201703 trip – Sedona finally, but not before…..

Monday, March 27   So, the broken hitch was the primary concern of the day.  So too apparently was getting some sight-seeing done.  So, my daughter and I and the four girls all set off of Flagstaff because that is where the only Camping World for several hundred miles was located.  We went there and showed them the hitch.  They were as dumbfounded as we were, but after an hour of looking, head scratching and telephone calls to the dealer where thet trailer was obtained – they said they’d order a new hitch and we could come back in two days and get it installed.  Easy enough, right?

We also stopped at an AT&T store – or rather AT&T retailer, looking for a specific hot spot.  We didn’t want the basic cheap one because it didn’t come with antenna ports.  So let me back up.  Our family had a shared plan.  13 devices all sharing 30 Gig of traffic.  It worked out fine for most things.  But we had used a fair amount of traffic before we left town and it was quickly becoming obvious that we’d run over our limit long before we got home.  We would have changed our plan before we left, but 13 was too many devices and we needed to add a couple of hot spots too.  So we told our son to move to his own plan (sorry Tom), but he couldn’t get it done before we left fown.  Well, this store turned out to be useless.  Not only did we know more about their plans than they did, they didn’t have the hotspots we needed.  So the girls and I ate lunch, and headed back toward Camp Verde.

Jerome, AZ
Jerome, AZ

Meanwhile, Deb, my son in law, Phil and cousin Sylvia headed to Jerome, AZ which is an old Copper Mining townperched on the side of a mountain.  There were narrow streets & town distributed on several levels overlooking redrocks of Sedona.  We connected with them by phone and arranged to meet in Sedona, where we converged on Sedona Pizza downtown and settled in their outdoor section which was fortunately covered. The pizza was good, the kids were kids and It rained cats and dogs for a while, then a wonderful double rainbow came out, set against the red rocks and light of the setting sun.  We also met a family that gave us an extra 20% off coupon for the pizza.  When supper was done, we headed back downt he street and all got ice cream at the Black Cow Cafe – and it was wonderful!

Sedona Pizza
Sedona Pizza
Sedona Double Rainbow
Sedona Double Rainbo

Continued next post.

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201703 Trip – Sedona, Finally, Sort of….

It got down to 26 degrees early Sunday, March 26.  Fortunately nothing froze.  After breakfast, we headed south for Sedona, still looking for reservations as we drove.  We finally found a reservation at Distant Drums RV Resort, Camp Verde.  It was well south of Sedona, but the closest thing we could find.  But we couldn’t get into our spot till afternoon – so we decided to take care of some chores.

Walmart, Cottonwood, Oil Change
Walmart, Cottonwood, Oil Change

The truck was complaining it needed an oil change. We had gone past the miles our normal oil change place recommends, but we use synthetic oil which can go longer. It was Sunday and the only place open was Walmart. Apprehensive, we disconnected the trailer in their parking lot and took the truck in. First, they didn’t have a filter – so they gave us the truck back and we went to an O’Reilly down the road and got oil and air filter. Went back, got in line – and eventually they started work again. We watched from the exit door – as close as we could get. One person was working above, one below. The person above, dropped the filter bolt down into the front grill – and eventually rescued it. The person below – exclaims – “there is a temporary plastic drain plug!” Nope, that is the normal Ford

Distran Drums, Camp Verde
Distran Drums, Camp Verde

drain plug for this truck. Its tricky – you have to squeeze two tabs, rotate then pop out.   This is a 2015 F150, Ecoboost engine. There are a lot of these on the road – and they’ve never seen one? There was a FORD dealer 1000 feet away down the road.  This is why I almost never will go to a Walmart for any kind of vehicle maintenance.   When finally it was done, we hooked up and headed for our camp at Distant Drums RV Resort, Camp Verde.  This was an upscale resort. It was also mostly occupied by longer term stay Class A vehicles. We had to move after the first night because the sites they put us in first, were reserved as groups of people park together there. The place was fairly meticulously maintained – they even rake out the gravel before they let you move in. There was a casino just across the road, but we didn’t avail ourselves of their services.  Just being there was gambling enough for me…. 8^}

 

 

Breaking Equalizer Hitch
Breaking Equalizer Hitch

So, we were settling into our spots, disconnecting everything when my daughter came over and said “there are metal pieces breaking off our hitch”.  What?  Sigh – nothing should surprise me.  I went and looked and sure enough, the receivers that the load distribution springs lock into were cracking and pieces breaking off.  This was a better Equalizer E4 hitch (I just had the E2 on mine).  In retrospect, I believe it was a combination of the receivers for the spring bars were not the right ones for the bars that were installed and/or the hitch was not adjusted right for the two and trailer or the weight on the hitch tongue.  Whatever the issue, it was still under warranty and so began the adventure of “replacing the hitch in the middle of no-where”.

Continued next post.

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