Progress on Friday

Friday morning, we were up early because Gracie was parked right outside of the shop and we knew that Ray would be working on the slide as soon as his workday started...

I had finished one of the cones of yarn that I had for making hats, and I asked Carl if he had any use for it... here he is saying, "Eh?" (while being bent over and shuffling across the floor) to use it as an ear trumpet...

... and here he is using it as a "toot-to-too" trumpet to wake up anyone still sleeping!

Our technician, Ray, got started by talking with Newmar, and he talked with them almost continuously from 8:30am until noon. The slide got "better", but it was not working correctly. It would either successfully go all the way out and then come in but not lock in place, or it would successfully come in and lock but not go all the way out. It seemed obvious that something about the controller needed to be tuned, but he followed all the recommendations from Newmar and, although a lot of things got fixed (it was no longer making horrendous noises), it wouldn't ever travel from all the way out to all the way in and locked. Our service advisor, Skip, came to talk with us to let us know that they had done all they could (we had already surmised that) and that they could leave it in either of the two states (able to go out but not lock in or locked in but not able to go out). Skip asked if we might be heading back to Dallas at some point as they have much more knowledgeable Newmar technicians (the NIRVC in Dallas, Las Vegas, and Atlanta are all Newmar authorized dealers, but the one in Arizona is not) - he suggested that Dallas (Lewisville) NIRVC may be able to fix it completely. They thought we would want the first configuration (able to use the slide room but not lock it), but, we are now "snake bit" and unwilling to use the slide until someone who really knows the Newmar slides works on it and pronounces it ready to use. So, they took it out far enough that we could get to the cabinet that is near to impossible to access with the slide in, I took canned goods, spices, and vitamins out and put into two collapsible crates, and we brought it in and locked it. The repair was not "finished" but we were *done*!!!

When I walked out to the Jeep to get the collapsible crates, I saw a lady walking toward me that I thought I recognized. I stopped, and said, "Do I know you?" and she said, "Patti!" It turned out that friends, Lorraine and Michael, that Dwayne and I had met several years ago in Yuma, were also there at NIRVC, and, we think, parked right next to us one night, but we had not known it! It was great to get to see them and chat briefly as we prepared to leave the service center.

We dumped Gracie's tanks and filled with fresh water, and left NIRVC by about 1pm. After stopping to fill with diesel near Tonopah, we arrived in Quartzsite where many of our SKP Christian Fellowship friends were already parked in preparation for our rally starting today (Saturday). We got to greet and eat with friends, got a good night's sleep, and...

... woke up to sunrise out our bedroom window reflected off of Gracie's side (which we normally would not see from the bedroom window because the front slide would be out).

We are so grateful to be in Quartzsite with our friends. We are sorry that we missed being with them for the past week, but, God's timing is perfect, and we're happy to be here now!