Carol said that this was a “redneck air conditioner” if she ever saw one. I had to add the fans to get the cool air where it was needed. The hat is my “redneck sun visor” – a PO forcefully removed the original visors so I use a hat – better anyway.

Today we started out at about 70 degrees and drove through Mojave, Barstow, and Needles, CA. It gradually worked its way up to about 100 to 105 degrees by the time we got to our camp site at Lake Havasu State Park. We started out trying our now stripped down air conditioner to see how it would do. Well, I am pretty sure it needs to be recharged because while it is blowing cold air, it is not “icicles” like it should be and the air is just blowing straight out instead of at us. When it got hotter we fired up the generator and ran both roof air units all day. It was nice and comfortable in the living area but not so much in the driving area. For tomorrow we have two solutions to try. One is my “redneck air conditioner” in the photo – I took the fans from the now removed console and wired them to the dash so that we can direct the cool air at ourselves. The second thing to do is to use tape to aim the forward roof air conditioner’s output straight out instead of down. That is a low-end Coleman and it is so bad it has soured me on buying any more Coleman products. It also does not work very well and the air direction vanes were so fragile that you literally could not touch them or they would break – like they were made of sugar or something as fragile. We may stop at a hardware store and buy a fan to blow air forward from the living area

It looks nice and innocent enough but it was still well over 100 degrees and humid. Beautiful though – this is the new white sand beach at the far end of the park.

Just as we were coming to the I-40 exit onto AZ-95 and Lake Havasu I felt the engine starting to “stutter” and lose power a little so I expected more trouble as I was slowing down. Sure enough, I could not keep the engine running and it stalled twice in traffic making the turn. Fortunately, it pretty quickly restarted both times and I got to the gas station that is just off the exit on the right. We fueled up and drove the remaining 20 miles to the camp ground with no more trouble.

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This was the only camp site in the place that had a shadow on it when we got here so we took it – #5.

OK, so I lied. I said last week that I would not cross Tehachapi again heading East because it is too steep. I changed my mind. Why did I change my mind? We had to climb a large percentage of I-80’s Donner Pass last week and we did it easily by unhooking the tow car and driving it up the hill. Except for the steepest parts, the GMC really goes up those hills pretty easily. The only time I had to downshift was when I hit traffic – slow trucks and fast cars don’t mix. So Carol had to drive 20 miles up the hill and maybe 5 more to the camp ground. The good thing was that the Tracker has good air conditioning so she was more comfortable than I was for sure.

We had a little bit of hot fuel symptoms today. It was just under 100 degrees while climbing and I had a very short hesitation as I was pulling out to pass a truck. I just changed my mind and waited but it never came back. The fuel cap was singing when we parked at the camp ground so the fuel was pretty hot but the engine never showed any problems.

Tehachapi is almost as hot as Bakersfield and Mojave on either side of it. It was 103 when we got here but we managed to get the only spot in the place that has shade in the afternoon. It is small and crowded because of the trees but the GMC is a perfect fit. Fortunately, this place has 50 amp service so we could run both air conditioners for a while after we got here.

I had removed the air diverter stuff from the top/front of the under-dash unit that some PO installed because it looked bad. The cover was intended to be a temporary measure until I reworked the dash and that time is here. The cover was restricting the flow of cool air so we will spend the day with out it and see what difference it makes. I hope it is a lot.

Our plan is to get up early and get going so that we get to Lake Havasu City before the hottest part of the day. The state park there also has 50 amp service so we will be able to run both roof air conditioners as long as we need them – probably until the sun goes down. I also removed the wooden cover that I had made for the under-dash air conditioner. The air diverter pieces are not going to be in place but it seems to blow a lot of cold air like that. We’ll see tomorrow. That is Plan ‘A’. Plan ‘B’ will be to add one or both roof air units powered by our generator. If that is still no good we know there is a good air conditioner in the Tracker so Carol can either drive it or sit in it with the engine and air conditioning running while I tow it with the GMC.

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These are the best donuts you will ever eat. There may be equals but there are none better. We have been buying donuts here for 5 years and they are always great.

It was a really nice night for sleeping – no trains and no highway sounds and nice and cool. The daytime temperature was a little higher than yesterday (and tomorrow) but our space is mostly shaded so it was warm but tolerable. We sat outside for and hour or so and read. There was a nice breeze.

This is the donut man. We do not know his name – we will try to get it next time – but he has been making great donuts for years. Worth a stop – try the apple fritters too.

We spent the day resting, reading and eating. The eating started with some donuts from the Donut King on Broadway in King City. We ended the day with dinner at El Taco Bravo on Canal Street. Both are outstanding. The donuts have been making us happy for years – this was our 5th – but the Mexican restaurant was a new experience. We try to use TripAdvisor.com when we travel and it is usually right on. This one is highly ranked and they are correct. My test for Mexican restaurants is to order either pork chili verde or a chili relleno. This restaurant had a “Francis” special that was a chili relleno and some barbecued pork of some kind. The pork was very good – tender with a little bit unusual spice mixture – I loved it. The chili relleno was small but excellent – they are not easy to make but this one was perfect.

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Here we are parked on the side of our former business. The “Big People” on the corner are by John Cerney, a local artist and friend.

We left Brian and Chris’s home on Wednesday morning to begin our trip back home. Home means South and South means Salinas where we lived, worked, and played for 16 years until we moved to Arizona in 2005. We initially began spending weekends in the Salinas/Monterey area in 1989 when we joined Corral de Tierra Country Club which is near Laguna Seca on California highway 68. We ended up loving the area so much that we hated going back to Silicon Valley (Cupertino) so we made a huge career change – both of us – and opened a custom picture framing business and called it Artistic HangUps. We ran the business from 1992 until, and even after, we moved to Arizona in 2005. Our former long-time employee Carla Rocha now owns the business and is doing a fantastic job carrying on our reputation for quality at reasonable prices.

Tonight we are parked at San Lorenzo County Park in King City, CA. We were introduced to this park when we attended a GMC Western States Motorhome Club rally here in the Spring of 2011. We plan to spend an extra day here to relax and rest up before heading across two deserts on the way home.

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The OMG is because we went to our old home to see how the neighborhood has changed since we left in 1992. We couldn’t even figure out where we were for a while it has changed so much and is so crowded. We saw where the new Apple headquarters building is going up – walking distance to our old home – and could hardly wait to get out of there and back to the suburbs where Brian and Chris live.

As usual we managed to time our visit so that we were here during the work week and Brian has to work. Fortunately, we made it early enough on Fathers’ Day that we could visit and eat together – Brian is a great cook (takes after me I guess ;-).  Daughter-in-law Chris takes over entertaining us when Brian is at work and it is always a fun visit. Chris watches her nieces a few day per week and our grandsons are home too so there is lots of fun visiting with the kids too.

Monday we shopped a little and ran some errands but mostly visited. Today, Tuesday, I started out the day replacing the exhaust manifold gasket that has been getting worse and worse each day. Back to quiet now and it only took about an hour or so. Tonight we plan to go out to a restaurant to celebrate Brian’s recent new job and promotion. Tomorrow we are heading South to King City via Salinas. We like the King City park and there is a really good donut shop right down the street in the morning. Salinas is where our former business is so we like to visit and see how they are doing.

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No words needed again today. The photos tell the story.

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Here are photos – better than words: 

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Just across from out camp site

On Thursday we disconnected the tow car and drove it up I-80 toward Reno and stopped about 1200 feet below Donner Pass for our 3-night camping visit with Mark and his family. The reason we unhooked, of course, was to reduce the weight so the GMC could make it to the top. The engine and transmission on the GMC were designed for a 6000 pound automobile. The GMC weighs in at just over 11,000 pounds and the Tracker (our tow car) weighs an additional 3,000 pounds. The altitude – we disconnected at about 1000 feet – robs power to the point that there is not much left when you get to 5,000-6,000 feet. I am wondering if I should investigate converting to fuel injection. They say it can do a lot for altitude compensation. Food for thought.

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Our coach from the top of the levee.

It was pretty hot today but not uncomfortable driving because it stayed at 92 degrees or lower almost all the way to our destination. The drive down the West side of Tehachapi Pass was exciting  and uneventful as usual but it did remind us that we will only cross heading East (up the hill) if we absolutely have to. We will take another route going home – maybe via Pismo Beach next week.

We found this park a few years ago when we were looking for an RV dump station between Mark’s in the Sacramento area and Brian’s in the San Jose area. We loved the park – small, quiet, cheap ($25), and convenient to the interstate highway (I-5) without being too close. This is the third time we have stayed here since then and the only issue is that there are lots of trees but not much shade where we need it. The sun is very strong and the temperatures are in the high 90’s and they only have 30 amp electrical service so we can only run one air conditioning unit at a time and neither one can handle it by itself.

The San Joaquin River – that is a dock and a boat launch on the other side of those trees.

The park is right on a river which is just on the other side of a levee.

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We left Lake Havasu at 6:00 a.m. to beat the heat and, compared to yesterday, we were successful. We did see the thermometer get to about 97 today but most of the day it was in the 80’s and, compared to the max of 115 yesterday, it was relatively cool.  The climb going West from Needles, CA on US-40 is pretty tough on any day, let alone a day like yesterday, so we decided to get it over with early and then relax the rest of the way.

We decided to spend tonight in Tehachapi, CA because it is at a pretty high altitude (about 4200 feet) and would be cooler at night. Last night, the temperature never got below 90 degrees which is what it was at 5:00 a.m. so we had to run the A/C all night and it is not like your home A/C, it is pretty noisy and hard to regulate. So not the best night’s sleep last night.

This plaque explains the history of the loop – click on it to enlarge it.

Having left so early we got to our camp site at about noon. The number one tourist attraction in Tehachapi is the Tehachapi Loop – the one and only railroad loop in the whole country – where railroad trains cross over themselves climbing a particularly steep section of the Tehachapi Pass – the reason most people have heard the word before. The pass is between Bakersfield and Mojave. The climb going West is a piece of cake because Mojave is already at 2800 feet so the climb is 1400 feet. Going East from Bakersfield at 400 feet, it is a 3800 foot climb – very tough. That is why the railroad built the loop – to flatten out that section of the hill.

More history

Some train buffs from Italy (living in San Diego) who made the stop like we did.

This is our view of the small loop section with a train passing over itself. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

GMC content: Not even a hint of hot fuel issues today. I guess the winter gas is all gone and now we are on California gas which, according to my own research, is the best in the country at reducing or eliminating hot fuel issues. Ask me why I say that. It was a hot day but we are very thankful for our fresh air vents and Kelvin Dietz who “invented” them. If the humidity is not bad, lots of moving air, even at 90+ degrees, is surprisingly comfortable and those vents really move the air. One more note would be the item of one or two roof air conditioning units. Our coach has two and we will stay with two. Traveling in the summer – the time most of us travel – can put you in some hot places and two units are needed to cool this buggy down when it is close to 100 degrees outside. Running two units requires 50 amp service but it is so close to 30 that I can cheat and get away with it. I have a 50 amp input to the coach which I adapt down to a 30 amp cord (because it is manageable compared to a 50 amp cord) and then I use another adapter to plug into the 50 amp outlet at the post. Works great and nothing gets hot.

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