Apr 14, 2015
RV break down and our last night in the USA
It rained off and on all night. This morning it was damp and chilly and definitely time to pull out the fleece pants and tops. Welcome to the Pacific North West.
Once back on I5 we saw that some new snow had fallen overnight up in the hills.
It is a long drive and it was nice to see this odd RV on the road, a good distraction.
Obviously homemade. A young couple & a small infant were in the cab. Perhaps their real home for now.
It took a while to get through Portland, always so much traffic even at 9:30 AM. It is a beautiful city and I would love to spend more time visiting, it had been years and years since I spent any time there. Sadly the rest area just North of Portland was closed and we had to drive over 3 hours to the next open one. By then the girls were getting antsy. It had just finished raining when we stopped and the sun had come out and there was steam rising over the parking lot. The next rest area was only 36 miles away and then we would be traveling through Seattle. Yet another long drive ahead. Not my fault that first rest area was closed. So off we went. By now we just had the odd small drizzle. Colin was happy with the earlier rain as it now meant that the undercarriage of the RV was cleaned of any salt deposited by the ocean air. Once we get home and start to unload we will see if the new fiberglass job by Eric kept the rain out of the front basement. Fingers crossed.
We have never ever seen so much traffic on the road along I5 going into Seattle as we did today. We came to a stop a few times and it was only 1:00PM. Not sure what exit you take Croft to get to the ferry but be sure to allow some extra time. It was very slow going from Olympia North. As we got closer to Seattle traffic resumed normal speed.
About 1:30PM Colin quietly said to me, we have a problem. Meanwhile I had been wondering why the road had gotten so rough. Colin slowed and put the flashers on. There was no where to pull over. Traffic was heavy and the shoulder was narrow. Finally he found a spot and we pulled over.
Not a large shoulder and we rocked with each passing car but it was an exit only lane and mostly only cars were using this exit.
Colin got out and looked under the RV. The road had not gotten worse. Our rear airbags had deflated. No wonder the road seemed so rough. The front ones were fine and holding their air. I said “call someone” while he quietly thought about it. First he dropped the back jacks to raise the RV, then he dropped the front to support the RV.
Time to put on the coverall and some gloves and he went underneath.
“I can fix it” he said, “just need a screw driver”. He went back under yet again and after a few moments I heard and felt the RV go down on the back end. OMG was the RV falling on Colin. I was freaking out. I quickly got shoes on and was heading out the door when Colin emerged from under the RV. Thank goodness. He told me it was the the air bag re inflating itself. Well to me it seemed like the RV was going lower. Whatever….but most important was that he was safe and the RV was going to be alright. What had happened was that the control valve lever had wriggled out of its connection to the air bags. Likely due to the constant bouncing on Seattle’s famous rough roadways which are way worse than Mexico’s roads. Colin reconnected it and tighten the connection. We will have our Vancouver mechanic put a new clamp in it tomorrow.
Quick story here…last year when we had four new rear tires installed at Love’s, the mechanic put jacks under the RV rear axles and then crawled under the RV to lower the jacks and couldn’t get out. He was stuck. The new tires are slightly wider but slightly less in diameter ( so we can carry more vino/load ) which is why he got trapped. Colin had to put the jacks down and raise the back end so the fellow could get out. Another quick story, many years ago enroute to Acapulco and somewhere way south ( can’t remember where ), we hit a hidden tope ( due to trees and shade ) at a faster speed than we should have and the rear airbags deflated. It took a trucker who stopped to help and a Mexican mechanic and a lady who stopped to translate and in the end our control valve was reassembled. Colin is now very familiar with out airbags. You really need to be a jack of all trades when you own an RV.
Fifteen miles down the road we pulled off I5 and into a residential street. The only place we can park so Colin can walk 10 minutes to his chiropractor. He has been seeing this guy since the mid 70’s and this was his annual tune up.
Just over an hour later we drove another fifteen miles to the Marysville Walmart where we will spend our last night in the US and try to drink the rest of the wine 🙄 Tomorrow is our major annual RV checkup, this will be our 15th year with the same shop. We should get home by mid afternoon Thursday.
I sure hope that these temperatures will hold till we get home.
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Whew! Glad that everything worked out okay. You’re almost home. Hang in there.
(((HUGS)))
Whew is right…just need to cross that border.
I can’t believe you’re in Marysville already!
So glad the RV issue wasn’t major.
Hope you have a good crossing!
You can imagine how crazy I was. But it sorted itself out thanks to mi amore.
The rather dramatic ending to your last night in the US sure ended on a positive note and with fond memories of our Okanagan wine trail tour.
I so wish we had been able to meet in person last year. No matter my heart and thoughts are with you always.
What a day! Your arrival couldn’t be better weather wise – it’s been cold and windy today and for a few days now.
Please keep the sun shining, so much easier to unload 🙂
Just about perfect spring weather in the Okanagan. No more snow scheduled for the Coq either. I don’t know if you checked back, but the rest area with a sani dump is at exit 99 not long after Abbotsford. Easy access for your rig.
Thanks for the info re the Coq. rest area. Great idea but we plan to go a tad further and sleep at the Hope rest area so that won’t work as we will shower etc.
You were very lucky with the air bag issue. We turn off I-5 at Olympia so we miss the Seattle traffic, or should I say, parking lot.
Yes we were very lucky and I drank a full bottle of vino to relax. Good to hear that you turn off prior to the craziness. Keep us posted. Meanwhile enjoy your time on the Strip.
Sounds very stressful – but glad you had the correct recipe = “a full bottle of vino”….relaxation plus sleeping pill in one prescription. ..
We both slept well and are off in a few moments ready to cross the border in a few hours.
Sure is nice that it was and easy fix, like you said it sure pays to be handy when you own an rv.
Colin is not exactly handy but he can figure things out as he is very analytical. We were very lucky with this incident. Found out that the bedroom slide must have a leak as the bedroom carpet was wet in one area. Just enough to let us know we have to do yet another fix.
We are “once again” stuck in Laughlin, Nevada waiting out a wind warning. Croft will have the same wind in Boulder City. Supposed to die down a bit tomorrow and hopefully we can start north. Always a weather problem or an RV problem of some kind. Keeps us all on our toes! Safe travels.
It must have be a pretty severe wind to issue a warning. Certainly no fun for you.
Yes, we got the wind/dust here as well but just for one day. There must be ten pounds of fine dust in here!
That fine dust gets everywhere. Glad it moved on so you can party on 🙂
Wine still left after a winter away!!!!!! That would never happen here. Safe travels.
That wine was very carefully parceled out. We had a half bottle left when we crossed the border this morning. Can hardly wait to get some of our favorite BC wines.
Oh, that must have been hard, to try to drink the rest of the wine!! haha…. yes, to own an RV means you have to be mr fix-it!!! seems as if there is always something to keep one occupied and entertained 🙂 and it IS scary having to stop by the side of the road on I5!!!!
No worries, first thing we did once we got to Vancouver area was buy some wine. This is the 4th time we have been on the side side of I5, at least we didn’t have to be towed this time.