It Was About Time

Yesterday we finally were free to leave Elk City, Oklahoma, and resume our summer travels. I considered that a pretty good present on my birthday! On May 8 we left Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow, Arizona. Yesterday was the first time since then we were free to travel wherever we wanted. Good deal.

We had been sitting in Elk City for a week, waiting for Slade at Rolling Retreats, a major Mobile Suites dealer, to check out our front landing gear. Early during our 12 day stay at the Flying J in Winslow, the passenger side front leg slipped down while the trailer was hooked up to the truck. Since that had happened last September, we wanted him to determine what was going on. He spent a couple of hours testing to see if there was a leak in the hydraulic system that operates the legs and found nothing. So that wasn't repaired. He did find another loose brake caliper and replaced that. He also suggested a company in Indiana that rebuilds seals on landing gear legs. We will be contacting that business, hoping they can ship two rebuilt legs to us in Colorado.

Getting things fixed is just a matter of finding a mechanic who knows how to fix it and has the time to do it, then finding the right parts. It is the time spent finding the right person, waiting for them to find the time to do the work, and getting the correct parts shipped in.

We have been living in a 5th wheel part time and full time since 1997. Breakdowns are just an unavoidable and unfortunate part of living on the road, pulling your home down the highways. This is the longest we have ever been unable to travel, but we have tried to make the best of our time, exploring the areas where we were sitting.
We left Rolling Retreats about noon and headed west. We are in Amarillo now. We are still a little tentative--with the leg staying up as we travel. But until it fails, it doesn't need fixing, I guess.

Amarillo is along the old Route 66. At our RV park we saw this old truck, memorabilia of times way past.