Mike and Linda Come to Visit

Linda Oddo and Mike Desch are a friends from California who we met several years ago at the RVAmerica gathering in the desert at Quartzsite, AZ.  Mike and Linda are the “official” host of the annual Quartzsite gathering.  You can follow their travels on Linda’s blog.

They are on an 8 month RV ‘tour’ of the USA in their Winnebago Suncruiser motorhome, and stopped by for a one night stay in our driveway.  They arrived on Wednesday at about 4:00pm, and got set up.  We went for a drive around Victoria, and then went to a local Mexican food restaurant, Ventura’s Tamales, for dinner.  Here’s a couple of photos of their rig in the driveway…….

On Thursday morning, Linda made a very good breakfast in their motorhome, and we discussed a problem that they were having with the Winnebago……. the water pump was not working, so they did not have water when not hooked up to a city supply.  Mike and I decided to check it out before they left, and found the power to the pump to be good, and the pressure switch working.  We removed the pump & motor assembly, and took it apart on my workbench.  We discovered that the failure was at the coupling between the motor shaft and the pumping diaphragms. 

We decided that finding a new pump would be easier and faster than finding repair parts.  However in checking, we could only locate a smaller GPM pump in Victoria…….. and Mike knew that Linda would not be a happy camper with a lower supply of water to the shower!!   We located an exact match to the original pump in Rockport, Texas at Camper Clinic, so Mike and I drove to Rockport to pickup the new pump.  It has to be mentioned that Mike and Linda had come to Victoria from Rockport the day before!!!

We retrieved the pump and got it put in without much trouble.  After the install, Linda turned on the bathroom faucet, and announced that she had not seen that much water flow in a long time!!!  She was happy with the installation, but even though Mike and I had no problems with the installation, Linda did not fair as well.  She was helping by turning the city water off, so we could test the pump.  As she did, she came around the back of the motorhome, and walked right into the bedroom slide……….. the following pictures were taken a couple of hours later, after the big bump on her forehead had shrunk!!

We had left Victoria at 11:30am, and did not get back until 2:00pm, so they decided to accept our camping offer for another night!!  That was good in that it gave us more time to visit and play some cards.  It also gave Mike a chance to get a haircut……….

 

After Linda cleaned up Mike’s appearance, she decided that he was too good looking to be driving a dirty motorhome, so she declared it was time for a wash job….

  

I explained to her that my “full hookup” offer did not include helping to wash a motorhome, but I did provide the ladder and technical assistance!

Once the rig was cleaned up, they decided it would be OK to add “Texas” to the ‘states traveled’ map on the side of the motorhome. 

They were proud to add it, although Mike had a little trouble figuring out where it went!!  I guess Linda does all the navigating!!

  

We also went to dinner at the local Olive Garden restaurant, and had an excellent meal.  Linda put enough makeup on her injuries, and she looked as lovely as ever……

We had a good visit, and were glad that they honored us with a visit on their USA tour.   I was saddened to see them go……. it really bothered me to see a rig leaving on a trip from my driveway, and it was not mine!!

  

They are now off to Galveston, TX to see the Strand and the beach.  Then they plan to visit our friends, Mark & Sue in Lake Charles, LA

Safe travels, Linda and Mike, and have a really good trip around the country. 

Also, Linda……… The next time Mike gets mad at you, DUCK!!!