Got a repair guy first thing this morning. It seemed to be an injector sensor. Replaced that. It wasn’t.
Now it’s more likely the injector pump. We’ll try that. Oops. Problem. There aren’t any available. Exploring options. Waiting to hear back. Maybe tomorrow.
In the meantime, it was exciting to see several kinds of loons while we were on the coast.
Common Loon.
Pacific Loon.
and Red-throated Loon.
…and headed inland, following the Columbia River through the Coastal Range. We crossed over into Washington at Longview, picked up Interstate 5 and cruised south on good road back into Oregon. After all those slow scenic winding roads, it felt good to drive on interstate for a while. An easy 65mph. South of Portland however, the engine sputtered. It got worse over the next few miles and we coasted in to Salem. Several stalls and reluctant restarts later, we luckily limped our way into an RV Park here.
It’s a nice park; a safe comfortable place to be while we figure out what to do next. We have a diesel repair guy scheduled to stop by our rig tomorrow and read the error codes. That’s what a modern diesel engine does, it records codes for any problem it has. In fact, most of the time when an engine doesn’t want to run, it’s not that it can’t run, it’s that sensors tell the computer that there is a problem (thus an error code), and the computer decides it wouldn’t be a good idea for the engine to continue to run with a problem like that, so it shuts itself down. Oftentimes, in fact more often than not, it turns out that there really isn’t an engine problem at all, but a sensor has failed, sending a false message to the computer, causing it to shut itself down for a problem that doesn’t exist.
So here we are; inland, and it’s warm; 89 degrees. We’ve been on the coast, on the south side of seventy degrees for the last month though, so this warm weather feels really good so far.
We have plans to visit friends tomorrow farther inland, across the Cascades, near Bend. This is life on the road, though. Sometimes plans change. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
At Cape Disappointment in Washington State, just across the Columbia River from our camp.
Wow. This is a really big busy KOA.
Hundreds of sites. Full-up by tonight. Well run. Staff everywhere making everything just right.
A long 132 mile day winding along the wonderful Oregon Coast. This will be a good home-base for a few days.
…about life on the road is the cycle of reconnecting with friends along the way.
We got to meet up here in Newport with Ted and Penny we know from Gulf Waters. We haven’t seen them in several years. We’re here at the same time as some other friends of theirs, Steve and Jenny, so now we have pie, ice cream, and new friends too.
It was a long and winding road today. No, actually it was not that long, but the “winding” part more than made up for any lack of distance. Egad. That was a lot of driving.
Another glorious scenic section of the Oregon Coast. Judy would have taken pictures while we were driving in the motorhome, but she was way too busy keeping the rig on the road from the right seat. She did a fine job, and we’re settled in now at the Newport Marina RV Park.
This campground gets us where we want to be for a few days.
…and out the back door is a pretty cool bridge.
We’re told it’s a fine setting for a sunset scene.
William M. Tugman State Park to Winchester Bay RV Resort. Roughly 5.5 miles. We went from a sheltered forest campground to an open harbor marina site.
The park is pretty full.
We didn’t get a very big space, but it’s a nice park and we’re glad to be here. Another time, with more notice, we could get a waterfront site.
A lakeside walk,
…a lighthouse,
…and a glimpse into the heart of the beast.
Happy Father’s Day all.
And Happy Summer Solstice.
