Jan 15th – attended the “Bylaws” seminar because GMCWS has not updated their bylaws since 1996 and I am wondering what is wrong with them – the bylaws that is. Other than that is was a pretty empty day.
Indio and Q day 5 – bylaws
Indio and Q day 4 – rally activities
Jan 14th – spent the morning working on the computer writing the President’s letter for the GMCWS newsletter. Went to the ice cream social but not much ice cream, just an “eskimo pie” is what we called them as kids. Had an hour to waste so went to a presentation about Alaska trips and decided that is not for us. The “how us use your digital camera” or some such title was OK but the facilities were terrible. The building was a barn and there was something going on at the other end that had some woman with a microphone droning on about something but we couldn’t make out any words, just noise. The content was OK but really fast and the people who were there, at least most of them, left pretty confused.
Steve and Gail hosted a “cocktail party” in the space between our coaches and at one time we had 14 people there including a couple of GMCers and a former GMCer who now has a “NewAire” which is a GMC-like diesel pusher – very nice.
Indio and Q day 3 – the FMCA rally
Jan 13 – first day of the rally. The plan was to have breakfast at the rally – donuts – but I showed up to late and there were only “plastic” donuts left so I went back to the coach and ate some cereal and yogurt. Went back for a “President’s Forum” at 10am but it had been cancelled. I visited the vendors’ building looking for what is in demand and any competition for the sign business – found no competition and a look at the front of lots of RVs, there is definitely a market for them.
Went back to McDonald’s for more internet and sent an email to the 3gstore.com asking about the verizon policy on account suspension to see if we can suspend the account while we don’t need it.
Having dinner from our freezer – leftovers from one of our recent home-cooked meals. The entertainment was great – a western band called New West. Just three guitars playing cowboy music and some jokes.
Indio and Q day 2 – holding area blues
Parked between Steve & Gail and Duane & Ruth in the holding area
Jan 12 – Got to the rally and parked after a slightly confusing “holding area” session. There was no room to park with other GMCs so we have our own place between Steve and Gail and Duane and Ruth – fellow GMCers. Steve and Gail’s friends Joe and Sue and their friends Eddie and Nancy parked right behind us. No internet access had me concerned but we planned to stop at a McDonald’s on the way back from dinner and use their free access. We went to dinner at the Spotlight 29 casino using our free buffet tickets from yesterday. The dinner buffet was great – roast prime rib, shrimp and lots of other choices. Steve and Gail went to the McDonald’s with us so we could decide together about seeing Jay Leno on Saturday night at the Fantasy Springs casino down the road. Decided not to do it – just wait for Jay to show up in Tucson some day.
Indio and Quartzsite and more… here we come
Jan 11, 2011 trip number 22 to Indio, CA for the FMCA Western Regional Rally. Did about 300 miles with no problems. The engine is now really quiet since I installed the Remflex gasket on the driver’s side exhause manifold. Also, now we have a engine thermostat and a new air filter – embarrassing to say but the first one I know of being put in there.
We met Steve and Gail Ault at the Spotlight 29 Casino parking lot, Duane and Ruth Christopherson too. Spent the evening just hanging around and talking – also regisered for our player cards at the casino so that we can have the cheap breakfast tomorrow and a free buffet sometime later in the week.
No internet access so will have to make due with a desktop text editor for now.
Day 5 thru 7 – Busy and more responsible
Oct 20th through Oct 23rd – Things got pretty hectic and I kind of lost interest in posting stuff on here for a while. The rest of the rally was spent in seminars and meetings. The seminars for obvious reasons – they are the best way to learn about stuff – and the meetings because I agreed to “run” for GMCWS President.
On Thursday night, just before the drawing for the reaction arm system, I was elected President of GMCWS for the coming year. I am looking forward to contributing to such a great club.
On our way home we crossed the new bridge over the Colorado River at Hoover Dam. This is the 7th highest bridge in the world! Unfortunately, because of the way they constructed the guard rails you cannot see the dam from the roadway – even from the height of the GMC driver’s seat. I guess this is because they don’t want any “rubbernecking”. The bridges saves at least 30 minutes and more like an hour on the trip – very nice. They do give you the opportunity to go down to the dam the old way and walk on the bridge and see the view.
Day 4 – Sightseeing and Cher
Oct 19th – A free day at the rally so we hung around and relaxed before leaving at about 1:00pm for the Las Vegas strip and the Cher show at Caesar’s Palace. Cher was great – her voice seems just as good as it was when she was young – or my ears can’t tell the difference.
Day 3 – The GMCWS Rally
The dawn of a new rally
Oct 18th – The rain quit by morning and the sky was clear and blue. A beautiful morning. Had some breakfast – I was hoping for some donuts but …
Attended a couple of tech sessions by Jerry Work and his wife who traveled the US and Canada this summer. The hit of the day and probably the whole rally was a talk on engine rebuilding by Joe Mondello. Joe is a legend in hot rod and race car engine building and he gives a very informative and entertaining talk.
We had the windshield repaired today by one of those mobile repair guys. The windshield had been hit at some time during our last trip and we wanted to prevent the damage from ruining the whole windshield.
Carl and Kathy S. arrived this afternoon from the Salt Lake City area where they had been vacationing since last week. Good to see them again.
I gave in and bought a second subscription to the park’s wifi network. As Carol said, it is still cheaper than the Verizon service would be for the month.
Day 2 – Arrival in Las Vegas
Oct 17 – We mistakenly took the Laughlin – Bullhead City route to Las Vegas today because the signs from yesterday were still up. They were warning of delays and we didn’t want to get stuck in construction and sightseeing traffic at the new bridge so we took what we thought was a good alternative route. It wasn’t.
Laughlin and Bullhead City are on either side of the Colorado River at the bottom of a pretty significantly steep valley. The climbs down and back up are not the most pleasant thing for us with the GMC. The downhill portion is over 10 miles, I am sure, and all the while I think how much I would like disc brakes on the rear. The uphill climb kills the gas mileage even worse than usual and the leaking exhaust manifold under my seat make lots of noise when we are climbing.
We got here and got settled in and then it started raining. It rained pretty much all afternoon and evening and even into the night. We love the sound of rain on the metal roof but it sure kills the social activites. Dinner was Mexican – chicken enchiladas – and very good. We did have a chance to visit in our coach with some friends during the afternoon but no outdoor visiting.
On the way to Las Vegas – Day 1
OK, I know that it only takes a day to get there from Tucson but we like to take our time and allow for the unexpected. We plan to take 2 days.
The coach ran well for the first 4 hours or so except for that exhaust leak on the driver’s side manifold – I am getting tired of it so I think I’ll try some of those thick gaskets – Remflex – that Jim K sells. Something to do this winter.
Starter problems
We stopped in Wickenburg to get gas and the coach wouldn’t start. Turn the key and nothing, no noise of any kind coming from the starter, not even a click. Since I had just replaced the solenoid I suspected that immediately but I knew it could be something else, like the neutral safety switch.
I had no idea where the safety switch is and had no internet to investigate. I thought, incorrectly, that the switch was up under the dash but I could not find it. I tried to check at the starter but no test light (just a DVM) and I couldn’t reach the terminal on the solenoid. I gave up and bought a new solenoid and installed it. At first it had the same symptom but eventually, after much thrashing around, it started but I didn’t know why. I decided that I would not turn the coach off until we were parked for the night at a campground just short of Kingman.
Home for the night
When we parked at Kingman it again wouldn’t start. I started tracing the wire back from the starter to see where I could check for voltage. I moved the wire going to the starter from the top of the engine and the starter came to life. I also located the neutral safety switch and got some info from the GMCnet on how to jumper around it. If it happens again the plan of attach is to check the wire to the starter followed by jumpering the safety switch.
We should be able to get to the rally by noon tomorrow.