Phoenix, AZ and Gremlins!

Monday morning, March 8, we left Flagstaff for Phoenix. We took a side trip to Sedona and the Oak Creek Canyon. We drove out of the snow before we got to Sedona, which was snow-free. Sedona is an artsie tourist town, and since we could not find parking for the RV, we just left and drove through the Oak Creek Canyon. It had some very picturesque mountains and rock formations, but hardly any place to stop for sightseeing. We arrived in Phoenix, actually Surprise, and found a Walmart to stay at around 3:00pm.

To back up a bit, the night we stayed in Flagstaff and went to visit Brenda and Dave, the Tracker was acting up. (first Gremlin) It had a miss at low rpm and ran rough. So when we got to the Walmart in Surprise, I went to diagnose the problem, and found one of the plug wires had come loose. After putting it back on, it didn't run any better. We called Al and Carol and told them of our problem. We were less than 3 miles from their place, so Al came and picked us up. We had another wonderful visit with them and talked till well after 11:00, when Al graciously took us back to our motorhome.

As we prepared to go to bed, we found out we didn't have water. (second Gremlin) The pump didn't run. We washed up with the jugs of water we had bought and went to bed, hoping to quickly fix the problem in the morning.

Tuesday, March 9, I got up in the morning and worked on the water pump problem, but could not find what was wrong. I used the battery booster I carry along to run the pump, and that's how we're getting water now.

Al came by about 9:00 and we discussed what to do about the Tracker. I decided to replace the distributor cap, , rotor, the spark plugs and wires, which we finished up doing around 11:30. It ran better, but not as well as before. Also, lots of white smoke was coming out the tailpipe. NOT a good sign! We decided to leave it alone for now, and I'll work on it at a later date.

We then went back to Al and Carols and spent another great day with them. Carol prepared a wonderful dinner and we chatted till about 10:30. They drove us back to our moho and we said our goodbyes.

During the night the batteries got low and the heat shut off. So I got up to turn the generator on to charge the batteries. (Gremlin #3) The generator would not start from the switch on the dash. It was about 5:30 am, so I just threw another blanket on and went back to bed. Another problem to diagnose! Got up around 7:00, got dressed and went outside to start the generator, which worked just fine.

As I write this, we are at a Flying J on I10 south of Phoenix, and as of this writing, I have not gotten rid of any of the GREMLINS.

We will be going to a cqampground near here, so Barb can do the laundry and I can contemplate my next moves to find the Gremlins. I'll update you when we get there as to my progress, and finally take the time to post some pictures. So till then, take care, have fun and be safe.

Ron & Barb