Remember an engineer always wants to know how things work. That is why I was on cloud nine yesterday crawling around under the rear of the coach with the service manager and the technician from the Cummins Service Center in San Leandro. The Cummins Diesel in Arcturus is big and brawny and it is designed to go a million miles before needing a major overhaul. At 150,000 miles you might have to adjust the valve lash. To get there you have to take good care of it. That is what I was learning, how to care for the very soul of the motor home. Every fluid has a filter; the oil, the fuel, the coolant, the air, the power steering and the transmission. I am impressed with the space provided that allows you to service the coach from underneath. The only reason to open the access door under the bed will be to pull the valve cover and set the valve lash some day. So far we have gone 4500 miles in three months, so it looks like seven years before I must worry about that task. It also looks like I would be 116 by the time I get a million miles on the coach. Well that brings some interesting visions to mind. Like truckin’ down the freeway shoulder doing 20 miles an hour.

Well it was bound to happen. We got busted in Gilroy. We got away with a couple of weekends of camping right on the street if front of our son’s home in Gilroy California. It was really handy, and the power cord just reached the front porch. We were set. We pulled in this afternoon and had just unhooked the trailer and put it in the driveway. We were contemplating what to do next when the city cop pulled up and flipped a Uey right in front of the coach. He gave us an hour to get out of town, and suggested one of their nice $35 a night RV parks on highway 101. We chose one about seven miles out of town up in Uvas Canyon behind Morgan Hill. It is quiet and secluded, but nowhere as handy as before. At least it is not right on highway 101, sandwitched between the all night truck stop and the tracks of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad.