Diverting Course from Lake Powell to Lake Roosevelt!

So, Baxter was running around on the little island, and did not want to come when I was ready to paddle back to the boat...so I Ieft him on the island! He kind of watched with a puzzled look as I paddled away! I came back a short while later, and he came running down and jumped in the kayak! Not sure whether either of us learned anything though...
 
(Maybe) last post in this thread, a picture and an update. The picture: the moon over Rimrock Lake, very pretty and calming.

Moon_Over_Rimrock_Lake.sized.jpg

The update: we pulled out yesterday, Rimrock Lake is a reservoir, and the water level is dropping like somebody pulled the plug out of the bathtub! Prudence dictated a speedy retrieval before it became impossible! We spent the night at Rimrock Lake Resort on the hard, and then Jim and Laurie towed us back to the Nissan dealer in Yakima this morning, and then headed home. Naturally, we had a flat tire coming down, and then Jim and Laurie had a flat on the way home. Sort of how things are rolling here...

Due to colossal incompetence, maybe Nissan, maybe the freight company, maybe the local dealer, the part need to repair our Titan will not be here until Thursday and the truck will not be ready until Friday. So here we sit boaterhoming in the dealer's parking lot for the next three days. We were sorely tempted to buy a new F350, but all considered (and we HAVE considered!), that would probably not be prudent! But damn that truck is nice!

On the bright side, we have electrical power here, it is not too far to the Safeway, and I have a cousin here who will stand us to showers as soon as work schedules permit, which looks like Thursday. We have internet and lots of reading material. We are well supplied with beer and gin. We have an ice-maker on board (OK, NOW talk about "want" versus "need"!!). So I guess we will tough it out here for a couple more days!!

 
Pat,

That diversion from Lake Powell is turning into quite an interesting saga. Sorry that it isn't turning out as expected!

Thinking about your F350 comment... That might not be such an imprudent idea. There is enough towing capacity to handle your boat or trailer with ease, and plenty extra as well. Personally, I don't think it would be a mistake. That or a good Chevy Duramax or Dodge Cummings.

We are in eastern Nebraska, heading for Decorah, Iowa. Home of Luther College (yah sure, you betcha). Too bad we could not have started earlier to pick up the Guttenberg gathering.
 
Our "Wandering" buddy makes a good point: you have two trucks, a couple boats, and a 5th wheel RV... a new tow vehicle will serve you well into your retirement. And we know you are planning your retirement. There may be a different boat or RV in those retirement plans, and that F350 (or the Duramax or the Dodge) would be the right tool for the job. Eliminate the other two trucks, and have one new, heavy-duty vehicle... one that will tow all those conveyances... and take you anywhere you want to go, in comfort.

I love my truck. :wink:

We've enjoyed your thread on this trip. Sounds like you made the best of the situation... you didn't just make lemonade, you took that lemonade, added some lime, and made festive margaritas. Thanks for sharing with us!

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
OK, on the truck. Steve and Jim, I totally can appreciate your perspective. Yesterday I was almost ready to jump! But fortunately the father away we got from the F350, the more cold logic took over!

We are not in a position to pay cash because we have not liquidated assets (we still live in asset #1). Even with the incentives on 2011 remaining vehicles (and they are good), the truck payment would more than double (and that is with my credit union's smokin' 2.99% 72 month financing, which I called on yesterday).

The Titan only has 60,000 miles on it, is in nearly perfect condition inside and out, tows the CD25 more than adequately, and is nearly paid off. It has virtually no trade-in value (and I don't dispute the dealer's perspective, the Craigslist price on similar 2004 Titans is $13,000 - $16,000, and Kelly is something like $10,250). We have only put 20,000 miles on it in the last 4 years, so it has lots and lots of miles left, when the wiring harness and new computer are installed. And the F250 that lives over in Omak pulls our current 27' 5'er more than adequately. So we are totally covered for the next ~2.25 years to retirement.

So the more likely scenario is to wait until I retire, get the Fall City house sold (and who knows what the housing market will be like when we are actually ready to sell?), figure out exactly what we are doing at Birch Bay (options range from A - living in the little house, which is paid for, with only relatively minor upgrades, to B - putting a new larger modular - not mobile - home on the lot. Pat votes for A, Patty naturally votes for B. This really does relate to the truck decision!

So, that decision gets made in 2013, we THEN liquidate the Titan, the F250, and the Alpenlite, and get the 5'er we really want and probably a three year old 1 ton diesel truck, which at the end of 2013 will be the very same 2011 we have been looking at here, only with most of the depreciation gone! it could be the Powerstroke, a Duramax, a Cummins - there will be some out there and available.

But damn that F350 Super Duty with the 6.7 Powerstroke is nice!
 
Got to add one more thing! A Valley Ford guy came by this morning, and said he had been looking at getting a C-Dory, and would if he had any good body of water within a reasonable distance. We said, well, Rimrock Lake is pretty nice. Rimrock Lake, he replied with a smile, is just a $20 lake for a $30,000 boat!
 
I say: Hang on to the Titan! It sounds like a perfect truck, with lots of life left in it yet!!

ON THE OTHER HAND, here's a tale for you...

I am the second owner of a '97 Chev Silverado 3/4 HD. It is a beautiful red PU, with the biggest stainless cross-bed box one can buy, stainless running boards, tow hitch and fifth wheel hitch, brand new tires, etc. It is in absolutely LN condition, with not a single scratch or dent...and it just turned 58,000 miles.

On a recent trip with our fifth wheel, between my wife and I, we pulled a not-uncommon stunt: Failing to check that the jaws on the hitch had closed, we dropped the overhanging fifth unto the PU bed. Of course, this damaged the side rails.

After reporting to my insurance company, I took the truck in to the recommended collision shop. After examing and photographing the truck and the damage, the estimator reported that the computer kicked it out as as total loss, not worth repairing! I asked how much he estimated the repair to cost. He reported $4000. I was shocked.

After a few days, I got the report that the insurance had approved a repair...based on the condition and low mileage of the truck. However, the collision shop has not been able to find an accerptable box, equal to the condition of the damaged one. (In our area, it is hard to find old vehicles that have no rust.)

So now, they are planning (with insurance approval) to buy new side rails: There are inner and outer sides, so a total of four are needed. Two are available locally. But the other two are not. GM no longer makes them, because "the truck is too old." Across the nation, however, six have been located in dealers' stock. So the collision shop is trying to convince a couple of dealers to sell and ship the needed parts...to repair my like new old truck.

So I guess one can keep a truck too long!!
 
Thanks for your thoughts, Wayne!

Now an update: THE END IS IN SIGHT!!!! The wiring harness arrived this morning and they are working diligently to get it installed and get the Titan running! Here is our view from Daydream's cockpit for the last three days:

rom_Daydream_for_the_Last_Three_Days_9_14_11.sized.jpg

So there is hope we will spend tonight in our own bed in Fall City!
 
Now there's a case for "twins". You already have a "kicker" (the dealer!).

Sorry to hear about the problems. It sucks when your plans get messed up but as you rightly said, you just have to make lemonade.

Merv
 
What we have actually been making here in the parking lot is gin and tonics and martinis! The "lemonade" deal was just a metaphor!

Grumpy":220q1mig said:
Now there's a case for "twins". You already have a "kicker" (the dealer!).

Sorry to hear about the problems. It sucks when your plans get messed up but as you rightly said, you just have to make lemonade.

Merv
Click to expand...
 
Corning Ford, 45 miles below Redding, and driving many Northern California car dealers out of business with their low price dealing, has an ad on local TV featuring a Ford Pickup Truck with a new diesel motor with 400 HP and 800 ft. lbs. of torque!

Doesn't really say if it's an F-350 or (probably) larger, but looks like a brute!

Anybody know anything about this motor?

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Sea Wolf":1wogkcij said:
Corning Ford, 45 miles below Redding, and driving many Northern California car dealers out of business with their low price dealing, has an ad on local TV featuring a Ford Pickup Truck with a new diesel motor with 400 HP and 800 ft. lbs. of torque!

Doesn't really say if it's an F-350 or (probably) larger, but looks like a brute!

Anybody know anything about this motor?

Joe. :teeth :thup
Click to expand...

Joe, this is the first year that the new Ford built diesel has been out (I guess 2012 is out now, too), but the Ford techs at my preferred dealership have been pretty positive about it. None of the horror stories that accompanied the Powerstrokes that came after the 7.3L engine. Additionally, I believe it has a transmission that is similar in function to the Allison that GMC uses in their diesel trucks.
 
OK, the horror story continues, unfortunately.

Thursday we were all pretty positive that the Titan would be on the road before the end of the day. That wiring harness had come in, and they got most functions back one by one. Only problem, the sucker would not start. The techs were all scratching heads, it did not make any sense.

The service writer calls me in at 4 p.m., not good. They had just found ANOTHER sliced and diced wiring harness under the Electronic Control Module, and she said I should probably just rent a car and head home, it would be another week before they could get that part. She (bless her heart) had her boyfriend take Daydream to her own home for safekeeping, and we rented a car.

The usual closure of I-90 near Easton, sitting for half an hour, got home late. Then we realized we had both left our keys on the boat, locked out of our home, and no key for the Hyundai so we could return the rental car. A second story job, in through a bathroom window, and we are in the house at least. Totally stressed, tumbled into our own bed finally.

Friday, a complete nightmare trying to get a Hyundai key made. Had to get the Hyundai going to return the rental car. Took all day. To the dealer in Kirkland in the rental car to get the key code and blanks, they could not make a key because their key machine was broken. $22 for the blanks. To Bona Fide Lock and Safe in Kirland, who said he could have sold us the blanks for $3 each. He cut the keys for another $20. Back to Fall City in the rental car, the damn keys did not work.

Feeling kind of out of options and up against it, we went to Bona Fide's Issaquah store, where Michael Wick, certified locksmith, spent about an hour, puzzled it all out, and cut us new keys for no charge. Back home in the rental car. Yes! Michael's Hyundai keys worked! Off to Bellevue and returned the rental car, and home in our own Hyundai! Michael was justly rewarded, he does like beer!

The new part is ordered, the Titan will (supposedly) be ready next Friday, many thousands of dollars in repair bills, all because the prior owner sliced and diced not one but two wiring harnesses that decided to melt down and fry the ECM on September 2nd. It is now September 17th, and it looks like it will be September 23rd, if all goes well, before we can go back and get the Titan and our boat...

We are trying not to think about it. Today I made a batch of zucchini pickles and did a bunch of yard work...

 
Whoa. Raining...pouring. How come you didn't just rent a U-Haul and tow the boat home at the start of it all? Sorry to hear about all the hassle. But it is a good sign that nobody fell from the second story of the house! Things will get better from here.
 
Pat, if it weren't for Bad Luck, you two would have had no luck at all!!

Sorry for all the troubles, glad you're all safe and sound and home at last. Mike is right, things will get better (they have to!! :wink: )

Charlie
 
Pat and Patty you guys have the patience of JOB what a story in hindsight I guess going back for the older f-250 would have worked .
Sorry to hear about your exploits one of these days this will make a funny story ( not right now though) Take care and hope to see you guys in florida one of these days . JIm and Loree
 
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