Angels in the Desert

We left our air conditioned hotel rooms in the Primm casino and walked out into 105 degrees at 9am. We loaded up on gas and water and headed off on a 5 hour drive up the basin toward Cedar City, Utah. The thermostat climbed to 112 degrees before we finally began to rise out of the basin and back up to a more comfortable altitude. We arrived at the club in Cedar City in the late afternoon and everybody enjoyed a good meal and lots of ice water to re-hydrate before the show. The folks at the Blue Kat Cafe were super nice and we played our butts off for the appreciative locals. The next morning we faced a dilemma: should we go back down into the basin through Las Vegas to Phoenix or should we take a more direct but mountainous route back through Flagstaff? We opted for the hotter but less hilly Vegas choice and quickly settled in for another hot day in the desert. The Chief didn't like the heat one bit and threatened overheating several times. We watched the temperature gauge closely and stopped several times to let him cool down. We, however, weren't so lucky as the thermometer inside the RV hovered around 115 for the entire 10 hours to Phoenix. One respite in our suffering occurred when we crossed the Colorado River again via the Hoover Dam. This was our first time seeing the mammoth structure and we went into heavy tourist mode snapping pictures out the window and rubbernecking for a better view. We climbed up out of the canyon and into a high desert plain and really got cooking for the rest of the run into Phoenix. Cactus of all shape and size began to appear on both sides of the sun baked road and we knew we were truly in the desert as the temperature inside the RV climbed to 120 degrees. We had all been drinking ice water all day but didn't have to make any stops for anything other than gas as the desert seemed to take care of processing our liquids for us. We rolled into the Phoenix area at around 6pm and, after a few wrong turns, arrived at the home of Marvin and Teresa- our hosts for the evening's house concert. We were immediately made to feel at home and within the hour we were playing for a small but appreciative audience. After the show, one of the audience members, Wes, struck up a conversation with Nate regarding our air conditioning problems. We had been cooking for days due to the fact that our generator muffler had broken off before we ever left Kansas City. Without the muffler, we couldn't run the generator without filling the RV with carbon monoxide. The regular air conditioning in The Chief did not function and so, without the generator, we were unable to run the roof mounted air conditioning units that would have provided much comfort in the hot environs of the southwest. Wes turned out to be a crack welder with gear in his garage 20 minutes away and offered to fix our muffler problem the next day. Nate and I worked to release the tailpipe in the dark by flashlight and we sent Wes home with our muffler and a promise to reclaim it the next day. After cleaning up, we dined on a midnight meal of the most delicious home cooked hamburgers courtesy of Teresa and talked with our hosts about music and other topics before retiring for the night in the comfort of their air conditioning and guest rooms. We awoke to a delicious breakfast and more conversation before breaking away to meet up with Wes and our repaired muffler. It took a little work, but we were able to get it reconnected and enjoyed some ice water as Ike cranked up the generator for a test run. Unfortunately, even with the repaired generator, the air conditioning still did not work. Several solutions were discussed but none seemed to do the trick. We took a break and had some lunch and more ice water before deciding that our stinky laundry needed doing more than more air conditioning detective work. Wes's wife, Laurie, piled us all into their mini van and dropped us off at the local laundry mat. An hour or so later, we were back at the house to refocus on the air conditioning problem. Out of desperation, Ike decided to get out the owner's manual for the RV and read for several minutes before coming across a possible solution. We went back out into the hot Phoenix sun and within a minute, the air conditioning units were working like champs. Wes and Laurie offered to let us stay for the night and with the added incentive of their backyard pool and Laurie's homemade pizza, we accepted their offer and happily jumped into the pool. After dinner, there was lots of good conversation and a little pool side music to round out the night. Two lessons learned:
1. You need help to survive in the desert in June. and 2. There are a lot of really helpful people in the desert. To Marvin, Teresa, Wes and Laurie. Thank you so much! We won't forget your generosity.