Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,, March 29, 30 and 31, 2017 (Barstow/Calico KOA, Yermo, CA)

Well, we weren't expecting any significant news on the truck today because they had ordered gaskets and bolts and they wouldn't be in until tomorrow, so we thought we'd get out and do something. Steve researched things to do in Barstow...there are a few museums but most of them are only open on weekends, with the exception of the Mohave River Valley Museum. So that is where we headed.

The Mojave River Valley Museum is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the scientific, historical and cultural heritage of the Mojave River Valley. Through the efforts of a group of interested residents, the Museum was founded in 1964 and established as a nonprofit corporation in 1973. 
Donations of money, time and labor have resulted in the present Museum facility located at the corner of Barstow Road and Virginia Way. 
The Museum continues to operate through the efforts of its members and by donations from the public.

Quite a mish-mash of old stuff...

Assay furnace belonged to Virgil Earp, brother of Wyatt...

Lower left upper palate of a Mastodon, glass case has a tusk and rib...

The fellow wanted to tell us about this old train car that was out in the yard beside the parking lot.

Steve asked if we could see inside it, so the fellow got the key and took us on a tour.

There are only two of these left in the world. Home for the cowboys as they travelled on the cattle trains...

Your business drops to the tracks below...

Hot water tank on the left...

There was one of these on either end of the caboose...

Jail cell from the 1880's...

After we were finished at the museum, we checked out Barstow Station....
Not only is Barstow Station an iconic landmark, smack in the middle of the desert, it is an engineering marvel! 16 train cars were strung together during the original construction of the station in the 1960’s and 70’s. Then, another building was snugged up next to them before all was said and done. The main floor building that is now Barstow Station opened on July 10, 1976. And there it has remained, just waiting for you. 
But let’s go back to a high-stakes card game between some friends in the swinging sixties, and see how the Barstow Station was born. Legend has it, Fred Rosenberg (the founder of Barstow Station), Ray Kroc (one of the fathers of McDonald’s), and Jim Williams (President of Golden Gate Foods) were sitting at the table. Rosenberg, also a professional gambler, exclaimed “Ray, I’ll bet you your next big restaurant spot that my hand is better…” “Show em.” What happened next is history. 

Whether won or purchased later on, Fred Rosenberg came into possession of a lonely McDonald’s in the middle of the desert town of Barstow, CA. A man of vision, Fred quickly transformed the singular eatery into something more by bringing in the best dining trains from across the country on some lonely old tracks. From them, he welded a future of steel, commerce, and ingenuity. Over the weeks and months that followed, many local contractors built Rosenberg’s vision, and Barstow Station celebrated their grand opening on July 10, 1975! 
Today, after almost 40 years, Barstow Station still resides with the Rosenberg family. The two brothers run the day-to-day operations and ensure that everyone who comes to Barstow Station has an unforgettable experience.

Thursday a big wind storm was forecast to come through, so we didn't expect to do much other than hunker down inside. Being optimistic, I thought I'd get the laundry all done up in case the truck would be ready and we'd be able to hit the road tomorrow. So I took care of that in the morning.

The afternoon was spent inside as the winds peaked...at one point, I checked my weather app and it said there were sustained winds of 46 mph with gusts at 63. We later learned that gusts had peaked at 70 mph and the lady in the office said the locals haven't seen wind like this in 30 years!

Close up of above ...

A cloud of dust heading our way

Mountain views are disappearing...

The black dot above the motorhome is a branch from the trees on the left...

At one point, Steve went outside to check on the satellite dish and noticed a very large branch had come down between the site next to us and the site on the other side of it. Luckily it came down between the sites and not on top of an RV!

View from the back...

Workers came out with a chain saw to remove it. Even a marine was there to haul it away with his pickup...

Just before 4:00, Steve decided to give Derek at Rush Truck Center a phone call since we hadn't heard from them all day. Almost an hour later, he finally had a return call...and the news wasn't good. I guess other trucks were in line for service before us and RV'ers don't take priority over commercial vehicles.  Apparently we had been bumped for another truck they had difficulty with getting exhaust manifold bolts out...so they hadn't done a thing on our truck! The mechanic would be in at 7:00 tomorrow morning and they would get right on it. He would call us back tomorrow morning at 9:00 with an update.

Well, that's wasn't the news we were wanting to hear! I don't think there is much chance of us getting out of here tomorrow!

Friday morning at 9:06 (precisely...I checked the clock when the phone rang LOL), Derek called. They installed the EGR cooler to exhaust manifold gasket and were about to take it out for a test drive. They were then going to do further testing and would get back to us.

After lunch, we decided to go for a drive into town. Since Steve's supply of beer was in the truck, 80 miles away, we needed to pick up more. What the heck, we have another week before we cross the border, I might as well get more wine too!

We also took a drive to the Factory Outlet Stores to see what there was. Steve was hoping there might be a store that carried Keen shoes...no such luck, nothing but very high-end stores. There had been an accident on the I-15 backing up traffic, so we decided to take a longer secondary road route home.

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner isn't far away from us so we took a drive over that way to have a look. These tanks on rail cars are across the road from the diner. Barstow has two military bases near by. Fort Irwin and the Marine Corps Logistics Base  Apparently they have an Afghan village built here for training...

Looks like a cool spot...we might have to check it out this weekend. There are huge parking areas on either side of the diner that allows you to overnight in. There were many truckers and motorhomes parked there.

They have a Dinosaur park out back...

Back home, we sat outside...Steve reading while I knitted. We even got a call from Derek with a final update for the day. They have have also discovered the the DPF (diesel particulate filter) was plugged and the back pressure reading they were getting was 13 kpa when it should be around 7 or 8 kpa. Our options were to have the old one sent out and have it baked which takes 24 hours and costs $800 US. It's a ceramic filter full of little holes and this process cleans it out. They had a new one in stock for $2000 US but in either case had to order in the gaskets for it. Yep...we have the parts but no gaskets to install it. Unbelievable! Sure hope this is the fix to the mystery of blown gaskets and why haven't two other Isuzu dealers found it in 4 years of continuous repairs. We opted to have the old one baked, so hopefully we can pick up the truck on Monday and be out of here on Tuesday. We have 4 full days of travel ahead of us and lots of Wally docking in order to be back in BC by Friday.

More Beer!!!!!