A new week brings us one day closer to our final destination. On Saturday, September 4, we arrived at the Welcome Station RV Park in Wells, NV., where we decided to make our home for both Saturday and Sunday night. It is a tranquil RV park that has 21 sites, but like most, folks normally only stay for the night before moving on to their next location. From Wikipedia, “The site of Wells began as a place called Humboldt Wells along the trail to California. It was subsequently founded as a railroad town along the original Transcontinental Railroad and was once a stopover for passenger trains. The Humboldt River has its source in springs and a swampy area just west of the city called Humboldt Wells. In the late 19th century, Humboldt Wells was burning down, and in a frantic plea for help, a telegraph was sent that said, “Wells is burning”. After this, the town was rebuilt and simply referred to as ‘Wells’.”
This campground has a little more charm than most we have stopped at because of the green grass, trimmed trees, and the small water features making it a relaxing place to enjoy. With most places, you can always tell how much they care about their customer when they make an effort to provide that human interaction. This campground even has a little museum to give a little history of how it came to be. In between the relaxing, I did have to figure out why the truck was using coolant. The truck started this new issue back when we were at Holiday Hills RV Park in Coalville, Utah, when Rebecca told me that she got the low coolant light on the truck. Of course, the truck must have wanted to play hide and seek because I searched everywhere looking for the leak, and none could be found. After entering into Nevada, it seemed that I was adding a quart of water every 40 miles. Add in hills and heat. I knew things would only get worse, so it was important I find a cure. I was worried that maybe the water pump was on its way out, but after feeling all the hoses, I found some wetness on the hose that goes into the heater core on the firewall. In the old days, car manufacturers would attach a hose directly to the heater core and clamp it down with a hose clamp. Well, GM, at some point, decided it would be better to attach a hose to a plastic connector which then would get pushed onto the heater core connector. After pulling the connector off, as seen in the photo below, the plastic connector developed a hairline crack that, when under pressure, would leak badly. Replacing the connector was a 15-minute job, although Rebecca and I had to drive 45 miles one way to Elko to get a replacement. It’s one of the downfalls to traveling out west where civilization is thin. The easy repair made the weekend pleasant, relaxing with a little less worry. Just hoping that the rest of the week will follow suit…