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~Monday, July 20, 2020~

Day 36

Today would decide our fate of either getting the show on the road, or doing a little more sightseeing in Bakersfield and enduring a little more heat. Jeff made a trip to Jim Burke Ford to check in with the service writer, Omar Samari, to explain exactly what happened. Omar said they would move other vehicles around ours and get back to us sometime in the afternoon. We do have a unique situation that most people don’t have. Not having a home to go back to. Our home is sitting in their parking lot. I kept updating Chris with any news from the service department and I wanted to make sure we were still o.k. with having the loaner truck.

While Jeff went to pick up a little breakfast for us, I checked with the hotel clerk to see if we could possibly extend our check-out, but the answer was a kind “no”, which I get, but doesn’t hurt to ask.

We checked out of our hotel at noon then headed to the dealership to check on the trailer and that there was enough fuel in the propane tanks since the refrigerator runs on propane. With the inside of the trailer over 100 degrees, we have to assume the fridge is working overtime.

We happened to see a Camping World nearby, so we went in to check if they had an over the ladder rack in stock. We had already ordered one online, but they’d been very behind on their warehouse shipments (over 3 weeks behind). What do you know, they had one. At least when the shipment arrives, Hannah will be able to return it to a local store there. Of course Sadie was the center of attention from the moment we walked in. One of the salespeople told us about a lake that wasn’t too far away where Sadie could swim, called Hart Memorial Park Lake. Later in the day, we drove there, and though it’s close to where we’re staying, it’s really out in the middle of nowhere, in the desert. It wasn’t the cleanest water, but a welcome sight for her and a great spot to get her energy out. Then we drove back to the dealership where I dropped off a gift of Guinness and a $20 Starbuck’s gift card for Chris. He is an angel for sure!

5:30 came around and Omar informed us sadly, that they were only able to run the diagnostic on the truck today. The master tech/transmission specialist didn’t have a chance to look at it today, so we’re crossing our fingers for tomorrow. They’re putting us first in line. So now the pursuit of finding a hotel for the night, and one that is pet friendly. After 30 minutes of searching “dog-friendly” hotels (we found a few but they’re not friendly in their price…..some wanted $70 to $100/night just for the pet fee), we declined them all, and ended up back at La Quinta. Yes, they say “dog friendly”, but at a high price. Anyway, La Quinta is a decent place with very nice rooms. On our way there, we stopped for some grub at Baja Fresh, checked into our hotel, then returned Tim and Tracy’s call to give them the latest news. Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be staying at a full hook-up RV park in the area.