Sunday, January 31, 2010

Friends

Look who showed up this afternoon. Just when I thought we were rid of Doug, he pulled in. Just kidding. We had a great week with Doug and Irene over in Quartzsite. They had a few issues after we parted ways also. A flat was the biggest one that they dealt with. Most of the tire shops in Quartzsite were closed. It was Saturday afternoon. He found one open but they said it would be an extra 15 bux since it was Saturday afternoon. They had him and knew it. He paid just as I did for the tow. Not good advertizement for Quartzsite buisnesses. Actually, the towing company is from Parker.
We had a great two hour visit with Doug and Irene this afternoon. I am so glad they decided to stop after they heard about or problems. Just like GMC owners. All of them offer whatever assistance they can when one has problems.

Doug and Irene left about 530 pm. They were heading up over the Grapevine before finding a park for the night. Then on home north of the Bay area tomorrow. Thanks for stopping guys.
Teri and I attended church services tonight. Very friendly group and we have been invited to a couple's home for a visit. Life is good here.
I have a comment that blogger won't let me post. Not sure what the problem is. Will keep trying. It was about my comment on the smog here. I learned it was not smog, just haze. No smog in the winter.
Wow, I was out looking at the snow covered mountains behind us again this afternoon. I wish the camera could capture the beauty that our ey sees. That just can not happen. Those mountains are very beautiful. 2 years ago we caught the GMC on fire going over them. That was probably my fault. They sure are much prettier when you are just looking at them and not climbing them with a coach towing a car.
Tomorrow is Monday. After we wash clothes we will do some sight seeing. Hang around. I hope to have good pictures.
Dan


posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 9:23 PM 2 Comments

WOW

This is one chance in a million. We are parked behind a low rider shop. Frank has given me the run of his shop. He even fixed our idling problem on the Vibe. Says anything he has we are welcome to. I will get his picture later. How lucky could a farm boy from Mo. be to fall into all of this? What does this 65 Nova wagon and our coach have in common? No, the Nova runs.
They both came from chicken yards. Our's from Tx. and the Nova from Ok. Frank got it on ebay for 1200 bux and has it running and looking pretty good. Going to keep it pretty original because everything is there. What a deal.

Sounds good. Frank did put an electronic ignition on the little 6. This would be a sweet hot rod. Frank is very tempted to put a big block chevy in here. Maybe before we leave I can convince him. His two sons eyes really lit up when Frank and I were talking about hotrodding this little machine. They were smiling from ear to ear.

Look at what Frank is building for a guy. A 64 Impala convertible with hydraulics. Low rider that will jump. Has a Toyota rear end so it will flex when the car jumps. I have only seen this stuff on the Speed Channel.
I am telling you, I feel like a kid in a candy shop out here. Frank has so many cars over there that he could have his own car show. He wont sell them but his wife would.
This is great.
Dan



posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 2:03 PM 2 Comments

Blessed

Here we are this bright Sunday morning. Life is just great in LA. I heard a real thumping while I was soundly asleep. What is that? It was not Johnny Cash music. You might guess just what it was. Then I realized, we are in the Los Angeles area. I better get up to make sure no drive by's happen to take me in. No, we are safely tucked in and away from the street here at Miguel's.
The coach even looks good broken. Sure slept good last night. the lady there looks really good this morning too. If you look real close those are the snow covered mountains right be hind us. Awesome sight that the camera can not take in. Teri took the shot while we were on our way to find a place to attend church services tonight. Found it just a mile and half away.
We have had so many calls and emails that it is mind boggling. People concerned and wanting to help us out. We really appreciate everyone. Teri looked at me last night and said, "why would anyone own any other motorhome"? She was talking about all of the kindness shown us from other GMC owners. It is unbelievable. If I needed anything, at all, I would not hesitate to let the GMC folks know it and know that I would receive. What a group.
Well, we have ventured out and found our way back today. We will try a longer run next time. You can see us on the tracking system as wd0afq-1. No telling where we might go or what we might get into. I have always wanted to explore Los Angeles, now is our time. I watch the west coast news fr
om LA every evening. I hope I am not in it this week.
Will be Wed. or so, before Miguel can do much here. He is covered up with GMC motorhomes. That is just fine with us. We found the laundry mat so Monday will be wash day. That was also my grandma's wash day.
Come on back later and see what we get ourselves in to. We are going to church tonight at 6. It is dark here at 6, as we found out last night. We are barely in the Western Time Zone here. Not sure but it might have been smog that makes it dark here. Sun is out now and it is above 70 degrees.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 12:32 PM 1 Comments

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Can You Say Los Angeles?

Oh yea, we are out here in California, not Arizona. Got up and took off about 830 am. I was watching the oil pressure because of the knock we had previously had. It came back and left again. After 20 miles I saw the pressure dropping so we pulled off. After we parked in a truck stop I called Good Sam's Towing. After an hour or more a truck showed up to tow us back to Quartzsite, not where I wanted to go. the truck was too small and Good Sam's was not going to pay for a larger one. Finally they did, but only to Quartzsite because they said a shop there could fix our problem.
After another couple of hours this truck shows up, same driver. I drove the GMC onto the flat bed.





He took us to Quartzsite where the owner of the shop had not been called by Good Sam. He also said it would be a month before he could even look at it.




Back on the phone to wait for an hour while the tow truck driver was wanting me to get the GMC off his truck.












On the phone trying to keep my GMC on that truck and headed to a GMC shop in Montclair, Ca. 200 miles. Good Sam's said no. They would tow us to an rv park until Monday and find a shop closer that would fix it. We are talking major engine malfunction.







Good Sam agreed to a total of 50 miles and I had to pay 6 bux a mile to get it here to the shop.









We rolled in here about an hour after dark, me leading the tow truck driver.

Over a grand to get me here out of my pocket. I am not happy but what could we do?
Too dark to take pictures when we arrived. Miguel was glad to see us and we know we will be treated special here and he will fix whatever is wrong with the GMC.
So, there you have it. Our story for today. The dreaded hook, our first time and it is going to be expensive. I can get a job, not a problem. We have to be in Montgomery Tx. in 6 weeks. I am sure we will make it. We are in the best of hands and I feel good about it. Traffic is nasty here in LA. Folks tried to run over me and gave me wierd sign language, lots of horn honking. Hmm, I can manage out here just fine. I know how to drive aggressively.
The tracker shows us here so check on us when you can.
Dan









posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 8:38 PM 3 Comments

Friday, January 29, 2010

Our Last Cookout

Our plans are to pull out of here in the morning. We had good friends stop by for a visit this morning.
The car show was pretty much of a let down. It does not start until tomorrow but most cars are parked. We took a few shots this afternoon.


I remember my first ride in one of these, and only, back in 1973. This one has a big block. I was scared to death with a 289.




Some old cars and old campers.
















63 VW pulling a camper. Today was the owner's 83rd birthday. He bought the VW new.







Even a well preserved GMC was in the show. A friend of our's owns this one.









































57 Nomad. I happened to be wearing my Nomad shirt today.












Nice 55 ht.












Teri working on insulation for the GMC this afternoon.















This is a reflection.














The real thing.

















The GMC has thge Vibe all hooked and ready to go. I hope it will go. Our noise in the engine came back tonight then left again. I have a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in it now. Pray hard for us to have an uneventful trip Saturday.

Thanks for checking on us. Teri, Doug, and Irene are playing dominoes. I am sitting out here by the fire as I put up the blog. And, I am the one that hates camp fires.
WD0AFQ will be running tomorrow as we head east. ride with us if you have time.
Dan

















posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 5:48 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, January 28, 2010

What a Day For Two GMC Motorhome Couples

4th day in a row. That is about 1 day too many. Geocaching in the desert has been fun but I think I am done for a while. Friday will be a relaxing day looking at the cars coming into the car show. At least that is what I have planned. We hit several caches today. Found all of them but one. It was a micro hid in a thorn tree. What a rediculous hide.
Here was a nice hide. I like these. It was hid in the hole of a tree.


Here is another one.



Yep, they are in there.


I wrote the earlier blog this morning while sitting in the Jeep. We went looking for bargains this morning. Here they are getting the fire ready. The food was great.








I am not a camp fire person. The smoke gives me a headache. If the smoke will go away from me I am fine but that never happens.







Here is the part that has eluded me for about 3 years. 10 bux but I needed it and they had it right here in Quartzsite. None of the hardware stores carry stuff like this. Not even HD or Lowes. I found this one in a junky little rv repair place here in Quartzsite. Will make the next macerator change pretty quick.









Here is a picture of the chopper on the pump. When I took this one apart today I found that 2 rubber teeth in a row were off the thing. That is why it would not pump. One is ok but when 2 together go you just can not get it primed.

I am tired. I think a little tv might be in order tonight. It was a beautiful day. Temps were 70 plus. We have a full moon showing. The stars will be awesome.
Thanks for dropping by.
Dan








posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 12:54 PM 2 Comments

A Wild Night

I went to bed about midnight. There was some guy riding his 4 wheeler back and forth in front of our coach. He was hollaring like a drunken Indian or something. I never heard the cowboys. this went on for an hour. Then, I heard it stop, suddenly. Then the drunken screaming began again, just no 4 wheeler. At 2 am I thought I heard a bear in our camp. I got up and it was Doug. I thought he was sleep walking so I went back to bed. this morning he has a wild story to tell.
It seems what I thought was a drunken Indian was just that. He wrecked his 4 wheeler and layed there screaming. He finally dragged himself to a motohome door, but the lady would not open it. She called the cops. An ambulance hauled the guy away. A wrecker took his 4 wheeler, and the guy was indeed drunk. The cops wrote him a driving while intoxicated ticket as the ambulance hauled him away. Doug saw it all. This truly is the wild west.
This morning I am sitting in Doug's jeep waiting on the girls to find all of the bargains. This afternoon we have 8 geocaches marked to locate. It must be 75 degrees out here. Can't wait to find a shady spot behind one of these big cactie.
Hope all is well with yall. Come on back tonight for the rest of our story.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 10:16 AM 1 Comments

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

First Things First

Well, we had a chore waiting for us this morning. The maserator had to be replaced with our spare. This is about the 3rd or 4th time this thing has given me trouble. I don't think I will rebuild this one. We will probably buy a new one and carry it as a spare. I don't cary many spare parts but this is a must. When it stops working there are things that back up, if you know what I mean. Doug and Irene Norton are with us now. This morning I took Doug to show him these neat old cars that a fella here in Quartzsite keeps. The car show starts Friday. They are already rolling in. I can't wait.
The girls went to the craft show while Doug and I looked around at these old cars. Must be over 100 this fella has.



I am not sure that I have ever seen a 55 2 door hard top Olds before. Here is one on the car hauler behind a chopped Stude.


I took this picture for my good friend Dave Greenburg. It is not a 48 but it is a Packard.





Who knows what this is?




Do you rmember these 60 models rolling around? Great looking Buick.






The girls were good today so Doug and I took them out into the desert geocaching.







Here is Doug. The girls re hid the thing to see if he could find it.








If you pop this picture up you can see three souls atop this mountain. One of them is not me. I stay in the vehicle with internet and plot the next treasure hunt.










Our last find of the day.
Once the sun drops behind the mountains it gets cool out here. Doug took us for a real ride in his Jeep coming home. I was about sick when we finally pulled into the coaches. I might take the Vibe tomorrow. That way I am in control of where we go and how fast.
We have several more caches to find tomorrow. Ride with us if you can.
Dan










posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 4:52 PM 2 Comments