Frustration hangover

So, for those who have been following our saga of the breakdown and follow-on, we have more to report on the drama. I got a call today telling me they were ready to pay out on our claim at a dollar amount significantly lower than that which was submitted. Apparently, when they called and asked for the work order, and I said, "is there anything else you need?" And they replied, "just the work order." What they actually meant was, "and the three receipts that don't appear to be on the email that you sent." Or words to that affect.

So, apparently after all of this, and an additional month, they want to do another month of processing, to get ALL of the receipts turned in and so on. I asked the guy his name, and he repeated it. I then asked for his supervisor and he said he was the supervisor. I asked, who he reported to, and found out that they are actually contracted with Ford, not employees. I asked his job title and his name is Carl, he is allegedly the supervisor of the Motor Home Customer Assistance Center. But, considering when I asked his job title, he couldn't come up with one, I would be a little surprised to find out that this was actually his title. I asked to speak to his boss and he said they were contractors for Ford. I asked for their contract at Ford, and he replied that he didn't have one. Frankly, I got frustrated and hung up at that point.

I found him to be incredibly unbelievable, and I am very surprised that he would attempt to LIE to a person he was due to be "assisting" in his role at the Customer Assistance Center. Ford can and SHOULD do better.

So, I am off to search out our options, as well as attempting to obtain copies of the missing receipts from those three hotels. This whole ordeal has been incredibly frustrating. Of course the photos of all of the receipts were on my phone, and not the disk that had the rest of my photos, that I removed from the old phone. :(

I just want our money back, and the frustrating experience behind us. This is ridiculous that I have to go through so much, when we received a defective product, frankly a Lemon. I cannot believe that Ford knowingly sends its brand new motor coaches out without warning to consumers that there might be an issue with the engine. When the coach arrived in Las Vegas, the tech told me that this wasn't the first one that had issues, and I can't help but think, if that dealer knew of the issue, then how many other bad engines are out there, unbeknownst to consumers? Very disappointed in Ford and their alleged, maybe, contractors at their Motor home Customer Assistance Center.

Thousands of stars

Upon leaving the bliss of Alamogordo/White Sands and returning to Fort Bliss, we started looking at what to do next. Admittedly, sledding on White Sand is definitely hard to top, but we struck gold as we sought a destination roughly 200 miles from Fort Bliss, in the form of Fort Davis, TX and the McDonald Observatory. BINGO!

We found a private RV park there, and ordered tickets for a Star Party. It was $34 for the five of us (B was free) and I would argue that it was the most valuable investment we've made so far on this trip. We would have loved to attend the Twilight Program as well, but it was sold out. I think in retrospect, with our group it was probably for the best that we didn't do both, although K would have LOVED it, that would have been a very long night of having to be relatively still and quiet for the two younger kiddos, so the Star Party was perfect for us. 

We listed to a brief (20 ish minutes?) discussion of constellations while allowing our eyes to adjust to night vision and then we were able to gaze through several huge telescopes and several smaller but equally amazing telescopes, seeing close ups of Jupiter, the moon, Orion's nebula and the Pleiades as well as a few other star clusters. The kids loved it all, and I honestly haven't been to such an amazing telescope park in my life, so it was truly a once in a lifetime kind of place to go. The only time(s) I remember seeing so many stars in one place, was out to sea, back in the old Sammy G Navy days. The only down side, was finding our way back down from the Observatory, in the very dark that provides such great star gazing, to town and the RV park.

Beautiful observatory

The park we had originally made reservations for... well, yeah, we didn't stay at the Fort Davis Inn and RV Park (trees low enough they would have hit the roof, and tight, VERY tight spots), instead opting for MacMillans, where the gentleman on the phone was very polite and the camp host was incredibly helpful and their set up was a little easier for me to park, drive and settle in. The only down side was the turn to get into their property at night was a little hard to see, but I realized right when I passed it that I had made an error, and I flipped a U on that dark road and got back to the park, carried the three younger kiddos in and passed out.

This morning found us on the road across Texas, winding up in San Angelo at Goodfellow AFB and their RV park. Just a note, in case you're ever wondering, when you get onto a small highway in Texas and your GPS says "stay on the road for 144 miles," Turn around. Fast. Find another route. Any route. That was the most brutal day of driving to date, and we only drove about 250 miles.

I will say, this park is lovely, located on a lake, with access to a marina (if only I had "the" boating license, we could rent a boat for a day) and a playground that the kids are in love with, along with a beautiful sunset. In all, the perfect end to a long day. Until the winds kicked up and it became a kind of scary night. Just now, I pulled the slide in, dropped the antenna and double checked that I've battened down all of the doors and windows. I wish I could get the kids bikes into the car, but honestly, right now, I don't feel like it is a good idea to be out in this weather.  Could be a bumpy night tonight!

The amazing park across the parking lot

Red sky at night...

When last we heard...

... from our fearless wanderers, we were leaving Albuguerque and heading toward White Sands, and we did spend some time at Holloman AFB (Alamogordo, NM), but unfortunately, we were made to feel incredibly unwelcome, and were told that the kids were not allowed to go into the bathhouse (shower rooms) or laundry without accompaniment. For kids who are used to having a level of freedom, this was absolutely stifling.  C usually does our laundry, if not entirely alone, largely by himself. He was crushed to find out he wasn't allowed to go into the laundry room unattended. They actually told us that the boys were not even allowed to go into the shower rooms by themselves, and that I would need to be IN the room with them. :( Needless to say, we stayed one day and headed on south toward El Paso and Fort Bliss.

At Fort Bliss we found a large base, er, post, with an exchange that looks like a shopping mall with a huge food court as well as a Texas Roadhouse and Buffalo Wild Wings. The RV park is not actually on base, which makes me a little nervous, but that is okay, it doesn't feel unsafe. We were at Fort Bliss for but a few days, and B decided to ask for some cheese and when no one moved fast enough for her highness, she decided to get it herself, and removed the blade guard, slicing her thumb in the process.

It wasn't super deep, because, after all, how deep can a cut go on a four year old's thumb, but it was doing the arterial spurt thing and I couldn't get it to stop, so we caught a kid on the alley at the corner and asked for his parents and I asked where the nearest ER was located (because of course, parents know where the ER is). They sent me to an Urgent Care type place, that is an ER, not an Urgent Care, but this is so different from anything I'd seen before - a free standing ER. The NP who attended us, debated stitches, but decided to try the superglue method instead, because with the other kids around, I don't think she wanted to attempt needles, and honestly, it was kind of borderline whether it needed three stitches or not, so she went with the glue. Which was great. Until... an hour after we were home, she busted that stuff up, and ended up bleeding again. Being a good mom I slapped a bandaid on that and called it good. She says it was fine this morning and she has only opened it again once today.

My wounded princess

The glued up war wound

We decided that after two days of incessant rain, we needed to get outside, so we headed back to Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument. We picked up Junior Ranger books and headed to the dunes, where we had a great time sledding on the stupid little plastic dishes. I was not sure if they'd even get badges for this park, it is just so much fun. I explained to them that this would have been the trade off for staying here at Holloman, dealing with the enforcer at the restrooms, in exchange for playing in the sand all day. But, luckily during our extensive time travelling sans RV, we had topped off our Holiday Inn Rewards points (okay, hubby's points), so we decided to stay in Alamogordo for the night so we can get back out there sledding in the morning.

Meanwhile, I am still having phone issues, and it is very frustrating. I just don't want to purchase a new one, but am leaning toward a prepaid because I am tired of the junk. But I have unlimited data and that would be hard to leave. And before it is suggested, I don't do anything Walmart, so that restricts some things in the prepay arena. )sigh(

Wrong turn at Albuquerque on my high horse

Happy Pi day! Pie for breakfast, and (pizza) pie for dinner, makes for a good day, no? We started the day at New Mexico Pie Company, which was, unfortunately disappointing, as they had exactly one pie baked less than half an hour after opening, and our "pie for breakfast" turned into Pie Tartlets (homemade pop tarts) and a s'mores whoopee pie. I guess I expected more from a place called a pie company, but at the same time, as a non-regular to the establishment, I am sure there is level of supply and demand in effect so I don't hold it against them, much.

Just a small shop in a strip mall

Kids weren't disappointed, they were just excited about pie for breakfast!

I think we're going to try to to get out of here tomorrow and head out of New Mexico and into Texas, or as close to it as we can get. Rumor has it the base in Southern NM is nigh on impossible to get a space at, but I may call and ask anyway. They don't do reservations, which just seems strange to me, but whatever. Albuquerque has less than impressed us. Although we did enjoy the Petroglyph National Monument for the most part.

For the most part, my kids are rule followers. They respect authority and follow basic rules like, stay on the path in national parks. So it was not much of a surprise that when we saw a family (including a boy H's age or so) who repeatedly went off of the path to get closer to the Petrolyphs, climbing on the rocks to get up close and personal, that they kind of lost their minds. They began peppering me with questions about why they were off the path and how come we can't go there and we want to see them too, and so on. The other group came back on the proper side of the fence and I simply said that some people didn't understand the rules. Um no. Not good enough. Needlesss to say, about the third time they passed the fence, I was done explaining, particularly when they started touching them and climbing on the rocks that held the petroglyphs. I could hold my tongue no longer, and gave a shout to the other family, "You aren't supposed to cross the fence, you know."

They got all agitated and said some old guy who said he was a park ranger told them to get closer for a better view. I pointed to the "Do Not Enter, restoration in progress" sign and said, "no, there are signs all over telling you not to cross the fence. I am trying to explain to my children why you chose to ignore the rules of the park, but honestly I'm at a loss as to what to tell them."

Sputter, sputter, grumble, old dude, grumble, park ranger, sputter, said it was okay, sputter, grumble. Followed by a hasty retreat. Maybe it was none of my beeswax, but to be honest, it pisses me off. Putting hands on these artifacts damages them, and climbing around is just damaging to the park, a park we are all there to enjoy. Self-entitled a-holes make me angry, acting as if the rules don't apply to them, and then furthering that by teaching their child that this behavior is okay... Boy I'd hate to be that kid's teacher!

We finished our 2.6 mile hike, went back to the Visitor's Center and finished our books for Junior Ranger Badge #8.

Entrance to the visitor center

A winged creature, perhaps a bat?

Just amazing how many of these rocks were decorated

I find it interesting that most symbols are unidentified

K thinks it is a sword and shield

The kids called this guy jelly man for some reason

My favorite site of the day - skipping together

A few things about a few things…

Show Low, AZ is kind of a dump. The RV park we stayed in was a mobile home park, not an RV park, and it was truly meant for people staying there and not at all for RVs. I scraped my roof for goodness sake as I drove out because the trees aren’t trimmed enough to stay off the roof tops in the main path out. SMH

Then, because I am a moron, I pulled into a gas station to fill the RV, and realized there was no way I was getting out of there without unhooking the Pilot. It was kind of a nightmare that involved using hammers and screwdrivers to get the pegs out to unhook (probably voiding the warranty on the tow bar system, but I won’t ask), and a guy breaking his screwdriver, and getting it stuck instead of a peg (yeah, we were torqued really wrong at the station). It was either that or scrape the Pilot along the cement barrier that tells you that you’re too close to the gas pump. )sigh(

Sassy for days

After that, reconnected, and cruised on down to the Petrified Forest National Park. We did a few cool hikes (short), and got the Junior Ranger books and came back to decide what to do. I kind of committed to the (free is for me) boondocking (a.k.a. dry camping – no hook ups at all) for the first time, well, the kids hate it because nothing will charge, and they want to do electronic junk and it is kind of funny. It is a little scary – we boondocked on the edge of the Petrified Forest at a Gift Store that allows it, and it is remote and well, we locked both doors and the car and called it a night. It is free (except for running the generator off and on).  We managed to survive, although I will admit, I told the kids they could sleep in my short King Sized bed, since we didn't drop the boys' bunks down (electric, and I didn't feel like it)

Gratuitous entrance sign photo

Very old tree hugging - I love that this park is hands on and  this behavior encouraged (one of the steps in the Junior Ranger book)

Checking out the "white sand" that makes up the Tepees (their spelling) and Mesas 

Lounge chair of really old wood, turned stone

B was excited by the pretty yellow

So many colors

Amazing how much of this there is

Another stone of many colors

Probably my favorite photo of C

This resonated with me

Tepee rocks

Petroglyph of Summer Solstice

The kids think this one is a robot, but I'm not so sure

B swore she couldn't see ANYTHING on the rocks

These petroglyphs were really neat, and clearly preserved

Cool looking steps in the village at Puerco Pueblo (K said this means Pig City)

We think it is a guy with a bunch of bananas on his head. Or something

The rocks at Newspaper Rock had a TON of petroglyphs that were clear with binoculars or scopes, but not my wimpy camera zoom

So many petroglyphs that they looked like the Sunday Comics or something

Just amazing layers of time in these rocks

A beautiful day for seeing everything at Petrified Forest NP

And of course, by the time we are done, the kids are bored with "the rocks." )sigh(

But I wasn't

Hike through Blue Mesa had great views of purple, grey and white bands of sandy rocks

View from the top of Blue Mesa

Just a cool mix of new plants and old

Nice to just get out and be so close to the action

PFNP is the only National Park that contains parts of the old Route 66 

An oldie on site at the Mother Road remains

The Painted Desert is at the north end of the park

I think on a less grey day, this would have been even more amazing

I think if you look hard enough you can see just about every color

H loved the "stepping" in this area

Caught the pre-teen angst that is being told not to run screaming like a banshee along a path where others are attempting to enjoy the scenery as well

The old Painted Desert Inn might someday again become available as a B&B

Thursday, we went back through the PFNP, and on into New Mexico with an eye toward White Sands, eventually. I am thinking maybe a weekend in Albuquerque, but we’ll see. Heard there is a free Monster Truck thing tomorrow afternoon, totally up my alley (NOT!) There is a Petroglyph National Monument thing too, that we want to check out (you know, another Ranger Badge).

Our next adventure