The Poway Pontiac dealer is going under? My sister has owned several Pontiacs and never liked them - she used to go to John Hine - and I see that they are now just a Mazda dealer!
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The Poway Pontiac dealer is going under? My sister has owned several Pontiacs and never liked them - she used to go to John Hine - and I see that they are now just a Mazda dealer!
We did the Alaska trip in 1992 with our 24 foot 1979 Terry Taurus Trailer. I tell you it was not meant to travel the almost 50,000 miles we put on it in the 9 years we had it. I really don't think the manufactures counted on people actually TRAVELING in them!
The trip to Alaska was a little over 5 weeks so it wasn't anywhere near all bad. I just didn't want Lifemagician to feel left out...LOL!
Sorry to hear you are having issues with getting repairs before a trip. Nothing worse than "NOT KNOWING"! Hope all goes well.
Utahtea
Two of the RTA Contributors were people we met on the road. Bob Brown was staying at St. Mary's Campground in Glacier NP (I chat with Bob about once a week online) but I've not seen him in person since 1994. Mike Booth is a long-haul trucker we met in an ice storm on I-40 in 1999. I chatted with him on the radio about 30 minutes ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
Well, send me a word document and I'll post it here for you.Quote:
Where can one post book reviews? I just finished a book about cross-country road travel - a non-fiction called "Cross Country" by Robert Sullivan.
Mark
I was thinking about this thread as I was answering someone else's thread about planning a trip. First I re-read this whole thread.
To update you all, our GM dealer finally went under. In summer 2011, the original owner had to repossess and take over the dealership. We had some work done by Richardson. But just this past month, Richardson gave up the GM dealership, period. So our two GM cars, both of them orphans enough, now have no local dealer service. Fortunately we have a good relationship with a team of repair shops not far from us who do almost everything anyway. The Ford dealership is still around, and keeps sending us "you need to service your 1993 Ford" notices -- we sold that vehicle in fall 2011.
So now I'm thinking of "memorable errors in planning". Most of ours have to do with mileages. Back before computers, I planned the hard way --- either using the graphs that come with most road atlases, or by adding up miles the long way. Either way, that led to mistakes. Like the day I planned 550 miles that turned out to be almost 700, and we still had to set up a tent camp when we arrived. I was not a popular person in my household.
Or the time when I added up mileages that came to 150 miles, and we ended up going almost 300 miles. Again, I was not a popular person. I had to learn to overestimate or I was going to be spending the night in the car by myself.
I knew we were going to pass through the mountains of Colorado, west of Denver, around lunchtime one day. So I made sure that I had picnic food with us. Everyone was looking forward to this, especially since I'd made deviled eggs. I guess it never occurred to ANY of us that the weather would be AWFUL that day. We ate an inside-the-car picnic.
Another time we went from my in-laws home, on a little day trip up to show our daughters where we'd met and gone to college. The day was lovely when we started out, so we packed a picnic lunch. Once again, we had an inside-the-car picnic when it decided to rain. (Hubby told me we really needed to make a plan B when we were going to picnic anywhere outside of San Diego.)
Donna
Know what you mean. I often find myself reading a thread over and over to refresh the memory and pick up bits I may have missed 'last time'.Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
I still do. Mostly I do not have access to a computer when I want (need) to know. Unlike you, however, I find I am always much more accurate than a computer. (It can't even get the few kms to my daughter's place, right.)Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
Happened to us often, especially on multi day trips with the family. We carried a tarp and rope for such eventualities. In a much smaller way, I still do. (Not ever worried in my van.) We would tie the tarp to the side of the VW Microbus and some trees or other convenient structure. It at least gave us a place to put out the table, boil the kettle and stretch our legs. (The water which accumulated on the tarp was used to wash up, and/or wash kids sticky hands.)Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
But then, I think my other half was a scout.... always prepared!
Lifey
I alluded to window problems in another post, so I think I'll add that to this thread.
I was doing a solo trip between our place near San Diego and my parents' home near Phoenix. The trip was going along smoothly. I stopped for food and fuel outside of Yuma in an area called Fortuna, then set off again on I-8 east. At the Border Patrol checkpoint, I pushed the window button "down", greeted the BP agent cheerfully, who wished me a good day and sent me on my way. (I'm often confused as being of Hispanic descent, but I haven't a bit of Hispanic in me, so I always greet BP agents with a nice long "good morning/good afternoon, how are you doing today?" etc.) I drove off, pushed the button to put the window back up, and I heard a loud THUMP coming from inside the door. It was about 95F outside, and I wanted to run the A/C, so I groaned. Somehow, I knew that the window regulator had stopped working.... again. This is a common problem with our make of vehicle. The window stopped about 3" from the top, though, so I sighed with relief, thinking I wouldn't have too much hot air blasting in my face.
Boy, was I wrong. By the time I got to Wellton (about 20 miles later), the window had slid all the way down. I tried putting it up, down, up, down (sometimes that works). But in my heart I knew that was useless: that loud POP from inside the door told me so.
On top of all this, my BluTooth wouldn't work. I had already tried to charge it. So making phone calls back to San Diego and up to Phoenix had to be done the illegal way, or wait until I got to the next rest area, a good 50 miles up the road. (The rest areas at MM57 on I-8 in AZ have been closed off for years!) Bless my parents' hearts, by the time I arrived in Phoenix, they had already arranged for the car to go in that afternoon, as soon as I got in!
They accompanied me over to their GM dealership, where I was treated very well and the car was taken in. Chapman GMC (Tempe) was upfront with me, that they didn't think it would be done that day, but they could work on it the next day -- which happened to be a Saturday. I was thankful, as the car was vulnerable to security, dust, and the minute possibility of rain (not much around Tempe in April). As it was, I had been fearful of a dust storm or even a little dust devil, because I couldn't shut the window to keep it out of the car if it came from the driver side direction. The GMC dealer also had a secure place for the vehicle overnight, and said they had nighttime security guards on watch. Looking everything over, I could see that it was completely surrounded by fences, and that the gates had locks on them.
As promised, the car was ready the following day....expensive, at $460. (2 hours labor plus one very expensive part!) However, I was able to finish my weekend and not have to worry about the car. Well --- somewhat. Now we'll be wondering which window will go out NEXT. (This is the 2nd or 3rd window regulator/cable to go out. The loud POP I heard was a cable breaking.)
Donna