Shake Down Run Completed

We completed our shake down run and actually everything went quite well. There were no major mishaps, all systems performed as desired and we arrived home safely on schedule. The truck did a great job pulling our 12,000 pound house over 1000 miles and averaged around 12 mpg. We traveled from sea level to over 6000 feet in elevation (several time it seemed as we went up and then down again). I am very happy that I was convinced to get the diesel instead of a gas engine (thanks Rob).

Sedona – One of our side trips from the Grand Canyon Railway Park was to Sedona. I have always heard great things about Sedona and to be sure it is very beautiful. But I must be honest, I was not all that impressed. It feels too much like Beverly Hills gone camping. Beautiful canyon wall vistas with strip malls in the foreground. The stores are a combination of art galleries with stratospheric prices and cheap souvenir shops. Traffic was mostly bumper to bumper but that just added to the thrill of the “hunt” for some place to park.

Las Vegas & Hoover Dam – Our second stop was at the Oasis RV Park in beautiful Las Vegas Nevada. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to Las Vegas in the past but this time I just don’t know why but it seemed a bit artificial…(note tongue in cheek). We don’t gamble and find about the most interesting diversion to be the buffet line. I guess everyone has to have one type of vise or another. My idea of taking in one of the shows kinda soured when we found that even at the ½ price ticket store the cost was going to be $118.50 for two tickets. I thought geeze that could buy a tank of fuel for the truck! So instead for $20 we bought a DVD, Dream Girls, and went home to our trailer to watch our show. I don’t care call me cheap but it was a good movie and so nice to just kick back in the luxury of our own living room.

Hoover Dam was an interesting site to see. No, I’m not going to stoop for the usual dam jokes. We took the dam tour but didn’t buy any dam souvenirs in the dam souvenir shop. Ok enough. Remember the scene with Chevy Chase in Las Vegas Vacation where he slides down the side of the dam? Well, I didn’t try it but could just imagine him doing it. He’s one of my heroes.

Road Revelations #2: When driving down the highway, pay attention to unusual beeps. We were half way to Las Vegas when we crossed a rather bumpy bridge. It was then that I heard the shrill beeping sound for around 5 seconds. We looked at each other both wondering what in the heck was that sound. We quickly discounted it and continued on with our conversation. 4 or 5 minutes later I looked down at where the truck displays the mileage and here it was flashing “TRAILER DISCONNECTED”. “Oh Lord, restart my heart” I prayed. A quick look in the rear view mirror confirmed that the trailer was in fact still there. Seems that the electrical plug between the truck and the trailer had disconnected. I swear I could hear the truck laughing and saying “ha ha made you look!”