Focht Family Blog

I didn’t realize how long it had been since I updated. Sorry. So this one will be a bit long. After we left Seattle we drove down 101 (coast) through Oregon. It was raining and overcast but we pulled over to take some pictures of the ocean.

It is rather scary driving along the coast and going past many areas where the road has fallen in. We actually had to stop and wait for construction crews in a coupe of areas where there was no road in one lane. I’m glad none of the road decided to cave in while we were driving on it. We spent a couple of nights among the redwoods in northern California.

Driving down the coast in CA the weather was a little better so we stopped again and got some more pictures of the ocean and took the family out for a picture. It had just started raining so I think it is blurry because water may have been on the lens.

Next we headed down a little further for a few days in a town called Manteca. It was a relatively central location for Nathan to visit with some customers. Nathan stopped at Making It Big, a place that sells clothes for larger women and also at Artisan Sweets, a candy store that sells specialty candies. They gave us some caramels as well as some natural candies for the kids. Everything was delicious. These were both stops on the way into the campground.

The next day we went out and Nathan stopped in at Wild Horses 4×4. This took a bit longer because they sell off road equipment for broncos. Nathan is missing his Jeep. After he was done with customer visits, we went to lunch at an Old Spaghetti Factory and sat in the trolley car. It wasn’t as good as I remembered from when I was young but I still enjoyed the spumoni ice cream. :)

We spent the rest of the week riding bikes at the campground and fixing and cleaning. We also had a visit with one of mom’s friends who moved to California. On Saturday we checked out and put 10 hours of driving on the road. We made it to Kingman, AZ so we were officially out of CA. Unfortunately the Walmart there does not allow overnight but we got some groceries and called the Cracker Barrel down the street. They gave us permission.

We were up early this morning because we didn’t want to block all the spaces for Sunday morning diners so we were back on the road by 7:00 this morning and we will be stopping in Albuquerque where this whole adventure started to pick up an antennae that we lost somewhere at Aloha RV where we purchased our Newmar All-Star. We are making tracks for Indiana. We are taking the All-Star back to Newmar to get some things added. They do discounted work during this time of the year because this is their slow time. We are going to have gel batteries put in since they have more charge time plus you don’t have to check the water or worry about rust. We are also going to have the slide repaired where I caught Nathan’s jacket in it.

Originally we were planning on staying the night at a Walmart in Albuquerque but since we are making good time Nathan is thinking about trying to get to Amarillo, TX before we stop. It is going to be a long few days on the road putting at least 10 hours of driving in a day. I am looking forward to stopping in Indiana and relaxing for a bit. Since Newmar doesn’t have laundry facilities we need to go to a laundromat while there anyways so I plan on stripping all of the beds and washing comforters (cannot fit in most machines at campgrounds). I am also looking forward to going to lunch at the little cafe a few blocks away. They had great homemade soups. Samantha is looking forward to going back to reading time at the library and also going to the large playground they have in town. Hopefully there will be no tornadoes this time around. :)

Today we spent most of our day on the side of the road. We stayed at a Walmart last night and got an early start today. We were going to try to make it all the way to Seattle by tonight. However, about an hour from the Oregon border while we were still in California we heard a pop followed by a hissing noise. Nathan didn’t hear the noise but then noticed that he was losing power although the engine was still running and there were no alarms. I told him it sounded like a hose had blown.

We pulled off onto an exit but it didn’t look like there was anything on the road but snow so we limped back up the on ramp and parked on the side. We put some flares out (thanks to the police at our last breakdown) and put the slide out enough to open the access panel. When Nathan opened it we found that a metal elbow had been blown off of a hose. It was the turbo so without it we would not have enough power to get up any of the mountains unless we were going about 4 miles an hour! We called Spartan and all they would do is send a tow truck. They wouldn’t get us a flatbed tow and said we would have to sign a release for them to tow us. After the last one damaged our coach we didn’t want to do that.

We called Cummins and tried to track down the part so Nathan could fix it on the side of the road. We found one that said they had it in Oregon. We arranged for a courier to pick it up and bring it to us. When the man got to the shop to give the part to the courier he found out that although the computer said he had it, he did not. He said he could have one at his shop first thing in the morning. He arranged for a tow truck to come and get us and while we were waiting Nathan decided to try to patch the problem. Here is a picture of the elbow that blew off after Nathan patched it. The rim was sheared off when it blew so Nathan had to use some duct tape and tighten the collar a bit more to get it to hold.

Nathan thinks it blew because it is rubbing against the metal plate on the side and when the engine is flexing on the bouncy roads it was putting to much pressure on it. He thinks when they put the new engine in they didn’t check to see where everything was rubbing when they replaced all of the hoses. If there is something good that has come out of it, I noticed that one of the bolts on another collar was rubbing a hole in one of the air conditioner hoses, so we can get that fixed as well. This is a picture of the hose after Nathan moved the collar and taped the hole that was starting to develop from the rub.

We did a few trials of speeding up the ramp and backing back down. There was some air escaping around the elbow because we could hear hissing but the elbow held up to the pressure. We tried going up one mountain pass and when we made it over we canceled the tow truck and decided to limp to Oregon to get the part. The good part is that so far on this breakdown we haven’t had to vacate the RV. On the way to Oregon we found a place with a wide pull-off that had lots of snow so we stopped so the kids could see it. Timmy was up front but for some reason the other two did not answer when I called them multiple times to come out in the snow. So… here is Timmy playing in the snow.

Here is a picture of the trees that were behind Timmy while he was playing.

By this time we were starting to get into flurries and we were glad we weren’t being towed after dark in this weather. Here is a picture of the snow hitting our windshield and a picture of some beautiful snowy scenery we were driving by.

After we got into the town in Oregon we were driving to we stopped at a mall and walked around and ate dinner. We then drove to Cummins and parked for the night. Hopefully when we get up the part will be here and we can repair and get out of here in a timely manner so we can make it to Seattle tomorrow.

I would love to say that Disneyland was wonderful but it was not. It makes me realize how wonderful Disneyworld is. Disneyland was full of rude employees who did not seem to want to be there and on top of that they did not have any double strollers. It was bad enough that I actually wrote a letter to them and I do not usually do things like that. Disneyland was missing the Disney magic.

One of the things I realized is that it is near impossible to take pictures of people on rides when you are also on the ride. The first ride we went on was the Buzz Lightyear ride. I actually think that the Disneyland version is better than the one in Florida because your guns are on cords so you can remove them and aim better, although I still got a pretty low score. :) After the first ride we went to the Blue Bayou restaurant and waited for one of their walk-in tables. Mom wanted to go there because she remembered it and had fond memories. You sit where you can see the boats from the Pirates ride and they make it look like you are sitting out by a dock on the Bayou with lightning bugs all around.

One of the rides that I miss from Disneyworld is the submarine ride. It used to be called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Now the Disneyland version is called Nemo’s Submarine Voyage. I took a picture of everyone but Josh and I sitting in the submarine waiting for the ride to begin.

Next we went on Autopia. Again I feel like this ride was better than the one in Florida. It has a little off-road section and there is a part where you are driving through a car park. I took a picture of the fountain in the middle of the park and also one that showed a good view of the Matterhorn.

Next we went on the Matterhorn which Josh did not like and Timmy found a little scary. There is a Yeti monster that comes out at you in a couple of places. Next we went on It’s A Small World. It was still decorated for Christmas so that was an extra bonus for us. The rest of my pictures are from this ride. The first picture is of the front of the ride. Every 15 minutes the clock face opens up and a parade of dolls from around the world occurs. I took a picture of the parade while we were standing in line.

The rest of the pictures are from inside the ride. I chose my favorites from the Christmas decorations.

After the few rides I got a wonderfully special meeting with my best friend from when I was Samantha’s age. I reconnected with Amy last year and I wanted to be able to meet with her when we were in town. She has an annual pass to Disney so she met us after she got out of work. I was very honored that she came to meet us since she is 7 weeks pregnant and was very tired. I know when I was at that stage with Samantha, after I worked a full day at work the last thing I would have done is gone out to an amusement park to meet someone. We sat at a restaurant and visited while the kids ate and then went back on the It’s A Small World ride. Unfortunately after that it was getting late and everyone but the kids were getting tired so we decided to call it a day. Maybe we can get back to Disneyland some other time when it isn’t so crowded so we can go on more of the rides.

Thursday we took the kids to Knott’s Berry Farm. They were having a deal this month that if you brought in a can of food you got an adult’s admission for the price of a child’s. This made the day cheaper than the zoo. We spent most of the day at Camp Snoopy. It is a small section that is just for kids, so all of the rides are their size. Here are the kids going into Camp Snoopy.

One of the first rides the kids went on was a envelope that goes up and down. Samantha enjoyed it, Timmy went on it later and enjoyed it but Joshua did NOT like it.

The next picture is of a fun, spinning ride. My mom wanted to go on it but it actually had a height restriction the other way, so Samantha couldn’t go on it either. Here is Timmy and Josh riding it.

After lunch and a few roller-coasters for Samantha and me (nobody else likes them), we went to a show with the Peanuts characters. Samantha and Timmy were both chosen to go up and be part of the band. Here is Samantha playing the washboard and Timmy playing pots and pans.

One of the rides that Joshua liked was the balloon races. We were in little hot air balloons that lift up and spin in a circle. Joshua was with me so I took a picture of my mom with Samantha and Timmy.

One of the last rides the boys went on was one that Samantha wanted to but was too tall for. It was actually work instead of a ride. They were little hand carts that they had to push and pull to make it go around the track. It took Joshua a little bit of time to figure out how to work it but he finally got it. Here is Timmy and Josh pushing and pulling their way around the track.

Friday we went to Disneyland…. that will be next post.

The last three days been very full and very tiring. We left San Diego and drove to Newport Beach. From here we rented a car on the advice of mom’s friend Tom who lives there. After we picked up the rental, we drove to meet one of our old family friends, Dave and Claudia Amyrauld. We met them at Olive Garden and had a wonderful meal with them. Dave and Claudia were always my favorite place to go when we had to be babysat when we were growing up. They have two daughters, one who is the same age as my older brother and one that is a little older.

The traffic in California is horrendous. It took us forever to get to the restaurant crawling at 5 miles an hour. I will be glad to be out of California. At the moment we are stopped in Northern California, broken down…. again! More on that after I catch up on what we did in Southern California.