Karla's Blog

September 2, 2021

When we left Wenatchee Larry decided to take a little longer route so we could see Coulee Dam which is famed for being the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S. and one of the largest concrete structures in the world. Pretty impressive. He explained the basic workings of the dam since I was pretty much clueless. I love how he knows about so much stuff. It’s a beautiful thing, his mind and the dam too!

Looks at those spillways! We were so glad we saw this. What an amazing feat of engineering! These pictures do it no justice at all.

After the dam we continued on toward Spokane. When we got to the repair shop we were disappointed to learn that the part had not yet arrived and we would have to stay in the rig in the garage yard again for a couple days. We didn’t mind doing that because it was free but it was hot and we could only run the A/C if we ran the generator (since we were not hooked into power in the yard), but that meant gassing out the mechanics. So we would leave during the day, finding parks to hang out in or just driving around checking out Spokane and come back about the time they were closing up for the day.

Spokane is an interesting and, in some areas, beautiful city. Some of the architecture is pretty cool and some of the tree lined streets are soooo pretty.

One thing we loved about Spokane was the many beautiful parks. We walked the dogs through a few and they were just gorgeous. Somehow I failed to get pics of those but, trust me, they were amazing! We also visited a Japanese Garden that was pretty neat.

When the rig was finally done Larry took it for a test drive. He went about 10 or 15 miles and, on the way back, he lost the power steering!!! OMGosh! I was waiting back at the shop so he called to tell me and I went to the the Service Manager. He said he would send someone out. The guy found that the hose for the power steering oil had popped off. He put it back on, topped off the oil and sent Larry on his way, following him just in case. Good thing because, after about 10 blocks, it happened again! Yikes! The guy did the same thing and Larry made it back to the shop. The guy put the hose back on, topped off the oil again and said “OK, you’re good to go!” Larry was stunned and went to an older mechanic there and asked “Don’t you think we should figure out why this is happening?” The mechanic said “Absolutely!” He spoke with the Service Manager and was given permission to do the work. Ultimately it turned out to be a clogged filter. After a couple of hours he had it squared away and off we went.

Leaving Spokane . . . at last.