Leaving Cape Disappointment

Today is Sunday and we are leaving for Eugene, OR where the Cumming shop is located. They are one of the HWH repair facilities and where we hope to get the hydraulic system repaired.  

We have enjoyed our stay here even though we have no jacks and no slides. Its so cramped with out slides that even the cat is getting cabin fever.

Saturday weather was sunny and beautiful  we went over to Astoria and did some shopping. I picked up a set of nut drivers so, if necessary, I will have the necessary tool the release the slide valve in the event it creeps out further on our drive down. When we got back to camp it was so nice that we sat outside with Ty, who was on his leash connected to the door handle. He was also enjoying being out and was sitting in the grass under the pine trees waiting for one of the many crows to come over for a visit. We weren’t paying very much attention to him, Debbie was weaving and I was reading, when our next door neighbor yelled at us that there was a raccoon approaching our cat. Looking over Ty and the  raccoon were nose to nose about a foot apart. We rushed over and the raccoon retreated and we saved Ty.

This park is beautiful. the sites are paved and level with full hookups. There is no cell service in the campground but with the antenna and amp we had slower than dial-up internet.  On Friday we were in #24 which is close to the beach but we wanted to stay and extra night and that space was reserved so we moved to #56. The campground is less that a third full only two other units are in our circle of ten sites.

Leaving in a few minutes. Wish us luck!

Slides and Jacks, oh-no!

We are at Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

We have been exceptionally lucky that our MH for the most part has been pretty trouble free. We have had a few minor problems but nothing major until yesterday.

We were at the Quinault Beach Casino parked in their RV lot about a half mile from the casino, all by ourselves, over looking the ocean. We were scheduled to drive a couple of hours down the coast to Cape Disappointment SP where we had reservations for Thursday and Friday nights.

I had retracted the bedroom slide and the large living room slide and started to bring in the small living room slide and nothing happened! I also found the leveling jacks were not operating. This was followed by a hot electronics smell. Investigation revealed the motor for the hydraulic pump was very hot and apparently had burnt out. Unable to bring in the slide or get the jack up we were stranded in a very isolated spot.

I called our MH road service, Winnebago, the hydraulic people, HWH. I also pulled out all the reference materials and manuals I could find.

I knew the theory on manually raising the jacks but I had no clue on how to get the slide in. The Winne manual covered in detail where and how to crank in the large slide and how to slide in the bedroom slide, but of course it didn’t mention the small slide at all. The road service called back and had a service tech scheduled arrive sometime before 4pm, its 10am now. The call to Winnebago was little help as they apparently didn’t have the slide in their manuals either. HWH took a message and said they would call back. Surprise they did about an hour later. They knew more about the MH than Winnebago did. I got some good information on how to release the pressure in the hydraulic lines and where the valves were to accomplish this task. They said once the valve was opened we could just push the slide in.

About 3pm the RV tech arrived. He wasn’t that familiar with our specific equipment but had worked on similar stuff. I showed him where the motor was under the front steps and after checking for voltage, using my meter because he left his at the shop, he jumped the solenoid on the motor and nothing happened confirming my original thought that it was burnt out and probably the source of the electrical smell. Next he opened the valve to the slide and the three of us tried to push it in. It didn’t budge a fraction of an inch! He tried a second valve, there are three , one for each slide. Still no luck. He opened the third and still no movement. He then opened the valves for the jacks and they retracted. Hooray! As I was looking over his shoulder I thought he was missing the valve that HWH indicated should be opened. He had been opening something in the back of the assembly and HWH said it should be in the front under the jack valves. I told him this and he opened that valve. The three of us again pushed on the slide and lo and behold the slide started in and we were able to push it all the way.

We finally got started toward Cape Disappointment around 5:30pm. As we started driving out of the parking lot the MH tilted to the right and the slide moved out a little. Oh! Shit! I had visions of the whole right side of the MH flying out and landing on the side of the road. After a very tense 2 hour drive we arrive in the DARK to the SP. Found our site and parked.The slide is still about 3 inches out but didn't appear to move any further.

We’re staying here at Cape Disappointment SP until this Sunday when we will cut over to I5 and drive down to Cummings in Eugene, OR. where we hope to get the hydraulic stuff fixed. Then we’ll continue down I5 and save the coast till next year.

Ocean Shores

Quinault Beach Resort and Casino - Ocean Shores, Washington

The Casino has a large, dedicated RV lot with about 100 marked spaces at the south end of the regular parking. We are in space 47 and there are only 2 other RV (might be the storm with 30mph wind and driven rain, although it’s hazy sun right now and no rain). One of the other RVs left so now, we are parked across spaces 96, 97 and 98, all by ourselves at the extreme south end of the lot and a million miles from anything. Haven’t seen any casino security in the RV lot but, although it’s desolate at this end, there doesn't appear to be a security concern. The lot is gravel and the spaces are designated with white spray paint and there is no utilities, but the price is right, There is parking along either side of the center access road. The spaces on the ocean side are sloped up so if you pull in facing the ocean it’s difficult to level the unit. This casino lot has a spectacular view of the ocean which is about 600 yards away.

The casino is way back there by the end of the Horizon

As mentioned before it been a windy, stormy day. We had heavy rain off and on as we headed south from Mount Vernon. And, our windshield wipers worked the whole way down. We’ve had a problem with them just suddenly stopping and ourselves and Freightliner have been unable to find the problem. Our workaround is pulling the wiper fuse and replacing but that’s hard to do on the side of I5 since the fuse in outside in one of the bins.

We had originally planned to go as far as the Little Creek Casino near
Shelton, WA but when we arrived around 1pm and there’s we decided to continue on to Ocean Shores, just another couple of hours.

The view from our door.

Getting Ready to Leave Port Susan

We’re in the parking lot of Valley Freightliner in Mount Vernon for the night where we had the Horizon serviced before heading for California. We dropped it off this morning and they had it finished late this afternoon. We’ll spend the night in their lot and leave tomorrow toward the Washington coast. We will be traveling along the coast all the way down.

We always look forward to heading up here and are always reluctant to leave. Especially leaving all our friends who live here through the winter.

Brad flew up for a week-end visit. While he was here we went over to Whidbey Island to see Deception Pass. A bridge spans the narrows where tidal currents rush through.

Kayakers flock to this area during tide changes due to the tidal rush.