When we arrived at Red Ledge RV Park in Kanarraville, UT, Glenn noticed signs of a radiator leak. The motorhome had not overheated on the trip from the Grand Canyon to Utah, but we could see residue on the back of the motorhome. Glenn put a pan under the leak and caught close to a gallon of fluid over a day and a half. He did some research and found a couple of repair facilities nearby. Good thing we drove the truck down to St. George to check one of them out. Our motorhome probably could not have got in the parking lot, let alone the service bay! We chose to take it to Color Country Diesel repair in Cedar City. It was about 20 mile from the campground.
We left the campground on Tuesday, hoping they might at least get to look at the problem. We ended up staying in the parking lot overnight and Wednesday morning, Glenn drove it into the service bay. Unfortunately, he missed seeing a big pothole and a couple of bowls flew out of the cupboard. Those of you with Corelle know they are hard to break, but when they do, look out! I went in to clean up the mess and the floor was covered with shards of the two serving bowls. I folded up the rugs and put them in plastic bags (don't know where to shake them out!) and swept up the best I could. I will have to do a thorough job of vacuuming before we let the cats back in.
So, the mechanic took a look and before he even checked the radiator, he found an oil filter leaking and a bad exhaust manifold. It took him a full day to get the radiator out so we checked in to the Holiday Inn Express in town for a couple of nights. They would allow the cats, so that was good.
The verdict on the radiator was to replace it rather than repair it. Since it was aluminum, a repair would probably not last and we'd be back in the same boat we are now. The problem with replacing it is it takes about a week to build one and then add on shipping time and putting it back in, we are looking at close to 2 weeks!
We decided to stay at the Holiday Inn for the duration. We could have stayed in the motorhome in the parking lot, but we would have had to really watch our water and toilet usage. Water supply would not be the problem, full grey and black tanks would and we couldn't move the motorhome to get them emptied.
The people at the Holiday Inn have been great! They moved us to a suite with a nice king sized bed, couch, microwave and small fridge. All that for less than we were paying for the other room. Plus, they have breakfast every morning and a pool and hot tub.
We were a bit worried about how the cats would react since they have never been anywhere but in the motorhome.
What we didn't notice was the toilet paper roll right above them. When we came back, we couldn't even see Iris! She was buried in a full roll of toilet paper! I guess they found their own entertainment!
A downside to all this is not being able to cook meals and dining out all the time. At least Cedar City has a lot of restaurant choices. That may not sound like a hardship to a lot of you, but it does get old and expensive!
The upside is we are in a great area for sight seeing! Zion and Bryce Canyon Parks within an hour and a half or less. There is also Cedar Breaks National Monument which just opened for the season this week. Now if Glenn could just shake this cold or whatever he has. Breathing at higher altitudes is hard enough without being all congested!
We keep reminding ourselves "It could have been worse". This could have happened in the middle of nowhere. Or we could have been in Moore, OK. Those poor people that were hit by the tornado! We are both safe, relatively healthy and we'll be able to pay the repair bill and get on with our travels (but not happily signing THAT check!)
We've had to cancel some of our plans, but that's OK. We can always visit those places on another trip!
So that's where we stand today. I should be able to get caught up on my blog while we wait to get back on the road, if I keep at it.
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