Final report
We left
Sacramento by 9:30 a.m. and were not on I-5 thirty minutes before Goldie
began heating up again! Dreadful! She held a steady, though high,
temperature until we started going up hills around Redding. All the warning
lights came on and we had to unhitch the BC2 and I had to drive behind Dave
and Lisa for the rest of the day. Contact was established via the
walkie-talkies. We stopped for lunch just before crossing the border into
Oregon, on Highway 97 and decided to continue on to Bend to the Cummins
Diesel shop. If they needed a few days to repair Goldie, at least we would
be with my parents. Lisa phoned ahead for a campsite. Mom and Dad came over
for dinner (I had a lasagna ready to bake) and Lisa went home with my folks
after dinner.
DT and I had Goldie to the Cummins shop by 8 o’clock the
next morning. Our engine has a fantastic feature: a computer plug! The
mechanic can plug his computer into our engine and the engine tells the
computer what is happening, when it happened and, hopefully, why it
happened. The engine said maybe the sensor was not reading correctly – thus
“telling” the engine it was too hot and decreasing power, when it actually
was just fine. Okay, so let’s change the sensor. The part was in Portland;
they flew it in and had it in place by 3:00. We hitched-up the BC2 and drove
to the nearest steep hill for a test drive. Same over-heating problem. Back
to the Cummins garage. Computers may not know everything. Let’s put in a new
thermostat! Okay! Five minutes to install. Two minutes to re-hitch. Same
route for a drive… the needle headed up to NORMAL – and stopped between the
letters “O” and “R” – and STAYED THERE!!! Problem solved! Back to Cummins
for a thumbs up – and NO CHARGE – Goldie is still under warranty.
We climbed the extremely steep hill to my parent’s house with no problem and
under full power! My brother Rick, his wife, Ali and son, Taylor joined us
for dinner and we also had Delaney with us – she is staying with Mom and Dad
for a few days. We arrived home late in the afternoon, Thursday. Goldie
handled the drive beautifully. Snickers was happy to have us back. Kelsey
had done a fabulous job with the house.
Lisa & Delaney
Mom & Dad
Final thoughts: A great trip! Great to see
many old friends and so much of our family – and a pretty good track meet.
(We are already making plans for the World Track & Field Championships in
Edmonton, Alberta in August 2001.) The trials were pretty exciting, but the
facility put a damper on the meet for me. There was a story in The
Sacramento Bee stating that the trials would be certain to be held here
again in 2004. I surely hope not… but no one will ask me. We hope you
enjoyed reading our journal – I enjoyed writing it for you.