A timelapse of driving the coach 17 miles from Buckeye, Arizona to NIRVC in Surprise, Arizona, then 92 miles from there to Picacho, Arizona.
travel
Freeways, highways, and other roads as we move the coach from one site to another. Plus cat pics.
Travel from Surprise to Picacho, AZ
We picked up our coach from NIRVC in Surprise, Arizona, and drove 92 miles to Picacho, Arizona, a couple of hours drive.
Here’s the route map, going from top-left to bottom-right:
Paladin wasn’t having a good day, having endured a car trip from the Airbnb, then coach travel:
Driving along I-10, past a stadium:
A freeway tunnel under downtown Phoenix:
An interesting peak:
We stopped for diesel at a Love’s:
Hey, it’s hay:
Jenn filling the diesel via a pump that was falling apart; we haven’t been too impressed with the quality of Love’s stations of late:
Mountains:
Picacho Peak:
An orchard:
Our destination, a KOA:
Video: timelapse of coach driving from Palm Desert, CA to Buckeye, AZ
A timelapse of driving the coach 228 miles from Palm Desert, California to Buckeye, Arizona.
Travel from Palm Desert, CA to Buckeye, AZ
We departed the Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, California, and headed to Buckeye, Arizona.
Here’s the route map (left to right); 228 miles, a 4 hour drive in our coach:
I picked up Paladin; he looked mildly freaked out by the view out the windshield:
A slow crawl uphill through a pass:
We stopped at a rest stop for lunch:
We had a prefab meal for lunch; Jenn called it Lunchables for adults:
Back on the I-10 freeway:
Paladin snuck behind the driver seat and by Jenn’s feet, which is risky, so I made a barrier:
Date palms:
While on a freeway I use the iExit app to find upcoming rest areas. Here’s a screenshot of it while approaching the California/Arizona border, and the first rest area after the border:
About to cross into Arizona (again):
Welcome to Arizona:
We stopped at that rest area:
Continuing through some hills:
Interesting mountains in the distance:
Cacti:
Once again, Paladin settled down in the safe space next to my chair:
Another rest area exit; it’s good to take a break every hour or so on a long drive; we also stopped here to call our next destination:
Leaving the rest area (yes, we park with the big rigs):
Oh joy, road works:
Our final exit for this trip:
As always, the timelapse video of this trip will be coming tomorrow. Enjoy!
Video: timelapse of coach driving from Jurupa Valley, CA to Palm Desert, CA
A timelapse of driving the coach 21 miles from Jurupa Valley, California to a Cummins shop in Bloomington, then from there 71 miles to Palm Desert, California.
Travel from Bloomington to Palm Desert, CA
We picked up our coach from Cummins in Bloomington, California, and headed to Palm Desert, California.
Here’s the route map (left to right); 71 miles, a 1.5 hour drive in our coach:
Some freeway scenes along I-10:
Arriving at our destination, the Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort:
Tomorrow, you guessed it, the timelapse video.
I know this wasn’t a particularly interesting post; I’m wondering if I should skip the travel day posts, since I don’t know how interesting they are to anyone. I have more than enough content to continue daily blog posts, without pictures of freeways. On the other hand, it could be interesting to compare travel in various areas. What do you think? Are travel day posts interesting? Or sometimes so? Or boring? Let me know!
Cummins for check engine and malfunction lights
As mentioned yesterday, after the Rancho Jurupa campground we were going to head to a Thousand Trails park in the Palm Springs area, but due to Check Engine and Malfunction Indicator lights coming on, and the DEF gauge jumping to full during a drive, we decided to take the coach to a nearby Cummins service shop (the manufacturer of the diesel engine).
Here’s the Check Engine light and DEF gauge during the drive:
After filling the diesel fuel and DEF, we had both Check Engine and MIL, with two errors displayed:
(Yes, the dash is a bit dusty.)
The Cummins shop:
Another Tiffin Allegro Bus had arrived ahead of us:
Service bays:
After waiting for a few hours, they indicated that they wouldn’t have time to diagnose us that day, so we loaded up our truck with some clothes, our cat, and other supplies, and headed to a hotel:
Here’s our coach over the back of our truck:
The next day, they still hadn’t gotten to it, so we popped by our coach to pick up some more clothes and other items:
After two nights in a hotel, they finally diagnosed it. They only found the first of the error codes, “SPN 111 FMI 18”, which related to low coolant. So they topped up the coolant and cleared out the errors.
The other error, “SPN 3031 FMI 9”, relates to the DEF system. which was more concerning. But they can’t fix something that they can’t reproduce. So we’re hoping that was either a one-off fluke, or somehow related to the other error.
We’re concerned about it as there have been fairly widespread reports of the DEF head sensors failing, and the replacement part can be hard to come by, due to the current global supply chain issues. If we needed to replace it, we could have to wait weeks. Though I’ve also heard that Tiffin can overnight the part, or that Cummins can do a software patch to bypass the error.
So far so good; as of this writing things have performed correctly. It was convenient that we were near a Cummins shop, but we just hope that we don’t have a failure while out in the boonies somewhere.
Video: timelapse of coach driving from Santa Barbara, CA to Jurupa Valley, CA
A timelapse of driving the coach 168 miles from the Santa Barbara, California to Jurupa Valley, California.
Travel from Santa Barbara to Jurupa Valley, CA
We departed Ocean Mesa RV Resort near Santa Barbara, California, and headed to a one-night pitstop at Rancho Jurupa Park.
Here’s the route map (left to right); 168 miles, a four hour drive in our coach:
Heading onto 101 south:
Paladin says “oh no, not again”:
He settled down in what is becoming a favorite safe space, next to my chair. He likes to be near us, but in a small space that can make him feel more secure:
There was quite a lot of road works; narrow lanes with barriers near the line can be nervous-making when one has a 101-inch wide coach that takes most of the lane:
Freeway driving:
Goodbye coast; not sure when we’ll see you next:
I was amused by the Telephone Road name:
There weren’t any rest stops on the route, so I prepared sandwiches and chips for lunch, so Jenn could eat while driving:
Up a steep hill:
The road name Mulholland Drive sounded familiar:
In California it is legal for motorcycles do lane splitting, i.e. riding along the line between lanes. Seems rather dangerous to me, though apparently some people think it is safer. Regardless, lane splitting next to our wide coach is a bad idea, but many did it (but not this example):
We also don’t like it when a travel trailer gets very close to us; that’s worse than a big rig, as TT drivers often aren’t as familiar with the width of their trailer, and they tend to sway quite a bit:
Heavy traffic:
Glendale city (part of greater LA):
Freeway sign:
Freeway bridge:
While driving, we had a Check Engine light come on, and the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) gauge jumped from halfway to full. A lot of people have been having issues with the DEF sensors, so we had a fun new thing to be concerned about:
We decided to stop for diesel and DEF, to see if that’d help (our first time at a Flying J truck stop; we’d only done Love’s before this):
But after that, we had a Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) instead (the red one is the brake):
Concerning. Stay tuned for more on this story in a few days.
Back on the road, we noticed an elephant sculpture on a hillside:
Driving through Jurupa Valley towards our stop for the night:
Tomorrow, the usual timelapse video. Do you watch them? Are you enjoying them? Let me know!
Video: timelapse of coach driving from Orange, CA to Santa Barbara, CA
A timelapse of driving the coach 144 miles from the Orange, California to Santa Barbara, California. Or more specifically El Capitan beach, near Goleta.