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Caldwell, Idaho

July 25, 2009 -- Caldwell, ID -- We're at Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell, Idaho. It is a first class park with hundreds of long pull through gravel sites with concrete pads. Each site has 30 and 50 amp service, cable TV etc. The park is only 4 years old so in very nice condition. (See http://www.grapevine7.com/ambassador.htm)

It's H-O-T here. Yesterday it was close to 102 degrees. (See weather underground)The air conditioner kept blowing the circuit breaker. We had to run the generator for 3 hours because for whatever reason, the breaker doesn't blow that way.

Better him than me!

Due to a mechanical problem on the motorhome, we were forced to stay in the Boise area. There was no way we were going to go back to Mason Creek RV Park where we stayed last week. It is the epitome of a trailer trash park. The only good thing about it was that we had an awesome big shade tree which helped keep the coach cool during the afternoon peak heat. The price was good too at only $21/day. But even with those pluses, we didn't want the downer environment.

I have known for  months that the shocks were bad on the motorhome. We had a serious incident last year in Providence, Rhode Island where we hit an expansion joint in a freeway bridge which caused the steering to start shaking so bad that I couldn't even hold onto the steering wheel. The house shook so bad that everything came out of its' place. It scared me to death. Upon inspection, there didn't appear to be any problem with the front end. I attributed it to the shocks which I thought caused the wheels to bounce, causing the shaking. We continued our journey and had no repeat situations, all the way accross the country and on short trips around California during the last few months.

So last week, we bought 4 new Bilstein shocks at Camping World in Meridian. Got a good price, but they couldn't schedule us in for installation until the next Tuesday which was too late for our travel schedule. So we found a good place to install them for us on Saturday morning, Rogers Tire and Wheel in Caldwell (highly recommended). We got in there at 9 AM and they put them in right away. We started our trip to Victor, in eastern Idaho. We had only driven 20 miles when we got to a bumpy section of freeway, near the Boise airport. I made an out loud comment to Joe that I could really feel the difference with the new shocks. There was no more double bouncing on the wheels.. Then no 30 seconds later, we hit a bump that caused the front steering to go into the 'DEATH SHAKE'. The same thing that happened in Providence. Everything shook. I couln't control the vehicle until it slowed to about 20MPH. We took the first offramp and found a parking lot to check things out. I jacked up the front wheels with the leveling jack. Again, nothing seemed wrong But this time, I noticed there was oil on the steering stabilizer, a shock absorber device mounted horizontally on the steering linkage.

I called Rogers where we had just left and the guy confirmed that the stabilizer is likely the cause of this condition. He mentioned that Jeep Wranglers are known for this and the steering stabilizer solves the issue.

We got back on the freeway heading back to Caldwell. They pulled off the steering stabilizer and sure enough it was completely shot. The rod just slid back and forth with zero resistance. So Amber started calling around looking for the new part. There was nobody locally who had the part anywhere in town. She even drove to Napa in Boise who claimed they had one (it was in their computer), but when she got there, they couldn't find it. Moral: Always have them get it physically. :) The soonest they could get the part is Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

So, we had to make the easy decision to stay here. We will travel to Victor on Tuesday.

Accomodations

Ambassador RV Resort 615 S Smeed Pkwy Caldwell, ID 83602 1-888-877-8307 / 208-454-8584 Arrival: Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 Departure: Monday, Jul 27, 2009 http://www.grapevine7.com/ambassador.htm	Sprint: Best Wikipedia RV Park Reviews Overnight RV Parking
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