Litigation Eminent

I hate the situation I'm in right now.  It's ridiculous that this is going to end up as a court case, but the fact are the facts.

On Friday, June 10th, 2016, we came down cedar breaks with the RV and SUV and had smoke come from both vehicles brakes since it was such a steep decline.

On Saturday June 11th, 2016, we went to A-Kicking Truck and Tire, formerly known as Desert RV and Automotive to have the brakes on our 2006 Nissan Armada and 2015 Fleetwood Jamboree Class C RV checked and repaired.  The RV was fine.  The Armada needed new brakes and a new brake calper (sp?)  While we were at it we had them change the oil on both vehicles.

The did not have the calper (sp?) for the Armada.  They needed to order the part.  We had to dry camp in their lot until Monday, when the part came in.

On Tuesday, June 14th, 2016, we left the repair shop with all our repairs done and oil changes performed on both vehicles.  We paid in cash.  We have the dated receipt.

As we were driving from Cedar City to Pioche Nevada on Highway 56, I was driving the RV and my elderly mother was driving the SUV.  She heard a knocking and then the engine seized.  The car would not move.

After being disabled on the highway for some time, we determined that they FORGOT TO PUT IN OIL when they performed the oil change.  Our SUV's engine was destroyed.

Someone (not us) called the police while we were disabled on the side of the road.  The officer came at the same time as the employees from A-Kicking Automotive.  The SUV was towed back to the shop.  The officer gave us his card and said if there was any problems to contact him.

A-Kicking Automotive paid for us to stay at the KOA campground next to them while they repaired the engine.  Landon Pilkey, co-owner of A-Kicking Automotive, told the KOA agent over the phone that we would likely be there SEVEN TO TEN DAYS.

While we were at the KOA I contacted the deputy and got emailed a copy of the police report from when we were disabled just in case A-Kicking Automotive forced us to go into litigation.

The police report states that we were disabled due to a BOTCHED OIL CHANGE.  It had the date and time when we were found on the side of the road by the officer.  It states that Desert RV and Automotive towed us off the highway.  Two employees agreed that the engine would be replaced.  (THANK GOD I GOT THIS POLICE REPORT!!)

I found out that the KOA was over $60 a night.  I called Landon Pilkey and said I would find a place to camp for less money because I felt bad that he would have to pay for our camping fees as well as the $3,000+ engine.

We left the KOA the next day, on Tuesday, June 14th.  We went to Parogan Gap and dry camped (boondocked) for four days.  On the fifth day we realized there was a heatwave coming and went to Camp Lutherwood to wait out the heatwave.

We stayed at Camp Lutherwood for seven days, paying $15 per day.  We could not get a phone signal in the mountains, but were able to get Internet on the campground wifi.  I had the business card from A-Kicking Automotive with an email address, so I sent them an email.

On Saturday the 25th of June we left to continue dry camping since the heat wave was over.  Landon Pilkey replied to my email with the following:

Oh good.  It will be done Wednesday.  He has no reason to lie to me, right?  Great.  I proceeded to find a shitty place to camp because I knew we would be leaving Wednesday anyway to get the SUV.  We could proceed with our journey and book a nice campground for the month of July in Sparks, Nevada, like we planed.  Yay!


We camped on the side of Highway 20 on BLM land.  It sucked, but whatever.  We'd be leaving soon.

Here comes another email.

OMG, WTF?  Friday will bring us to July 1st.  There's no way I can get from Cedar City to Carson City in one day with my mother following behind me.  She can only drive in the daylight due to her vision problems.  In the Reno/Sparks area in August is 'Hot August Nights' some big event that books up all the RV parks and hotels.  So I can't get a monthly booking after July 1st.

Ah, frick.  So much for staying at that nice campground in Sparks.  I cancel my reservation.  Shit happens.  Whatever.  As long as we have our car back on Friday everything will be fine.

I call him Thursday to let him know that we'll be there Friday at noon to pick up the car.

"It's probably not going to be done until 5pm or 6pm Friday."

-_-  What?  Why are we not good to go?  It seems to me that he's trying to hand our car over to us at closing time so we can't bring up any complaints when we inspect and test it.  If it was done Wednesday, and tested Thursday, then why isn't it ready Friday?  Why is he dicking me around?  I'm really fed up.

It's  June 28th at this point.  It's been more than seven days.  It's been more than ten days.  In fact, it's been two weeks.  That's two weeks that we didn't need or want to stay in Utah.  We could have dry camped in Carson City through the heatwave.  We wasted money being somewhere we don't want to be.

So I got annoyed on the phone.  I'm annoyed that someone would dick me around after destroying my vehicle.

And so, today, Saturday Morning, I stupidly went there to get my SUV.    We were supposed to pick it up yesterday at 5 or 6, right?  So noon on the next day should have been fine.  I expected to see my car in the parking lot.  I expected to be able to get out of here today and put this nightmare behind me.

What happened?  He said he sent me an email.  Well, I didn't check my email this morning.  I just came here.  Is the car ready or not?

"We need a couple more hours."

Omg...

FINE.  We went grocery shopping.  We went to a feed store.  We went to a clothes store.  Coming on 4pm I thought they had enough time and I went back.

And as I was walking up there they were locking the doors and jumping in a car to peel away.

Seriously.

But the idiots got stuck in traffic.  So I ran up to their car and screamed into their window.

"WHERE IS MY CAR?"

"It's not done.  It will be done when it's done.  I'm not giving you anymore time estimates."

Some more words were exchanged, but whatever.  I walked back to the RV in the adjoining lot sick to my stomach.  Landon Pilkey is despicable.  How can anyone treat someone like this?  If the car wasn't done then don't lie to me.  And then lie again.  And keep lying.

I had to tell my poor mother what happened.  And she became as sick as me.

For several minutes I'm too sick to do anything.  Monstrous people have my car.  A car they destroyed.  And they're people with no remorse.  People who don't care how much they make other people suffer.

I refused to camp on the side of the highway again.  We drove to Pioche.  It took $66 dollars worth of gas to make the 90 minute drive and it will be another $66 to get back if/when we ever get our car back.

I'm not an idiot.  I know that this repair shop does not have the skillset required to replace my engine.  The owner thought it would be done sooner because he really doesn't know what he's doing, and neither does his employees (one of whom forgot to put oil in the car in the first place).

So I have no choice but to contact another garage and get the SUV towed out of this place.  Someone else will have to fix their mistake, and I will have to pay the upfront costs.

And then, sadly, I'm going to be condemned to even more time in the horrible place called Cedar City when I take them to court to be made whole again.  I will sue for the work the other garage charges me for and for the campground expenses during the heatwave.  I kind of knew this was going to end up like this.  That's why I was gathering evidence right from the beginning.

It sucks, but what else can I do?  This is just going to keep dragging out.  I want my car back.  I'm not going to continue to be a victim of this company's incompetence.

In the meantime I've returned to the free RV park in Pioche where we are comfortable and feel safe. 

Life on the Side of a Highway

So we're somewhere between Panguich and Parowan Utah, either the 20 or the 15.  We're camping in a deep pull-off on the side of the highway.  Look at my last post for pictures.  I couldn't take any pictures for this post.  It's been raining off and on all day.

This morning there were men all around the RV in orange 'highway worker' vests picking up trash.  My mom was horrified.  She thought for sure they were going to bang on the door and tell us to get to steppin'.  But they didn't.  All was well, and it's a lot cleaner outside.  There was a lot of junk beside us.  Hopefully the workers don't think we were responsible for it.

As the day wore on have had LOADS of people pulling over here.  We went as close to the barbed wire fence as we could to make sure other people had use of the pull off.  And they have.  Lots of semi-trucks stop here.  They generally pause for a while and then drive off, never leaving the vehicle.  One guy got out to check his load straps.

We've also had a lot of families with kids stopping to stretch their legs, make use of the bushes, or make lunch.  A couple with three daughters in an expensive luxury pick-up truck pulled over and made sandwiches in the back of the truck.

Then it started raining hard.  Thunder was cracking loud in the sky and lightning was flashing all over.  Suddenly the turnoff became a parking lot with three SUVs, one car, at truck, and another truck pulling a horse trailer.  Geez!

My mom and I both know how it went as they were driving by the road.  "Pull over by that camper!"  Yeah...we make a good highway landmark.

Razza Frazza Fricka Frazza :cuss words:

So it's Wednesday, and guess what?  We still don't have our follow car.  It was pushed to Friday.

It seems to me that if your employee destroys someones engine you should be contrite about it.  Put the damn engine in and let us continue on our way.  Don't dick us around for two weeks.  It's human nature to give as little as possible no matter what the circumstances, but I hate it.  I never treat people this way.  I think we should have stayed at the expensive campground, because it would have made them hurry up because they didn't want to pay for the camping fees.  Instead I was nice and got taken advantage of.

Still, Camp Lutherwood was a wonderful experience.  It was beautiful.  There were friendly deer who weren't scared of people.  Ground squirrels and chipmunks all over the place for our cats to stare at.  The camp host was super sweet and helped me on the camping fees.  It was a nice place with nice people.  A bright point in an otherwise repugnant situation.

We left today because the heat wave is over and we have good boondocks around here.  We couldn't have stayed even if we wanted to because the campground is cash only and we ran out of cash.  But that's okay.  We were only there for the heatwave and it's back in the 80s now.

As you know, we desperately need groceries and cat litter.  We didn't want to go back through the Dixie National Forest where we'd be climbing to 10,500 feet and then go shooting down the mountain all the way to Cedar City.  This is what caused our troubles in the first place, when the brakes caught on fire.  Yes, I've learned to down shift, but I still don't like going down such a steep decline in the RV.

We planned to go back to Parowan Gap to the sheep boondock near the petroglyph site.  There was another route there north that would let us avoid the Dixie National Forest.  It would take us through the town of Panguich, which had a grocery store.

So we shimmied the RV into the parking lot of this medium sized market and restored our provisions.  We got enough to get us by for a week, since a lot of stuff was really expensive.  And we got two big tubs of cat litter.  Scrappy is glad that she no longer has to balance on the rim of the litter box to go.

It's really cloudy and parts of the road toward Parowan had puddles.  Not good.  It's 2 miles down a dirt road to get to our boondock, and the boondock itself is in the grass.  Mud + RV = Disaster.

So the plan was to boondock in the petrogylph parking lot, even if we had to take up half the spaces.  We're only going to be here two days, right?

I saw a 'Your Public Lands' sign on the way.  I figured if I could find another boondock before we got there that we should just take it.

And that's what we did.  It's another 'by the side of the highway' boondock like when we were in Pahrump, but it will do for a few days.  It's level.  There's thickly poured stones to prevent us from getting stuck in the mud.  And it's deep enough for us to be a good 30 feet from the road.

I'm not 100% sure this is legal boondock.  The public lands sign was 8 miles before this, but we'll give it a try.

We have satellite for the TV and two bars on the Verizon hotspot with our booster.  We're stocked on provisions, have empty waste tanks, have half a tank of propane, and a full tank of water.  We have all we need for the next four days if need be.  The views, as usual, are gorgeous, which my pictures will prove woefully inefficient to show you.

There's a near constant noise of cars driving by...but that's never bothered me.  (Except when numbnuts honk at us...I srsly don't even...)   I don't know why the sound cars driving by bother a lot of people (including my mother).  I think it's just background noise.  Like ocean waves or something.

What does put me on edge is people pulling over to join us...which has happened twice three times already.  Once again, people can see the camper from far away in both directions.  That lets them know there's a turn-off and gives them enough notice to slow down for it.  So far a couple with three kids pulled over to let their kids play here for a while, and two big rigs truck pulled over for a few  minutes.  I'm expecting more of this.  Whatever.  Hopefully there's no creepy people who will want to harass us.

And so, the adventure continues.  I hope the next time I post I will be telling you that we got the SUV back and it's driving fine.  I just hope they don't end up screwing it up somehow.  We really love that car.

This is my latest ebook if you keep up with my writing.  I had to put out another one fast due to the failure of the last one.  It's the usual smutty stuff I write.

https://www.amazon.com/Confiscated-Bride-BBW-SciFi-Romance-ebook/dp/B01HLO4FRQ

Mission Log

From Somewhere In Utah...

Dearest Reader,
It has been thirteen days since we have been without our follow car.  Today we ate our final ration of sweets, a fun-sized bag of skittles and four gummy fruit slices.  I shall not lie to you reader...the situation is bleak.

As you can see, provisions have dropped to most desperate levels.  It was with great shame that I dredged a tub of chicken livers out from the back of the freezer.  To feed my mother such a poor offering speaks of dark days indeed.  (But with some garlic, cilantro, olive oil, seasoning, and served over toast it should be pretty tasty).

My elderly mother, far frailer than me, fears she shall not have enough Special K cereal to last out the week.  Our precious animals have fared no better.  It is with great shame that I admit...we've run out of cat litter.

Oh, woe is we, to have ascended to such distant mountains with no easy way to drive to a store!  Woe is we who must resort to canned green beans to fill our plates!  Woe are our cats who must contend with stinky litter boxes!

But the mechanic said the car would be ready Wednesday, so we'll be outta here soon.  :)

Lutherwood Campground, Utah - Worth the Drive

Here is the road next to our boondock near Parowan Gap.  A shepherd was based there to look over a large flock of sheep.  He saw us and didn't bother us.

We're still stuck in Utah due to a botched oil change that destroyed the engine of the SUV.  The SUV isn't done yet.  We stayed at that nice little side boondock near Parowan Gap for one dump cycle, and then moved on.

This morning our water tank was empty and our grey and black tanks were full.  I thought there was a TA Center near the boondock to use as a dump station, but it had closed.  Just like the Staples and numerous other businesses I see around Cedar City.  Not sure what that's about...

That's probably for the best anyway, because while I know you can shower at the TA, I don't know if they provide water for me to fill my tank.

I digress from what I wanted to talk about though.  Right now is a heat wave.  I'm not in the danger zone, per se, but I am in the 97-101 degree zone.  Our max boondocking temp is 94 (Fahrenheit of course, I'm a Celsius-impaired American) and even that is pushing it.  I decided we probably want to wait this out at a campground.

Technically the garage should be paying for this, since we were supposed to be well on the way to Carson City by now.  On the other hand, they don't want to pay for it (I presume) and for me to get them to pay for it I'm going to have to make myself a pain in their asses.  And I would rather just pay for stuff myself and not have stress and conflict in my life.  If I can gamble $100 at a casino without blinking then I should also be able to put $100 towards the 'life with less confrontation' account.

I should be penny-pinching because my book sales plummeted.  I bombed with my foray into Paranormal Romance.  It's so sad...it was such a great book.   Anyway...I'll bounce back, and I have savings for lean times.  I just hope they don't extend more than a month.

The campgrounds around Cedar City are outrageously expensive.  The Koa was $65 a night!  However there are two Passport America parks in range.  The Red Ledge RV park was the first choice because it was less than $15/day with the discount.  I called them twice now and they're always booked.  This is even before I mention I'm using the 50% off program.  A campground as cheap as this is in high demand here.  I couldn't get a spot.

The other Passport America park is Camp Lutherwood, a Lutheran RV park in the mountains.  I considered this the less ideal choice because 1.  Driving the rig up and down mountains stink (see my prior post about brakes on fire).  and 2.  The Passport America discount is only for the first day.  However, they have no hook-up spots for $15 a day, which is the same as the Passport America rate.  At a 7,500 foot elevation (yeah, feet, I'm also metric-impaired) it should be cool enough not to need the A/C even in a heat wave.

Here's one of the gorgeous green mountains around Camp Lutherwood.  We are officially out of the desert.

 As for driving in the mountains I started downshifting gears as I went downhill.  I really hope I'm shifting correctly.  When I crested the mountain I shifted to 3 and then went back to D when I started back up hill.  For a steeper decline I shifted from D to 3 to 2.  And then we had a really steep decline with a sign that warned us of the steep grade ahead.  I shifted from D to 3 to 2 to 1.  I didn't have to use my brakes much to keep at a decent speed.  They didn't catch on fire.

I'm in a full-hook up spot right now at Camp Lutherwood to dump tanks and take on water.  Tomorrow I'll move to a no hook-up spot to save money.

Here we are.  The building is the showerhouse.

I'm glad we ended up here.  It's beautiful.  The camphost is a total sweetheart.  There's wifi and good satellite.  It's cool enough to be comfortable.  The shower room, right next to us, was really nice.  Better than most campgrounds I've been to.  I really just want to stay here until the SUV is done.

Another picture of the RV park.

Speaking of (and yeah, I know I'm meandering a lot with this post) we swung by Cedar City on the way to this campground to restock our groceries.  I stopped at the mechanic which I forgot would be closed on Sunday.  The SUV is safe inside one of their garage bays.  The old engine is out and lying on a wooden skid.  The front hood was removed and on top of the SUV's luggage rack.  Things seem to be well underway.  :)

We're seeing what life would be like without our follow car.  I do like having my mother safe beside me when we're driving.  I don't like having no ability to explore or run errands between moves.  Someone once suggested that I just put in my slides and drive the RV around.  It's just not a good option.

First of all, we're not just putting in the slides to get ready to move.  We have to batten down the hatches.  Everything that can fall, like this computer I'm typing on right now, has to be put somewhere secure.  All the stuff blocking the slides, like the carpet in the kitchen, has to get moved out of the way.  Kitchen stuff.  Bathroom stuff.  It all has to be put where it's not going to fall.  All the windows and skylights have to be closed.  Cat food and water has to be put where it can't spill.  All the stuff on the sofa has to go under the dinette.  The stuff on the dinette has to go into velcroed containers.  The TV has to get latched.  The step to my bed has to be stowed.  Etc. etc.  It's a 20 minute ordeal getting ready for a move--and that's when we're not even hooked up.  (My mom usually does everything the morning of a move while I sleep in.  I write late into the night).

Then using the RV as a car comes with it's own challenges.  Driving to supermarkets or big box stores is usually fine, but what about doctor's appointments?  Or when we're in a town that only has a small market?  Or restaurants?  Or...just about anywhere else that isn't a big box store or supermarket.  I can't take a 31 foot RV into tight spaces.  I will hit someone's car.

But we were able to get into a Smith's Supermarket for groceries and to top off our gas.  I'm on a diet of 1,800 calories per day and have stuck with it by getting off one of my antidepressants that had been spiking my appetite.  I don't know how much I should really talk about my depression on this blog.  I'm not trying to be a bummer, but my brain just doesn't fire on all cylinders like it should.  I'm back on the dosage and antidepressant I was on before my crisis last year.  (When I drove to Mexico to get new medication).  Yeah.  It only helps my symptoms by 50%, but I'd rather be half depressed and under 200 pounds (once again...screw the metric system) than totally chill and too fat to function.  It's give and take in this life.  :(  Hopefully I can keep things under control.

Here's another beautiful green view at the camp.  My craptastic camera does not do the views justice.