outta the greater Sacramento area, and belting out some great travel related lyrics from back in various days, like; 1) "Hit The Road Jack" (Ray Charles); 2) "Coming into Los Angeles, bringing in a couple of ki's, but don't touch my bags if you please, Mister Customs Man (That's a catchy tune I've always liked... but what the heck is a  "Ki(lo)"?.); 3) of course "On the Road Again" (Willie Nelson)... my personal theme song the last year and a half; and 4), rather oddly, given I was in California heading to Phoenix, "I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come" (Wilbert Harrison).

Uh Oh, should have taken that last song as an omen, since, the last time we were actually in the vicinity of Kansas City, in June of this year, we had a blowout on one of the 5th Wheel Tires, which delayed us in KC for a time.  So there I was singing "Going to Kansas City" and other songs, and somewhere Southwest of Sacramento and Fresno,  when my dashboard started beeping at me, a "low coolant" level warning, followed by a warning/directive to "STOP ENGINE"... It took me awhile to realize "Big Brother" (the Truck computer) meant "STOP NOW"... Soon, my engine, directed, not by me, but by "Big Brother", was slowing down, then stopping as I pulled off to the shoulder of I5. NOW WHAT?

 (AS Jonah Bug, our Grandson, would say ) Uh Oh!... Unplanned Shut Down along I5 South of Sacramento and Fresno

Drew had pulled to the side behind me, and, after a brief discussion, he agreed to head 2 miles down the road to the Next Freeway Exit and get a hotel room; as it was clear that Lost Hills, our intended destination that evening, but still 3 hours away, was "LOST" for the night, jinxed perhaps by that damn Kansas City song!

 I called Penske roadside service, and about half an hour later a "White Knight" (service truck) appeared on the horizon and pulled up in front of my stalled vehicle... He took one look at the engine and coolant reservoir, pronounced that I was short on coolant (Duh!) and added a gallon jug of water to the reservoir, telling me there was probably a slow leak in the system; but,  with the reservoir now full, I could probably make it the rest of the way to the Phoenix Valley.  He left me another jug of water, just in case, and a box of See's chocolate (he'd received a case of the chocolates from an ealier service customer that day).

A "Care Package" from the service guy, a jug of water (to replace lost coolant) and a box of See's Chocolates

So Drew and I were now over-nighting in the "middle of nowhere" in Central California, I'd finally stopped singing that damn  "Kansas City" song,  and we both realized reaching Tempe (still 700 or so miles away) by the next evening was a "pipe dream"... We re-evaluated, which included, for me, a retreat to the bottle, namely a "Lucky Bastard" Ale, brought to you by the same company that introduced Arrogant Bastard Ale to the World several years back.  The ale was very good, if also quite ironic.... I mean "Lucky Bastard" seemed like the ultimate oxymoron at that point in our journey.   But tomorrow would be better... wouldn't it?

My Ale of choice Monday evening, perhaps an "Oxymoron" given the days events

Day 3 – Tuesday, Nov 4^th –  (Original) Intended Destination – Tempe AZ, 540 miles (from the "lost" Lost Hills Stop) – Actual - 200 miles, struggling into Bakersfield, CA for repairs in afternoon

So we were off early the next morning, re-adjusting our goals on the fly to now expect, rather than arriving in Tempe that afternoon, to overnight instead in Blythe, CA near the Arizona border, which would leave us with a relatively short 160 mile jaunt into Tempe the next morning.  So much for (already re-adjusted) plans.  Barely 120 miles or so down the freeway this day, "Big Brother" interrupted to inform me that he was shutting down the damn truck yet again for the same reason, "Low Coolant Level"... Obviously, we still had a problem!

But I had extra coolant, that jug of water left me by the first service man the day before, and I added it then; Drew and I discussed "trying" to get to our next scheduled fuel stop 40 miles down the road, somewhat ironically (there's that word again) in Lost Hills, our "lost destination" from the previous day.  So we headed out again, and, YES, we made it with no further interference from "Big Brother"!.  But, after fueling up, we re-checked the coolant levels, finding them down halfway to "warning levels" in just 40 miles; obviously this wasn't good.  So we placed another call to Penske roadside service, and they quickly dispatched another service man. Irony reigned again on this trip as Drew and I both realized we were now parked in a gravel lot right next to the Hotel in Lost Hills we'd intended to be staying at the previous night; clear proof that we were exactly a day behind schedule, if not worse; we still had a sick truck to contend with after all.

About an hour later Steve, from a Truck Service company in Bakersfield, 40 miles away, arrived to declare that 1) we indeed had a leak, in the coolant hose; and 2) it needed to be fixed.  Steve gave us a choice... he could drive back to Bakersfield, pick up a hose and drive back (another two hours at least), or we could follow him back to his shop in Bakersfield, and he could repair it there.  Bakersfield was just that much further along (40 miles actually) on our route to Tempe, so the choice was easy.  Off we went, already resigned to over-nighting in Bakersfield, this on a day we expected to be relaxing in Tempe.

So it took another couple hours after arriving in Bakersfield for Steve and crew (see pic below) to craft ("jury rig") a replacement hose for my truck's coolant system.  But they finished eventually and we were ready to head off Wednesday morning. Can't thank Steve and associates at JTS Truck Repair in Bakersfield for their assistance enough!

Steve (in fluorescent green vest) and pals gathering around our "Sick Penske", Bakersfield, OR, Tues, Nov 4th

 

Drew hanging out in Bakersfield, why is he standing so close to Tessie?

Oh Gawd, the ramp is down, Drew might be escaping  to Colorado!... or perhaps not! (it was all a staged event, I think)

That night Drew and I could really only laugh (better than crying) at the sequence of events leading us to us spending our time at the end of this day, not in Tempe as originally expected, but in Bakersfield, CA.  The sobering thought was we still had 500 miles to go, and all this with a "jury-rigged" (by Steve) coolant hose (since the factory hose replacement would not be available until another day later).

Day 4 – Wednesday, Nov 5^th – (Original) Intended Destination – NONE, WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN TEMPE BY THE PREVIOUS DAY, FOR GAWD'S SAKE! – Actual - 500 miles, Bakersfield  to Tempe

Okay, nothing really went wrong on this day, my Birthday as a matter of fact.  We survived the grinding Tehachapi Pass out of Bakersfield with NO loss of coolant in my Penske diesel (Steve and company had done their repair well), jockeyed with semis down the rather hairy long downgrade into San Bernadino, and trekked across the Mojave Desert to Arizona, arriving in the greater Phoenix area just in time for "Rush Hour"... Oh Joy!... A slow crawl over the last 20 miles of our journey in rush hour traffic ended eventually at our new home in Tempe.  We made it!   And all of us, Drew, Lanie and I, joined by Tempe based daughter, Emily, celebrated that night at Oregano's Pizza, one of our favorite eating places in Tempe.

All of which led to another crew, with Lanie and I helping as we could, unloading us the next morning.  It may take us a few weeks to unpack everything, but we, and our belongings,  are here at last; with a huge thank you to Drew for soldiering on through 3 1/2 days driving the rental trucks ; and a special thanks to Steve and crew in Bakersfield for keeping us going!

Our "Guest Bedroom" in Tempe, post un-loading, "pick a box and make yourself comfortable!!"