ONE QUART LOW

 Early mornings in Quartzsite are beautiful.  You only catch them if you have to walk your dog at O-Dark-Thirty.  

As the sun rose, I was packing up for my trip to Vail Arizona.  It's been a lovely three days, but I'm heading to my Christmas destination, friends Patty and Dan Chance.  They were responsible for my first big Class A purchase, as well as my education in that respect.  It seemed so much easier back then!

Gibbs knows Cooper is in there, and wanted to say goodbye too.  He got lots of scrutches and hugs before I said goodbye to his Mom.  No worries, I'll be back in January for lots more fun!

First up .... diesel fuel.  Wouldn't you know, they were out completely up front, mostly because .... wait for it ..... THE PRICE WAS $2.99 A GALLON!!!!  The nice guy said I could go to the trucking pumps in the back, but it looked like the wait was VERY long.  I'll check out the stations not too far East.  

But WAIT ... you forgot to turn the gas off again.  I pulled over, hit the button and was on the road in a flash.  The next station was a 9-ONE (I think) ... a sad looking example of a fuel station ... but the price was right.  I filled up for $2.99 a gallon.  That has to be a record.  

But WAIT ... again ... as I started it up to head out, more of those orange and now YELLOW flashing lights appeared on my dash.  Good grief!!  I've never had so much trouble on a trip.  Here's the thing.  You cannot be proactive with this rig ... like checking the oil and water ... it checks it FOR you and gives you a huge dash warning if anything needs attention.

YOU NEED ONE QUART OF OIL.  CHECK OWNERS MANUAL.  I already know there is no dip stick on this thing ... only an oil fill cap.  Luckily when I purchased it, someone told me this engine uses a bit of oil, so I stuck a couple of quarts in the cupboard.  But I kept driving while I thought about where in the world the fill cap might BE! 

I also contemplated how far I could go when one quart low.  I finally pulled over in Tonopah, but that place is scary now.  Old vehicles ... people moving lots of bundles from one pickup to another ... so I kept going.

I'm passing Buckley here, wondering what's causing the beautiful sky.  I finally stopped long enough to google WHERE IS THE OIL FILL, before stopping in Gila Bend.

So here we are, adding a quart of oil so I can get back on the road.  The video I watched said not to worry about having to add oil now and then.  These new engines tend to burn up a bit every 3-5000 miles, though no oil change is required until 10,000.

 

When I turned the engine on, the orange/yellow lights had magically disappeared.  It's weird ... this picture shows you the oil level every time you start the engine ... and it always looks like it needs oil to me, but what do I know.  Disregard the dust please.

I was off once again, through lots of construction that I don't think will EVER be completed in Tucson.  Lucky for me, there were no more flashing lights on the dash.  Here I am backed right up to the backhoe in the perfect location.  

Hello Patty and Dan!!!  We talked a bit, then got ready for a fabulous dinner of salad and chicken soup before sitting down for the 49'ers game.  The score sounds pretty bad, with the 49'ers winning 48-27, but you have to give it up to the Colts Quarterback who came out of a 5 year retirement at 44 years of age to keep the Colts in the running when they lost BOTH of their quarterbacks.  Oh ... and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Salted Caramel ice cream magically appeared in my lap!!  YUM YUM!!

I finally headed to the rig for the night.  That's when I made yet ANOTHER mistake.  I forgot to turn the gas back ON.  I woke up at 1:00 rather cold.  I shut everything off and turned the gas on, but could not get the heater to turn back on.  I plugged in the little noisy electric one and slept with my eyes open the rest of the night.  

So on today's menu, I'll try to figure out how to get the heater working again after we make a trip up to the ski lodge at the top of Mount Lemon for lunch.  Hopefully there's no snow up there!!!