Home Again

Above, the welcome screen at La Mesa RV. My name is at the top. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Everything that needed fixin' got fixed yesterday at La Mesa RV in Albuquerque.

I got to Albuquerque Thursday afternoon and stayed at the Route 66 RV Resort. They are only about 8 miles from La Mesa RV. I spent most of Thursday relaxing at the RV park. That evening, we had some thunderstorms come through.

Above, at Route 66 RV Resort. Rains started a minute after I took this shot. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I had a 9:00 appointment with their service department and I was first there. But that didn't guarantee that I would be first done.

There were three things that needed to get done.

First, replacement of the awning fabric. The old one was beginning to tear away from where it is connected to the RV. This was caused three years ago when it rubbed on a leaning telephone pole that I didn't see. It presented to problems over the succeeding years, but exposure to he elements caused it to begin separating or sightly tearing. If it were deployed in a very strong wind, I would have been ripped away. It was not repairable, so a new fabric was installed.

Next, a part of the molding at the bottom corner of the back end was bent and pulled out. My friend Mitch's driveway was very steep and when he drove the RV up the hill at an angle, it caught the corner of the unit. This was repaired (at no charge).

Finally, the dash air conditioning had a vacuum leak that caused the blower doors inside not to open or switch correctly. When it started, the a/c would cut out when driving uphill. I thought this was a design to allow more power to the engine for climbs, but gradually it happened uphill, downhill and level. Thanks to fellow Minnie Winnie owners, I found that this is common with Ford E350 chassis and is due to a vacuum leak.

Above, free lunch at the La Mesa RV grill. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The first two items were completed within two hours, but the service techs had a difficult time trying to find the location of the leak(s). So it took them several hours and they weren't done until after 4:00. I left their facility around 4:30. At least I got free lunch there (carnitas tacos) as they have free lunch day every Friday.

It was a long wait and I made friends with an older couple from Texas who were having a radio replaced on their Fleetwood Bounder. The chairs in the waiting area were not the most comfortable, so I went out to the lot and sat on a sofa in a Class C RV for a while. It was much more comfortable there. I also wandered around the lot and looked at the new RVs.

After an hour and a half drive, I reached home at around 6:00 last evening. Much of he drive was through monsoon downpours. Still, it was an easy and pleasant drive.