We planned for an early departure from Desert Oasis Campground near Bisbee, Arizona Wednesday morning. We were on track to achieve that goal when trouble struck. Actually the trouble was brewing since we were in Mesa, but I didn’t realize it until after the fact.

We’ve had a small leak in our HWH hydraulic system that operates the leveling jacks and room slide-outs.  I rigged a plastic catch basin to contain the occasional drip from it. In Mesa, when I replaced the headlights, I had to extend the generator compartment in the front cap – it’s also hydraulically operated by the HWH system. The generator compartment quit moving after it extended only a few inches. I could hear the HWH pump cavitating.

I knew the pump reservoir must have been low on fluid – lower than I expected based on the amount of oil in the catch basin. I went to the auto parts store and bought a quart of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) to top up the reservoir. I wasn’t sure how much to add because the dipstick for the reservoir is calibrated for checking when all of the rams are retracted – that means slides in, jacks up. I added about half a quart and the generator extended normally, so I thought I was good to go. While I was at it, I inspected the hydraulic leak again and was able to trace it to a compression fitting. I tightened the fitting – it was about a quarter turn loose.

While we were in Mesa, I had to extend the left rear jack to the end of its travel due to a small sink hole right below the jack. In hindsight, the jack must have been leaking fluid past the seal from over-extending. The dirt where the jack had sunk in was wet and dark when we left.

In Benson, our first overnight stop, everything worked fine. When we got to Bisbee, trouble started. The passenger side bedroom slide didn’t extend  normally. I had to push it open after it moved slowly about halfway out. I thought maybe there was air in the hydraulic line from running the pump low on fluid. While we were in town, I bought three more quarts of ATF. I checked the catch basin to see if we still had a leak and it didn’t appear so. I added fluid to the reservoir.

When we were getting ready to leave Bisbee, the bedroom slide wouldn’t retract. I had to push from the outside while Donna worked the switch for the hydraulic pump. The living room slide retracted to within an inch of fully closed and stopped. I retracted the jacks, then checked the reservoir dipstick. No fluid showed. I added a quart of ATF and saw fluid near the minimum mark. I added more fluid and checked the level again – no fluid showed! I figured air was bleeding from the lines and dropping the fluid level. I ended up adding two and half quarts and I still couldn’t get the living room slide to fully seat – it remained about half an inch open.

We hit the road and I hoped the air would work out of the system as we drove. It was mostly an easy drive on AZ80 through Douglas then into New Mexico where the road designation changed to NM80. We had a tailwind most of the time, so I was hardly aware of the wind. At Hachita, we turned north to catch I-10 and then we had a crosswind. It was fairly windy but not too bad.

We stopped and shopped for a few items at a Walmart in Deming, then pressed on. We stopped for fuel at the Pilot Travel Center in Las Cruces. We thought we would boondock for the night at a scenic overlook on US80 before we hit White Sands. The overlook was at the top of a steep grade at San Augustin Pass. It wasn’t level and the wind was whipping through the pass. I got out to look it over and could barely close the door once the wind was blowing against it. We decided against staying there.

We moved on to Alamogordo where we had a few options including an Elks Lodge.  We ended up stopping at an abandoned shopping plaza Donna found in the Escapees Days End directory. There were a couple of tractor-trailer rigs in the lot, but everything was boarded up and no one else was around. I parked us close to one of the boarded up store fronts to get a little shade and shelter from the wind.

Then part two of my tale of woe began. The HWH situation is worse than before. Now I can get enough pressure to lower the jacks, but it won’t generate enough pressure to actually lift and level the coach. I only put out one bedroom slide while I tried to see what I could do to fix the problem. After messing about for an hour, I think air entrained in the system was wishful thinking. I think the cavitation of the pump damaged the pump rotor and it won’t deliver sufficient pressure. To make matters worse, I don’t think I can get just the pump. I think I have to get the complete assembly – reservoir tank, pump and motor. It’s doubtful I’ll be able to get this fixed anytime soon because parts will have to be ordered and we’ll have to figure out where to have the work done.

Next, I couldn’t get the roof air conditioning units to operate on generator power. The generator output was fine – I had 120 volts, 60 hertz and all other 120-volt AC powered appliances worked. I haven’t run the roof air on the generator in months and I don’t know what’s up with it at this point. The air conditioners worked fine in Bisbee on shore power.

On Wednesday evening, we received severe weather warnings for south central New Mexico. The wind on Thursday was forecast to reach speeds in excess of 35 mph in Alamogordo and the mountain passes we were planning to head for had warnings for wind gusts up to 60 mph from late morning Thursday until 9am Friday morning!

On Thursday morning, Donna and I were up early. After sunup, the wind was calm, but the severe warnings were still in effect. We discussed heading out right away to get over the mountains ahead of the wind, but thought better of it. The wind was coming from the west-southwest. We’re currently parked on the east side of a large building complex – we have safe harbor on the leeward side of the closed shopping plaza.

Our sheltered spot

By 9:30am, we knew we made the right decision. The wind kicked up and even here in our sheltered spot, the coach was rocked several times. That kind of wind is not something I would want to drive our rig through on a mountainous highway. And it’s increasing by the hour.

Just before noon, a bunch of FedEx trucks pulled into the lot. Apparently they use this lot as a staging area. Five trucks backed up to a larger truck in a spoke-like pattern and they offloaded boxes from the large truck into the smaller ones. I’ve never seen that before.

FedEx transferring packages in the parking lot

Around 12:30pm, I got the Spyder out of the trailer and we rode into town for green chile cheese burgers. I didn’t want to ride the Spyder on the highway in the gusty wind so we went the slower way through town. We had lunch at BZ Rockin’ Burgers. They had great reviews and a unique method of ordering that consists of a printed sheet of paper with boxes you check to to build your own burger. Next time, I think I’ll stick with Blake’s Lotaburger – their green chili cheeseburger is hard to beat.

We made a stop at McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch before we headed back. Donna posed in the wind for a photo.

Donna in a wind blown photo

We went inside the store and had a look around. They had some interesting flavors of pistachios and nut brittles as well as jams and other gift items. We didn’t find anything we had to have, so we headed home to see if our coach was still where we left it.

The wind blew harder and rocked the coach into the night. It’s a little past 7am now and a cool 55 degrees out. The forecast calls for a high of only 60 degrees today – it was 87 degrees yesterday. The weather service extended the wind advisory through this afternoon. After breakfast we’ll make a decision – sit tight or move on?