Truck trouble and Casa Grande

Casa Grande RV Park – Arizona March 11, 2013

Some days start off beautifully with blue sky, desert plants filling out after the rain, and a plan in place for the next destination – White Tank Regional Park - west of Phoenix, south of Wickenburg. But I had only just turned on I-8 to bypass the business of Phoenix when the truck suddenly started to shake and emergency lights came on. Stabilization system out of alignment. Engine power reduced. This did not look good and luckily for me there in front of me was Exit 169 with space to get off the highway. It seemed suddenly to be a pretty desolate stretch of highway.

I called BCAA and after 10 minutes of getting passed around like a football, I finally reached someone who promised to help me.  There were lots of details to talk about but the sticking point was which city was I near to. That I didn’t know, so I had to get out my map and located the #10/#8 junction and pick the closest city. After that it was plain sailing with the promise of a tow truck within an hour. I received 3 more phone calls – luckily I have a portable inverter so that I could plug in my cell phone, why do they always start to die when you need them most? They wanted to assure me that under the program I still had 3 more tows available, that I had towing up to 100 miles, and that the tow truck was on its way. Next the tow truck driver phoned to verify where I was. Then another phone call came in from BCAA asking if I needed highway patrol. How do people drive without cell phones?

The tow truck was very neat the way it picked up my truck making it look like a light toy, and then the driver attached my trailer to a hitch behind it. And off we went. The driver was very nice and told me that he knew where I could stay at an RV park that was just a mile away from the GMC dealership. I thought small town, small dusty RV park, but I was way off base. This Casa Grande RV park is immaculate and has two pools – yes, two! And a lovely hot tub, modern washrooms with showers, laundry, library, games rooms, and a dog area. All for $15.00 per night because I have PA - what a deal! The only negative is that it is along the highway but longer term people get put in the back area where it is quieter. And you have to get used to being pretty cozy with your neighbours. My wee trailer looks pretty funny next to all the big diesel pushers and coaches in this park. But everyone is very friendly.

By 3:00pm I was in the hot tub chatting away with guests, most of whom were Canadians. And after that I was invited for margaritas and smoked Alaskan salmon to Alan and Tracy Macgillivray’s trailer, they spend winters here, summers in Sooke, BC.  A tough start to the day, but hey, what an ending! J

This morning the truck is in at the dealership and I am waiting to hear what’s up. In the meantime I have cleaned the many layers of dust on all the windows and screens on my trailer.  Pool time next I think. And then who knows what is around the next bend?