{"id":8214,"date":"2022-06-14T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2022-07-25T19:18:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T02:18:43","slug":"salt-lake-city-sideshow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/2022\/06\/14\/salt-lake-city-sideshow\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt Lake City sideshow"},"content":{"rendered":"

We headed to SLC early on Thursday morning to get on the service list at the Freightliner dealer to have our exhaust manifold repaired.\u00a0 I had talked to the service manager the afternoon prior and he said he could do it as soon as I got there.<\/p>\n

When we arrived fairly early that wasn’t the case.\u00a0 They told me they were too busy to look at it, and I should try back on Monday (4 days away) to see if they had time then.\u00a0\u00a0 It was then I realized that dealer had been bought out by the same company that owned the San Diego Freightliner dealer.\u00a0 (that company should be called Darth Vader Enterprises)\u00a0\u00a0 I will not use those dealerships unless it’s an actual emergency as they are not what I would describe as “competent”.\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently when they buy out the local dealerships, all the good people leave.<\/p>\n

Literally across the street was the Cummins dealer.\u00a0 Needless to say, I drove over there next,\u00a0 walked in and talked to Lacy, the service writer, and she said she could have a tech look at my manifold around 2 pm that day.\u00a0 We hung out in the parking lot till then and I made reservations at the SLC KOA.\u00a0 We had camped there twice before, first time on our first big trip in 2017, and again on the way to Alaska in 2019.<\/p>\n

He arrived just after 2 and took the bus back into the shop.\u00a0\u00a0 After a while I went back inside to talk to Lacy and the tech happened to be there explaining what he found.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a blown gasket, and he also found the turbo charger bolts were very loose.\u00a0 (so loose it was barely attached to the manifold.)<\/p>\n

I told them to order the parts, and a new manifold, as I read it was a very common problem to have the manifolds warp on my model engine.\u00a0 (ISL)\u00a0 They thought I could bring it back in for the repair on Monday.<\/p>\n

I had re-injured my back in Nephi and all the standing around at the dealership had not made it any better.\u00a0\u00a0 The ride that afternoon to the campground after the diagnosis of the problem was excruciating.\u00a0\u00a0 The next day, after a lot of pushing from Kathy and Cousin Frank, we scheduled a chiropractor visit.\u00a0 \u00a0After getting an adjustment, I felt much better!\u00a0 \u00a0I scheduled another follow-up for the next week.<\/p>\n

I was able to order groceries from a local Smith’s store for pickup.\u00a0\u00a0 That turns out to be a really great convenience.\u00a0 I think it might even save money as there aren’t any impulse purchases that happen when you wander thru a grocery store trying to find what you need. \u00a0 I had been using our local Ralph’s while home, and in SLC, Smith’s is the Kroger affiliate. \u00a0 Kroger’s app is great for informing them when you are leaving to go pick up the order and letting them know when you arrive.\u00a0 But I use the Website to place orders as it’s easier to spot things ordered in error. \u00a0 I don’t think I’ve ever waited in the parking lot for them more than a few minutes, probably because of the app allowing me to communicate to them when I am on my way.\u00a0 Often they are there before I am ready.<\/p>\n

Monday came and the manifold wasn’t there yet, but was expected later in the day.\u00a0 We made an appointment for the next morning at 7am.\u00a0\u00a0 That afternoon I went back for the other chiro appointment.\u00a0\u00a0 The regular doctor was there and her adjustment was nothing like the first one I got.\u00a0 I thought this lady had broken my back with what she did to me.\u00a0\u00a0 The drive home afterward was almost as bad as the drive back from the Cummins dealer on Thursday evening.\u00a0\u00a0 But by Tuesday, I felt a lot better and still feel pretty good a few weeks later as I write this up.<\/p>\n

We packed up the coach Monday night and we drove over to the Cummins dealer and parked in one of their overnight spots.\u00a0 They have 50 amp electric.\u00a0\u00a0 Doing that allowed the engine to cool off overnight, and in the morning the tech would only drive it a couple hundred feet and they could shut it off,\u00a0 making it a lot cooler to work on when you need to do all the work from the top of the engine where the exhaust manifold is located.\u00a0\u00a0 In the morning the tech said thank you for that.\u00a0 He said he cannot remember anyone purposely doing that in the past to make his job just a bit easier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had been quoted 12 hours labor and was hoping we could get the bus back before they closed for the evening so we didn’t have to go to a hotel for the night.\u00a0 So we packed up all our clothes and items we would need in case we did.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We left to find a place to have breakfast and then drove a few miles west to the Great Salt Lake State Park ,\"\"<\/a>which of course was right on the lake.\u00a0\u00a0 The potholed dirt road for about a mile was not nice.\u00a0 And after that experience, they charged us to get in.\u00a0 Otherwise it was a nice park and we walked around for about an hour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After that I searched Google Maps satellite view for a nice small local park to sit around in the shade for a bit and Dusty could poke around all the trees and grass for a bit.\u00a0\u00a0 He might be deaf and cannot see much anymore but his nose is just as good if not better than it used to be.\u00a0 That dog can sniff stuff for hours if you have enough patience to stand there forever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sometime after noon I was checking out the Fido Friendly App and picked Uinta Brewery for lunch.\u00a0\u00a0 Just after finishing and paying the check, I got a text from the bus saying it was moving.\u00a0\u00a0 I opened the Linxup App (GPS asset tracker)\u00a0 and sure enough our bus was back into its parking space the tech had picked it up from about 6 hours prior.\u00a0 I hoped that was a good thing but didn’t want to get my expectations up in case there was a problem and that’s why they pulled it out of the bay early.<\/p>\n

We drove back over to the Cummins dealer and were pleasantly surprised to find it was done. \u00a0 The only unpleasant part was they still charged me for the 12 hours, saying they charge the standard rate for that repair, even if it takes half the time of the estimate.\u00a0\u00a0 That seems like the standard time estimate is extremely flawed.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t care how efficient a tech is, he should be able to shave off maybe 20% of the time,\u00a0 finishing in half the time just means the standard estimate is a bogus figure.\u00a0\u00a0 And what was going to get reviewed as a 5-star experience on Google turned into a 3 star, and almost a 2,\u00a0 with me feeling cheated.<\/p>\n

We stayed that night (Tuesday 14th) at their hook-up sites and drove off for Green River State Park the next morning.<\/p>\n

June 9th thru 14th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We headed to SLC early on Thursday morning to get on the service list at the Freightliner dealer to have our exhaust manifold repaired.\u00a0 I had talked to the service manager the afternoon prior and he said he could do it as soon as I got there. When we arrived fairly early that wasn’t the … <\/p>\n

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