Chato’s Land
APACHE LAKE
The Apache Express, or highway 80, runs from Apache Junction up to Canyon Lake and then turns into a dirt road. We spent the night at Canyon Lake – a really pretty campsite in a sketchy campground – and carried on the next day aimimng for the rim country on the Apache Reservation. The highway turns to dirt about five miles east of Canyon Lake…and it’s the absolute Disneyland of roads. Rock overhangs, one car bridges, wash crossings, all well maintained. You look around in the middle of this incredible wildness, not a human in sight, and just when you feel like Indiana Jones, a convertible BMW passes by at 40 mph. %^&$#@!
We’re up at the top of the pass and I stop to take a picture. I urn off my truck…SSSSSSSSSSSSSS. That’s not a good sound. I open the hood…my secondary battery (Diesel trucks have two batteries) is hissing – I could actually see the top of the battery bubbling. That’s not a good feeling. We were only a few miles from a campground so we decided to make that our days objective. When we got there I disconnected the scary battery and hoped that tomorrow we could simply replace it.
The next morning everything seemed to be fine. Whatever needed power had it and I figured it would be an easy fix, we were only about 60 miles from the nearest town. We went down to the lake to check it out and when we returned the camper was completely DEAD…as in zero power.
Now I’m worried. Did the battery short out the power to the camper? Is this a rolling electrical issue? Now I’m eager to get it fixed. We tear down camp, I reconnect the battery and go to start the truck…with what felt like was it’s last gasp the truck barely starts. Phew.
On the way to Globe I call the local Dodge dealer…can you believe there’s a Dodge dealer in the small town of Globe? They fit us in.
To shorten a long story…we pull into the dealer with all of our gear. Joe comes out to meet us, asking us if we’re “overlanding”. Now this is the second time we’ver heard this term in almost as many days. So I tell him that we’re simply on extended exploration of whatever we feel needs to be explored.
This guy treats us like royalty. The service department treats us like royalty. Horne Dodge is an amazing dealership! In about an hour they’ve got the battery replaced and checked my alternator…which was my main concern. One problem remains…the camper is still dead.
I get inside with my circuit tester. There’s power everywhere but at the circuits. There’s a three foot segment of the power cable that runs behind cabinetry that I can’t reach to test. So now I’ve got to take the cabinets off???
The awesome service department at Horne recommends an RV mecanic in nearby Apache Junction (60 miles back west)…Miller RV. I call him on the way, it’s now 3:00 and we’re at least an hour away…HE FIT”S US IN!
Literally minutes after we arrive, he pulls one of his mechanics off of a job to help us, and literally minutes after that he tells us that someone…who shall never be revealed in these chronicles – it wasn’t me…which leaves 6 others – had engaged the master kill switch. Master kill switch? I didn’t even know we had one. Miller RV is THE BEST!
Systems were returned to normal, and we all had a good laugh. Even though we were now 120 miles from where we’d thought we’d be…there’s that planning thing again. It just goes to show you that hoof beats don’t always always mean horses. Sometimes it’s zebras.