Our trip to Santa Fe was great. The scenery was awesome and kind of changed as we drove. Some of the mountains looked like desert with no green plants growing at all but other mountains were covered with what looked like dark green pine trees. We stopped in a little town called Madrid, NM. Yes, I can find a bar in the middle of nowhere. We knew we weren't in Indiana or most of the U.S. when we walked in and had to walk around a big white hound dog to get to the end of the bar where there were empty stools. We later learned we sat next to a full blooded Navajo Indian whose name was Carlis Chee. He was an artist and had an art studio in Santa Fe. He was still a little on the angry side and called Huli and I a cute white older couple who would have no issues if we were stopped by the po po on our way to Santa Fe for having a beer or two. He on the other hand if he were stopped he would be spending time either on the east side of 14 in the county jail or the west side of 14 in the state penitentiary. Sine we both like tequila but I don't drink very often when I am out on the road and driving we were talking about different varieties. I told Carlis in Okeechobee, Fl. I found a cheap great tasting tequila that I liked but don't remember what it is called. I went on to say Okeechobee had a lot of Hispanics who probably didn't make a lot of money so the liquor stores stocked a large variety of cheap tequilas that I was working my way through. He immediately stopped me and ask what kind of people the Hispanics were and both Huli and I said mostly Mexicans. He said we should call them Mexicans and not Hispanics. We said the state of Indiana and the state of Florida called them Hispanics so that is what we called them but it wasn't being disrespectful. He kind of caught himself being a little over bearing and dialed it back a little and so did we. If you Google Carlis Chee you can watch him paint a picture on You Tube and he has other websites you can visit. When we left we were all good friends and he gave us his name and contact information. We get along with everyone it doesn't matter who they are. I will call him native American or indian whatever suits him best. I had a buffalo burger while we were there and I couldn't tell the difference between that and a hamburger other than the two or three dollars more they charged me for it.
After leaving Madrid we drove the rest of the Turquoise Trail to our destination of Santa Fe. We really enjoyed our time in Santa Fe but didn't have enough time to look at all of the shops and stores that looked really cool.
Since there was chance of a thunderstorm when we got back I got up on the roof of the motorhome to clean and reseal the seam where the tape had come loose on our way to Albuquerque. I am glad I did since it originally was only loose on about 12" on one end but now had come loose across the entire width of the motorhome. I fixed it with a seam tape that costs $90 which is a lot better quality than what Newmar used in the first place. While I was up there I kept smelling something hot that was electrical related. When I got the cleaning and the taping done I got down and started to investigate the electrical smell. I found that the surge protector appeared to be melting at the incoming line end of the unit. I then called Huli and showed her what I had discovered. She said she smelled something under the sink that smelled like an electrical problem but didn't want to tell me while I was on the roof for fear I would jump off. I felt the 50 amp electrical cord which is about 1.25 inches in diameter and it was hot for several feet back from the surge protector. I then went in and checked the smoke alarm which needed a new battery. We called Newmar and have called a mobile rv service tech who we are now waiting on. In the meantime I figured out we can run the electrical on 30 amp or on the generator without the coach burning down. This allows us to run the tv and one air conditioner. What we need to determine is whether we are getting the proper 50 amp line voltage on line 1 and 2 (120 volts) or if the surge protector just puked. In my opinion, which I told Newmar, I don't care if the line voltage is too high or not since that is why we bought the surge protector to guard against these kind of situations. To me the fault is with the surge protector but we are having the line voltage checked too at the rate of $75 for the call and $95 per hour. Newmar said they will reimburse us for this charge. In the meantime did I mention Walgreens had a sale on Cabo Wabo tequila yesterday and it was 58% off. A little smoother than Cuervo but I wouldn't pay full price. At this point I don't care about smooth. No matter what happens tonight I told Huli the plan is we are going for the balloon ride at which time we will turn the power completely off while we are gone and then will deal with getting it fixed when we get back. Seriously this problem is nothing to me. When I was younger I would have been more worked up but now not so much.
Here are some pictures from today. Hope you like them.
PS the RV guy called and said he will be here in about 45 minutes.
PS again or however you say it. While I was downloading pictures the rv guy came and checked the line voltage. It checked 120v line 1 and 120v line 2. The surge protector was the culprit. He removed the surge protector and basically wired the unit back to the way it was originally built at the factory. Boy I sure am glad we paid the extra several hundred dollars to have the surge protector hardwired into the motorhome so we wouldn't have any electrical problems. This little experience only cost us about $180 which I feel is pretty cheap compared to what it could have been. The guy who came knew is stuff and immediately was able to determine the surge protector was bad. He then said I will hard wire it back to the transfer box the way it was before the surge protector was added. This was done between 9-10 pm at night. The surge protector is now in a bag marked evidence exhibit A since I more than likely will have to go back on North Trail RV since they sold it and installed it. I think Newmar will support our effort to get reimbursed for the call and the cost of the surge protector. I am not too worried about North Trail. On a previous problem I posted on a popular Newmar internet site about them not calling me back when I left there Customer Service person a message and other North Trail customers started posting similar comments about them. A person who was deciding what dealer to buy his Newmar coach from then posted he crossed North Trail off his list. Wouldn't you know I was getting calls from the Customer Service Manager and our salesman for the next couple of days to make sure things were ok. I don't want it replaced but do want a portable one that I can plug into the electrical pedestal separately.
A little warm today.
This is like the basket we will be riding in tomorrow
The bar that apparently has been in several cowboy movies.
This is Carlis Chee the artist. He was in Albuquerque looking for a nude picture of a woman for a mural he has been commissioned to paint. He is full blooded Navajo Indian but has traveled all over the world. He is moving to Austin, Texas for the upcoming winter. He is drinking IPA (India Pale Ale) dark draft beer. I had the bar tender bringing me samples of all kinds of drafts she had on tap. I definitely didn't like the dark IPA. I told her why should I buy anything when she lets me just keep sampling. She just laughed and kept bringing me samples. On every other sample I told her to bring me the light pilsner which is the only one I really liked. I sampled that one three times at least. Carlis got in on it and he started trying some samples.
The dog is up and walking. When we came in he was laying across half of the walk way to the bar.
The entire wall is wallpapered in dollar bills. I wish I had a dollar for every bar I have been in that was wallpapered in dollar bills. I could wallpaper my garage.
What I had for lunch. It was ok but not worth the extra $. Tastes like hamburger.
The next pictures are of Santa Fe. We really needed more time there.
It gets a little dusty here.
