California Dreamin'

When we got to the California border, we hit the inspection station. If you've never driven into California, an inspection station is where they ask you if you have any fruits, vegetables, or plants that could pose an ecological threat to the state. (I'll bite my tongue on how valid this really is...)

We had made sure we didn't have anything they would care about before getting to the border. But when we pulled up, the agent wanted to see inside the trailer.

Remember when I said it was too small? I'd packed it as tightly as possible, not expecting to need to open it again until we got to the house we were going to stay in. That was an invalid assumption, as the agent insisted I open it.

The load had, of course, shifted, and the door was difficult to open. The agent was satisfied I wasn't harboring any illegal ferns or oranges, and I was left to get it closed again. I blocked that lane for 15 minutes while trying to shove everything so I could get the door shut, and ultimately I was successful.

We stayed at the KOA near Calico Ghost Town. I've never actually been to the ghost town, but we've always wanted to stay at that KOA. It has an awesome playground with a rock climbing wall, train cars, and other cool things. They also had a Halloween BoneHunt for the kids. Pretty cool!

The house we were to stay in was in Riverside. We wanted to get there, unload the trailer, drop it off at U-Haul, then head to Anaheim to visit the wife's parents. But the Hippo had other ideas.

On the 215 freeway the engine just died. I checked around and found the "Module" fuse blew. I put a new one in, drove a few more miles, then it blew again. After that it would blow whenever the ignition would turn on. Whatever else it powered, the fuel pump relay was driven by that fuse. So no fuel to the carb.

I called AAA (I'm glad I upgraded to the RV coverage!) and got towed to the house I was supposed to stay at. The tow driver disconnected the drive line in the Hippo, then used the lift to raise the front wheels. He then pulled the whole rig: RV and trailer! We got to the house in Riverside, but there was no way to back that mess into the driveway.

A neighbor came and helped disconnect the trailer so the RV could be backed into the driveway. And that neighbor hooked the trailer up to his truck and backed the trailer into the driveway as well!

We slept in the RV in the driveway that night.