November 13, on to California..finally

When I last posted my RV refrigerator and forced air furnace were on the fritz. I was able to make an appointment for Friday.  I was particularly irritated about the heater acting up because it had been exactly one year since I had a new switch put in it.  It turned out the switch was stuck, so it was an easy fix but not cheap as I was charged 3 hours labor.  

The repairman also told me he smelled ammonia and that my refrigerator would have to be replaced but didn't offer any explanation and added he was charging and small additional diagnosis fee (for smelling the ammonia is suspect) and a new fridge would cost about $1,400 with about 4 hours labor to install the new one. ($110 per hour)  I wasn't going to purchase a new fridge just because there was an ammonia smell so I  called another repairman who had done work for me but was 50 miles away.  He asked a lot of questions and said he could squeeze me in on Monday and indicated he felt four hours labor was  a tad high.   I figures with $1,900 on the line a few days wait wouldn't hurt.  

I arrived at the second repairman's business on Monday and within ten minutes he had my refrigerator working but....five minutes later it quit.  Oddly, no ammonia smell. He pulled the old refrigerator out and found a weld had broken..unrepairable. He had several new refrigerators in stock  so a new refrigerator was installed and I was on my way, satisfied that I did in fact need a new refrigerator. I was only charged 1 1/4 labor for everything and was given a substantial discount on the fridge.  Recall information was checked and unfortunately mine was not on the list.  The new Norcold looks much more sturdy and should hold up better. A second opinion certainly paid off.  I suspect frost heaves and bumpy roads of Alaska resulted in the broken line. 

So now I was off to Portola, California to see my youngest son Jeremy.  Good thing I had my heater fixed..night time temperatures dropped to 22 degrees..burrr.  Last year at this time, I was just south of Portola and night time temperatures at that time  dropped to minus 10 so 22 wasn't bad.  

I'm now  officially on my way south for the winter.  Today's temperatures in the Sacramento area reached 65 degrees.  YESSS!.  I'm on my way to the coast to see my  brother and then my Mom and then on to catch up with the WINS in Southern California.   Can't wait!!!