Skip to main content

The Trailer Gets Repaired

Wednesday, June 8th - Angeles Mountains, Los Angeles to Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu, California - Day 118 

Our morning routine was interrupted by a pair of Rangers. We were told that this was a National Recreation Area and not a place to camp. A bunch of fire fighting trainees ran by earlier and I think they tattled on us. The Rangers were very nice; I charmed them, before they knew it they were giving me advice on places to see. They left us to pack up. 

 They advised that we went to the Santa Monica National Recreation Area visitor centre. We decided to take them up and took a beautiful drive through the Santa Monica Mountains to the visitor centre. The kids completed junior ranger books. There was also a mansion on the property that we dropped by before getting on the road. Just as we pulled out of the driveway, the trailer started making a dull, clunking sound every few seconds. We stopped and examined but couldn’t find the problem. We kept going and the clanking seemed to subside. 


We were on the highway driving to Sequoia National Park, a 4-hour drive. We gradually came out of the mountains and onto a plain between mountain ranges. The plan was to stop for supplies in Bakersfield. Between the clunking and the fact that the trailer brakes had stopped working recently, I was going to see if there was a trailer repair shop available. 

We arrived and I found RM’s RV Service. I showed up at 3:30pm and Robert came out immediately to take a look. He asked me questions about where I was going and who I was taking; luckily, my answers deemed me worthy of his time. He kept saying he had no time for this but placed an order for a new brake controller. He had a hitch to finish fixing and then he would help me. 


The problems were many. The brake controller (given to me by Darren) was always sending a brake signal to the trailer, two wires had come disconnected in the link between trailer and vehicle, and there was a wire to the tire that had come loose. We chatted while he fixed all three problems. He owned the place with his brother and that’s why he could take the time to help me. He was about to become a Dad again in October along with his brother who was due the same time. He helped me because he wanted to help my family; he was fantastic. The bill ended up being $500. It was worth it to have the trailer brakes in top shape heading into the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

We continued to Sequoia, a few hours later we were on the edge of the park as dusk was falling. We found a campsite that was on the edge of the Horse Creek Recreation Area. We tried to get to a few beautiful spots, but several roads were underwater which limited us. Only 25 minutes from Sequoia National Park, we settled into a spot with a view of the lake.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Desert Forest

Saturday, May 28th – Joshua Tree National Park - North to Joshua Tree National Park - South, California– Day 107 Our campsite was a large open dirt area with some scrub around the outside. In the dark we had managed to park beside the pile of horse poo and shaving. Horses were allowed in this site. Gen stepped in the middle of a pile.   The Joshua Tree National Park visitor centre was a five-minute drive away. The town of Joshua Tree was packed with college age millennials communing with nature. There was a market with kombucha, organic greens and a few small tortoises. It was all very pleasant but very busy. The laundromat was at the edge of the market, I charged the devices and did the laundry. Gen bought some produce from a guy loading a truck. I even snuck in to buy some watermelon kombucha.   The drive into the park was ten minutes followed by a ten-minute line to show our pass. A quick stop to fill up our water bottles and we were into the park. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meow Wolf and O

Wednesday, May 25th –Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Las Vegas, Nevada – Day 104  We woke up in our roadside turn out and got ready for the day. Our plan was to go for a swim at Lake Mead, see the Hoover Dam and head back into Vegas. The morning was stifling hot, we were looking forward to the swim.   We drove to the visitor centre at Lake Mead Recreation Centre. We could see Lake Mead on the way. The water was well below the high-water line on the rocks. At the visitor centre we got our passport stamped, filled our water bottles, and received junior ranger booklets. The air conditioning was so nice we set up the kids to work on their booklets and hung around. The kids finished up enough activities that they were sworn in by a very nice ranger before we left.   We decided to go see the Hoover Dam first. We dropped the trailer in the parking lot. We heard it might need to be opened at the security checkpoint and we couldn’t be bothered. The H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canyonlands is Another Planet - Pt 1

Thursday, May 12th – Moab, Utah – Day 91  Utah is another planet. I cannot do justice to the sights that I have seen in Canyonlands National Park. They are beyond compare. I would encourage everyone to visit. The pictures we have taken do not convey the beauty of the scenery we witnessed.   We woke up in the morning after a late night. The kids did some schoolwork. We ate our oatmeal. We tried to clean up the dust that was all over the trailer. The wind had subsided in the night and the morning was pleasant and warm. Aisling had made us promise that we would climb the rock that they had all been climbing on. We strapped on our hiking boots and started towards the rock. A quick climb later we were at the top; on the way down, we were looking for pretty rocks.  The road to Canyonlands sits between two buttes with their cliffs rising on either side. The drive was thirty minutes to the entrance. The visitor centre had displays that detailed what each layer of the canyo...
Post a Comment
Read more