As most of you are aware, on June 12th of this year we had a very serious “incident” occur while coming out of Yosemite National Park in California. The front, left suspension failed resulting in the entire wheel, hub and all associated components coming off. We skidded 880 feet before being able to stop and were very fortunate that we stayed upright and were not injured.

We spent until July 9th meeting with insurance adjusters, inspectors, claims processors and everyone else trying to get the repairs underway. We finally flew back to Florida to await the completion of the job. Since we flew home, we not only had to leave the motor home in California but also our car, many of our clothes, house wares and everything else that we had with us for a 4 month trip.
Shortly after returning home we learned that the insurance company, the warranty company and the manufactures of the motor home (Newmar), the chassis (Spartan) and the suspension (Reyco-Granning) were all refusing to pay for the repairs. After more than 4 1/2 months, and countless hours of phone calls, emails, letters and lawyers it has been resolved to the point that the repairs can be done but there are still MANY outstanding issues that still have to be litigated.

We are finally returning to California next week (November 8th) and hope to be back on the road heading east by Tuesday, November 15th. As part of our return trip we want to go to Charlotte, Michigan to the Spartan chassis plant, to have the front right suspension inspected to confirm that we are not susceptible to the same failure. Obviously, the coast-to-coast trip will be very contingent upon the weather and we will have to navigate around the approaching winter storms. It would not be our chosen time to drive all the way back from California but we want to get DreamCatcher home. Our friends Freddie & Sally are already on the road to California and are graciously going to accompany us back across country to lend both moral support as well as any other assistance we may need. As you may imagine, the “incident” was rather frightening and there is a bit of trepidation about getting “back-in-the-saddle”, thus, we are very grateful for their company.

Prior to leaving California we did do a little more sightseeing and we have included some pictures. They can be found at the following link:
http://www.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?sid=0Sbs27hoxZMsk

They include:

• a couple more shots from Yosemite, specifically El Capitan and Yosemite Falls. We really like Yosemite in spite of all the issues.

• Mono Lake, which is home to the spectacular "tufa towers", which are calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by the interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. It is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. A truly ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America – which has no outlet. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind forming the odd and picturesque tufa towers. The lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline.
 • Bodie which is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. The town is named for Waterman S. Body who had discovered small amounts of gold in the hills north of Mono Lake. In 1875, a mine cave-in revealed pay dirt, which led to the purchase of the mine by the Standard Company in 1877. People flocked to Bodie and transformed it from a town of a few dozen to a boomtown of more than 10,000. The town bustled with families, robbers, miners, store owners, gunfighters, prostitutes and people from every country in the world. At one time there was reported to be 65 saloons in town. Among the saloons were numerous brothels and 'houses of ill repute', gambling halls and opium dens - an entertainment outlet for everyone. When the gold ran out the residents moved on and left Bodie in a state of "arrested decay." Today interiors remain as they were left and are still stocked with goods.

• We have also included pictures of several other sights, including downtown Lodi, Mount Shasta, Lassen Volcanic Park, McArther-Burney Falls and the Jelly-Belly jelly bean factory!
This is an update of what we are to referring as our “hellacious summer” which was spent arguing with insurance and warranty companies and waiting, waiting, waiting…

Hopefully we are now about at the end of all this and we will update this Blog as we actually get on the road again.

Again, we love hearing from you and the email is still: Pferraro1@cfl.rr.com
Take care and stay safe,


Pat & Judy