So near and yet so far
I want to thank all of you who wished me a happy birthday. I am calling this one the birthday that wasn't. I had hoped to spend the day with my Mother in Portland, OR where I was born November 8, 1940 around 7 am.
Monday I phoned Detroit Diesel to find out where to take our motorhome to have the coolant situation evaluated. The official dealer is in Ridgefield, WA about 20 miles north west of Portland. I phoned them and they couldn't schedule us until Tuesday and it would involve an overnight stay to evaluate whether we had a cold temperature leak so I arranged for us to spend the night in their entry Monday night so Tuesday morning the technicians could see if there was a leak.
Tuesday morning we got up early for us so the mechanic could take the coach. We went to a local truck stop type cafe for breakfast and then went back to the dealers waiting room. We asked for a progress report at 1 and were told that they had the cooling system under pressure for some period of time and could find no evidence of a leak. So they were going to drain the water we had put in so we could run the engine. Then they went after air leaks. They found several cleaned up the valves and effectively sealed up several of the leaks but when they had the rig over the pit found that two of our driver wheels seals had leaked and gotten into the brakes plus we only had about 30 percent of our brakes left. They could work on it the next day, so we agreed to spend the night in our motorhome outside the shop and to get up way too early so they could start work at 7 am.
So here it is 4 in the afternoon, we had to dump the holding tanks as the black water one was full and we were out of water in our fresh water tank. I talked to Mother and we decided it wasn't really a good idea for us to drive over to Portland to go out to eat when it would take us almost an hour to get there after we had taken care of the coach. So all my plans/fantasy about how I would spend my birthday were nowhere near being realized. No official birthday portrait by my great photographer spouse, no pleasant carefree day spent with Mom ending with a nice meal. Plus all those hours of labor at $89 an hour were adding up.
We took care of draining the tanks and adding water at a rest stop a mile from the dealers. Parked at the dealers, plugged in the electricity so the refrigerator got some juice, turned on the propane heat and left for dinner. We found a place in Hazel Dell called The Peach Tree as I didn't want to go back to the truck stop cafe for a 4th meal.
I should have, I would have had better and friendlier service. The Italian Wedding soup was too salty, the vegetables were part raw and part overcooked and totally inedible. The baked potato was steamed in aluminum foil which tastes funny to me. The steak was acceptable and the pie was good. I didn't complain and was pleasant but this birthday sucked big time except for the birthday wishes from my LJ friends and the other E cards I received. Laurelei and True Bane phoned to sing to me and my baby sister phoned.
Wednesday we were at the dealer's waiting room all day again. We ate the cinnamon roll I was given for my BDay at the truck stop. What a strange roll with icing that thick and gooey and tasteless. Lunch was better, we went a few miles north to Woodland and had lunch at The Oak Tree, a very nice restaurant. i wish we had eaten there the night before. I told Wayfinder I felt like I was in the last century with decor and furniture. He looked around and said perhaps the century prior to the last one complete with madrigals for music. Lunch was delicious and they had Green Goddess salad dressing which no place has any more.
The wheels seals got taken care of, we got new rear brakes, and to fix all the air leaks the air dryer had to be replaced. At 5 o'clock they told us that our bill would add up to about $2400 and there was some more labor to be done but they were not going to charge us for any more hours. Oh and bye the way your tag axle tires are weather checked and you might want to get them checked out. Why not, it's only money.
We went to Appleby's for dinner and when we got back the motorhome was outside.
We spent the night on the street outside the dealers AGAIN Wednesday night.
The dial up was painfully slow and I couldn't do anything but download email for 3 days.
I will write about todays adventures tomorrow as this is already too long.
Monday I phoned Detroit Diesel to find out where to take our motorhome to have the coolant situation evaluated. The official dealer is in Ridgefield, WA about 20 miles north west of Portland. I phoned them and they couldn't schedule us until Tuesday and it would involve an overnight stay to evaluate whether we had a cold temperature leak so I arranged for us to spend the night in their entry Monday night so Tuesday morning the technicians could see if there was a leak.
Tuesday morning we got up early for us so the mechanic could take the coach. We went to a local truck stop type cafe for breakfast and then went back to the dealers waiting room. We asked for a progress report at 1 and were told that they had the cooling system under pressure for some period of time and could find no evidence of a leak. So they were going to drain the water we had put in so we could run the engine. Then they went after air leaks. They found several cleaned up the valves and effectively sealed up several of the leaks but when they had the rig over the pit found that two of our driver wheels seals had leaked and gotten into the brakes plus we only had about 30 percent of our brakes left. They could work on it the next day, so we agreed to spend the night in our motorhome outside the shop and to get up way too early so they could start work at 7 am.
So here it is 4 in the afternoon, we had to dump the holding tanks as the black water one was full and we were out of water in our fresh water tank. I talked to Mother and we decided it wasn't really a good idea for us to drive over to Portland to go out to eat when it would take us almost an hour to get there after we had taken care of the coach. So all my plans/fantasy about how I would spend my birthday were nowhere near being realized. No official birthday portrait by my great photographer spouse, no pleasant carefree day spent with Mom ending with a nice meal. Plus all those hours of labor at $89 an hour were adding up.
We took care of draining the tanks and adding water at a rest stop a mile from the dealers. Parked at the dealers, plugged in the electricity so the refrigerator got some juice, turned on the propane heat and left for dinner. We found a place in Hazel Dell called The Peach Tree as I didn't want to go back to the truck stop cafe for a 4th meal.
I should have, I would have had better and friendlier service. The Italian Wedding soup was too salty, the vegetables were part raw and part overcooked and totally inedible. The baked potato was steamed in aluminum foil which tastes funny to me. The steak was acceptable and the pie was good. I didn't complain and was pleasant but this birthday sucked big time except for the birthday wishes from my LJ friends and the other E cards I received. Laurelei and True Bane phoned to sing to me and my baby sister phoned.
Wednesday we were at the dealer's waiting room all day again. We ate the cinnamon roll I was given for my BDay at the truck stop. What a strange roll with icing that thick and gooey and tasteless. Lunch was better, we went a few miles north to Woodland and had lunch at The Oak Tree, a very nice restaurant. i wish we had eaten there the night before. I told Wayfinder I felt like I was in the last century with decor and furniture. He looked around and said perhaps the century prior to the last one complete with madrigals for music. Lunch was delicious and they had Green Goddess salad dressing which no place has any more.
The wheels seals got taken care of, we got new rear brakes, and to fix all the air leaks the air dryer had to be replaced. At 5 o'clock they told us that our bill would add up to about $2400 and there was some more labor to be done but they were not going to charge us for any more hours. Oh and bye the way your tag axle tires are weather checked and you might want to get them checked out. Why not, it's only money.
We went to Appleby's for dinner and when we got back the motorhome was outside.
We spent the night on the street outside the dealers AGAIN Wednesday night.
The dial up was painfully slow and I couldn't do anything but download email for 3 days.
I will write about todays adventures tomorrow as this is already too long.