New bridge at Hoover dam

9th hole at the White Pine Golf Course

Hoot & Ginda's home in Ely

Rick, Carla and Rowdy at their new home in Ely

West Yellowstone to Gallup, NM

We headed south toward Las Vegas on September 15th with an overnight stop in Idaho and two nights in Ely, NV. We saw friends Rick & Carla, Rick & Carolyn, and Hoot and Ginda while in Ely and even got in a round of golf. We spent a week in Las Vegas and were able to spend time with my Mom, my sister, my nieces, and my grand niece and nephew (?). Tippy and I were also able to see friends and had a wonderful dinner at Jerry and Jackie's with many old friends in attendance.

On the 25th we started our trip to Fredericksburg for Oktoberfest and then home. Our first hiccup of the trip began as we drove from Las Vegas to Kingman. The coach began to overheat as we ascended a long grade and I had to gear way down to keep the RPM's up to try and keep the engine cool. The engine continued to overheat even while running at 2500 RPM and with a couple of stops to cool down. We got somewhat cooler as we came into KIngman but we were also driving down hill. As we began to climb as we headed east the engine continued to get hot and we made a few more stops to let the engine cool down. We finally made it to the Blake Ranch Road exit that had a Petro Truck Stop. We had lunch and let the engine cool so I could add some additional antifreeze. The radiator required very little antifreeze so I knew something else was wrong so I drove over to the repair center at the truck stop and the manager checked the radiator and felt that the core was plugged with dirt and dust and needed to be cleaned. I do this every month or so at home but hadn't done it since we left in June. One of the workers blew out the core with an air hose and then rinsed it good with water while the engine was running.

So we finally headed east toward Williams, AZ and low and behold the engine ran great! It just felt so good to have the problem solved I was simply giddy with pleasure! The coach has continued to run great since the radiator was cleaned and you can be sure I will see that it will be taken care of from now on on a regular basis. As we continued on to Williams we called our friends Randal & Connie that we were to meet in Fredericksburg. During the call we discovered that their reservation was lost due to a change of ownership at the RV park. Since they wern't coming we decided to cancel our trip as well so we will just head home. We will now just stay on I - 40 thru New Mexico and into the Texas panhandle. We will now get home on Wednesday, five days early, which is a good thing as we are ready to be home. We canceled some reservations, made some new ones, and decided to stay in Gallup an extra day so we could see the conclusion of the Fed Ex Cup.

We have a couple of pics from Ely and the new bridge over the Colorado river. Be safe and I will write again when we get home.