When Angels Push

 I want to give you an update on the new treatment, and I will, but I also really want to share the craziness of the past week.

We're on vacation. Sort of. Our family - Juli's side - has been meeting together in Oregon every year in July since about 1976. It's a wonderful week of renewing relationships with aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and boyfriends. Well, I was a boyfriend of Juli's in 1976 and I did sneak under the "Family Reunion" rules for awhile until "we" could be made official. We swim, boat, ski, chat around a campfire, introduce ourselves to new babies and new puppies, and cry a little over those of the first and second generations of these reunions who have passed away, one as recently as July.

But I was radioactive.

My 2nd of 6 treatments was the Wednesday before the weekend the reunion began and the radiation safety rules say clearly that I need to stay 3 feet away from other human beings for 3 days. If that was all, then we could have hooked up the trailer and headed up to Oregon on Friday, arriving Saturday as usual, assuming that I felt OK to proceed. But a secondary rule stated that I needed to remain 3 feet away from children and pregnant - or potentially pregnant - women for 7 days. Crud. That would mean that I would not be able to play with or even touch my own grandkids, and they would simply not understand why GrandPa is staying in the trailer and ignoring them. Additionally, there are family member(s) there carrying future campers within. We couldn't risk it even hiding in the trailer for 4 days, so we decided to pull the trailer up on Tuesday, stopping at an RV park on the way, driving the last leg to the lake arriving at exactly 7 days to the hour from my treatment.

Except that's not how it worked out.

We were on the road on Tuesday excitedly anticipating the reunion, especially with our own granddaughters, pulling through Redding about to pass the last exit when the truck stuttered and lurched HARD. I thought, "What was that???," and looked at the gauges. The truck was still running, but the Check Engine light was illuminated and I had to decide quickly what to do. I was already in the right lane (That's the polite thing to do when you are pulling a trailer) and was almost at the exit, so I signaled and pulled off the highway. We found a little diesel repair shop called J&H Performance. A wonderful shop with compassionate and competent people and we highly recommend that you break down near them. :)

They had no room in the lot for our 5th wheel, and even though they were too busy to take time for an extra problem, they quickly plugged in test equipment and determined that the code referred to the "camshaft position sensor," a $30 item and a 45 minute installation. While sitting there waiting for a diagnosis, the truck died. But it restarted. And died. They suggested I limp the 5th wheel out onto the wide street, unhook it, and limp the truck back onto their lot and wait while they worked on it. We were so hopeful. But after installing the new part, the problem persisted, and it was clearly an obscure and intermittent problem, the worst kind.

We collectively decided that the best thing to do would be to limp the 5th wheel to a nearby RV park, turn on the A/C (It is Redding in Summer!) and drive the truck back in the morning for some serious diagnostics. We arrived at the RV park safely, and as we were in full sun with A/C that could not keep up with that kind of heat, I suggested we chance a fast food run, a 6 mile round trip. I was feeling over-confident and I can't believe Juli went along with the plan. Maybe it was the 110 degree interior of the trailer that made the risk worth it. We headed out and the truck lurched a few times, dying, but immediately "catching" itself before the RPM dropped to zero. Then it died in an intersection, 3 times in the pizza parking lot, 4 times while parked with the life-saving AC running, twice on the way to the stoplight of the main road we had to cross... You get the picture. It died 15-20 times before we finally backed in on the hillside next to the trailer. Fortunately, the AC in the trailer had been running the whole time we were gone, and the sun was lower in the sky, so the temp in the trailer had dropped all the way to 98 degrees.

The next morning I drove it back to the shop while Juli stayed at the trailer. I don't blame her. It didn't even sputter once. The crew decided that the issue is obviously made worse with heat. They spent much time attempting to trace what they thought might be a short in the wiring harness that carries the cam sensor circuit, but finding none, continued looking up potential causes and solutions, including the Electronic Control Module, or ECM. The ECM is expensive, but it controls everything that was going wrong, so it was looking increasingly likely that it would need to be replaced. At the end of the day, it seemed we were no closer to a solution, so we extended our stay for another night, leaving the truck at the shop.

The next morning the shop owner called, Joel - I'm not going very far out on a limb here to assume he is the "J" in "J&H" - and said that he had discovered that an alternator with failing bearing could cause electrical feedback that the ECM would fail to understand, causing the symptoms we were experiencing. It was worth a shot, so he ordered a new one, installed it, and did some seriously extensive test-driving (remember this!) to confirm it was OK. And it was!!! He drove up to the RV park and picked me up, taking me back to the shop. He told me, "Don't pay me yet. Trust goes both ways. Drive it around yourself before you hitch up the trailer. If you're confident it's working right, come back and we'll settle up." Well, it did work right so I hitched up the trailer and headed carefully down the hill and back the curb in front of the shop.

I say "carefully" because we were also having an issue with the trailer brakes. It hadn't shown up on the flatlands, but the first downhill stop we'd made was longer than it was supposed to be, and testing the brakes manually proved there was something wrong. I had crawled under the trailer at the park, jacked up each wheel adjusting each brake, and I had cleaned all connections. The problem didn't improve at all, so while at J&H I asked Joel if they happened to have a Prodigy controller in one of their lot trucks that I could test out. They didn't, but he said "I'll just order one and you can try it out." So he did, It arrived within minutes, I swapped it out with the old one, and voila! it worked! J&H added the controller to the bill - at cost (!) - and I paid the bill, impressed and planning a 5 star Google review.

Finally on the road, we headed north with 1 full tank and a half tank, way more than required for the next planned fuel stop at Medford. It is now Thursday afternoon and we have lost 2 days with the family, but knew we could at least see them Friday and Saturday if we drove straight through. On the Mount Shasta grade, road construction caused a lane split where we stayed right, and were hemmed in on both sides by concrete barriers. I told Juli, "I shouldn't even mention it, but aren't you glad we didn't have that breakdown right here on the mountainside? We made it safely through and were climbing the last hill as you leave Weed, chatting with each other, when I said "Hang on, something isn't right." We were just past the last entrance onto I-5 from Weed, well past the last exit, when the motor started losing power. Just as we reached the downhill on the north side of Weed, the motor died. 

Angels.

I couldn't believe it. Juli couldn't believe it. I turned on the flashers and just let it coast. I knew there was a rest area within 5 miles, (turns out is was just over 4.5 miles from where the motor died) but I also knew there was no way we could reach it as the highway flattens out 2 miles before the rest area exit, and then rises slightly. We coasted to the bottom of the hill and started slowing down. The rest area sign was in sight, but there was no way was there? We were still rolling at about 40 MPH with 1.5 miles to go and I just kept steering. I was really concerned about the bridge. It's narrow, and to stop on the bridge would be suicidal. As we got close I was checking the mirrors constantly. Just before it narrowed up, the road cleared behind me so I committed to the bridge. It was either slam on the brakes with the right side against a concrete barrier, or try to cross. We crossed at about 20MPH and then there was a slight downhill for the exit. The Weed Rest Area has a very long entrance because it is also an exit for a rural road. We coasted past the rural road and into the automobile parking area where a car was backing out. They saw my flashers, stopping to let us by. Then we rolled slowly past the restrooms toward the RV and Truck parking where the very first spot was labeled "RV Parking" and was open. I steered into the spot, barely touching the brakes to stop.

Juli and I looked at each other and said "What just happened? Did we really just roll all the way here?" "It was like the motor was running normal, but I knew it was dead." I told her, "I think there are angel wing-prints all over the back of this trailer."

Angels.

It was hot, but we were safe. I got on the phone and started making calls, racking my brains for solutions. I called Joel from J&H and he suggested it was possibly fuel-starved. I pulled the fuel filter cap off and it was not dry so we dismissed that. I called a Les Schwab friend who called a Les Schwab friend, and before you knew it, we had a pickup on the way from Yreka to take our 5th wheel to a sweet little RV park right behind the Les Schwab there. State Farm was a complete disaster as far as securing towing help went. I asked Preston from Yreka Les Schwab who he would recommend and he suggested an outfit in Weed. I called them and they said "We'll be right there." By contrast - State Farm called us 27 hours - 27 HOURS!!! - later to say they were having trouble getting us a tow truck, and maybe we could set up a tow truck appointment? And if you are hot and dehydrated on the side of I-5, maybe consider dialing 911 for humanitarian help.

Preston also recommended a diesel repair shop... one block from Les Schwab. Angels. By nightfall, we were tucked into a tree-shaded little mom and pop RV park called Waiiaka RV Park, with AC, Food, Shelter, within walking distance of the repair shop. The next morning I walked to the shop where the man hooked up the tester and began cranking the motor. I had already cranked it a lot at the recommendation of Joel, after switching fuel tanks, in case there was a "fuel pick-up" problem inside the tank. The mechanic cranked it a long time and I was worried it was being damaged, and then it caught! And it started running!!! What is this??? He was alone in the shop and had other responsibilities, but he left his equipment hooked up and ran it through complete diagnostics. No issues. Like nothing had been wrong at all. But he later told me that as he test drove it, it began sputtering and felt like it was running out of fuel. He quickly switched tanks, it cleared up, and he drove to buy some fuel. The tank we thought was full of fuel earlier in this story? Well, it was empty. Apparently the extensive test drives in redding had drained a tank, and it had been switched, and I was not aware of it - nor did I check before leaving Redding.

Angels. God helps us even when we are not deserving of it.

As it turns out, the fuel pickups inside the tank have plastic tips that drop off with age, keeping the fuel in the bottom of the tank from being accessible. Both tanks had enough fuel to get us at least to Yreka if not Ashland, but with the last 1/8 of a tank being inaccessible, we found out on a hillside with the fuel sloshing to the back. It was drawing air along with the diesel and finally died. And the 2nd tank was empty.

We decided to stay a couple of days in Yreka, enjoying the shade and quiet, lamenting the loss of time with our family. God always has a purpose, and it is for us to follow without questioning or complaining. I wanted to test the truck a bit before hooking it up to the trailer, so Saturday I did a high speed run up the mountain and back, and Sunday I decided to go to Holy Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Ashland, Or. It was wonderful to worship with other Orthodox Christians, even meeting a complete East Indian family of Orthodox Christians who were visiting the church from Sacramento!

The truck didn't stutter at all, so yesterday we hooked up and pulled the trailer to Lake Siskyou RV park, part of our planned itinerary on the return from the reunion. We're taking our time going home. Yesterday at the park, the power went out, and when I went to the entrance to see if it was just our site or if it was more widespread, they said it was county wide and would not be back on until 8PM. I almost felt the need to apologize to all the other campers, assuming that I had brought the bad luck with me!

I feel pretty good. The first infusion dropped my PSA by a small amount, disappointing at the 3 week mark, but at the 6 week mark, one day before the 2nd infusion, it had dropped significantly. The doctor was very happy with those encouraging results. Day 4 through 10 had been very uncomfortable after infusion 1, but the same time period after infusion 2 I was in much less pain, in fact taking advil or tylenol only once.

This is already too long so I'll stop here. Hopefully the next update will not include any road trip shenanigans.

May angels watch over us and help us. May they drive us toward Christ... or at least give us a good solid push.