A brief six month update!!

I think I already mentioned this, but I have a whole new appreciation for those of you that keep your blogs up-to-date!

Since I posted in May on my April travels!!....months have again have passed without another update by me.....to those who have been patiently waiting.....I am so sorry! I am going to attempt this again!

For those that may still be interested in the rest of the trip to Phoenix last April:

After leaving the Tacoma, WA area, we headed south on I-5. For those of you who have driven that stretch in the southern part of Oregon, you are familiar with the "rolling hills" until you cross the border into California. Now I have a Ford chassis, not the work horses that the class A motorhomes have, so climbing hills is slow. Add to the mix, a loss of power due to "mechanical" problems! By the time we arrived in Phoenix on April 6th, it was time to go see a manifold doctor.....a second time! You see there were repairs to my manifold less than 3000 miles after it started to "talk real loud" to us again.

Since I had the prior manifold work done at Midas in Anchorage, it only made sense to take it to Midas in Phoenix.....right?! Didn't make much difference to the bottom line estimate! Now I could make this a long story and maybe even funny now that it's in the past, but I promised to be brief.

I did some reading on one of the RV forums online, and discovered that a solution to another problem was also the answer for my manifold problem. Someone had recommended installing a Banks Power System to someone and stating that it would also be a permanent solution for warping manifolds. Now I had a warping manifold and I had been thinking about having a Banks Power System installed.......so the solution became clear! Camping World here I come!

Now there was much more to the manifold story than the above, but in the end I am a "happy girl" once again! Oh and if I didn't get all the mechanical terminology correct, REMEMBER.....I'm not the mechanic!

By the way, the estimate Midas gave to to replace both sides of the manifold was only about $300. less than the Banks Power System. So I didn't feel bad at all as the Banks has a lifetime warranty!..plus more power....plus maybe even better gas mileage!

Phoenix had some other surprises waiting for us as well. They had temperatures that reached over 100 far too many times during our 3 week stay. My son said that it was "unseasonably" warm.....I think he meant HOT!! So when the installation of the Banks Power System was completed, my parents & we decided to take a test trip to Flagstaff.....where it was cooler...:)

We put the motorhome in storage on April 29th and flew home to a much cooler Anchorage. My parents were so happy to get out of the heat, that they say they never want to leave Alaska again! Sure wish they'd change their minds, as I had the greatest time with them on this adventure!