Brake Trouble at Glass Beach!

Things were really heating up as we left Zion National Park and headed towards Nevada.

Soon, more than the weather would be heating up as we traveled along! Our first stop in Nevada, a small town called Ely, was very brief. A place to rest our heads and take a travel break. By the time we reached Sparks, Nevada, temperatures were in the 100’s.

From Sparks, we had plans to head to Sacramento. However, they were in the throws of a heat wave with temperatures close to 110!! We had had enough of the desert heat of Utah and Nevada and were ready to head to cooler climates.

So we cancelled our Sacramento plans and extended our time in Sparks as it was a little cooler. While it was hot, we found ways to adjust. The RV park had a pool – that was a big plus. I went in search of Reflectix and stuck it in the big front window. This helps a little with insulation. We kept the air circulating with fans.

Not much to report on our happenings while there. Before we knew it, we were heading towards the Pacific Coast. But not without an expensive and potentially dangerous mishap. As we were leaving out of Nevada and I was getting the tow car prepped and ready I put the parking brake on.

You see, before I tow the car, there’s a series of things that need to be done to get it ready. One of them is to let it sit in neutral for three minutes. So when I wait for three minutes to pass, I always put the parking brake on. It saves me from having to hold my foot on the brake for what seems like eternity. It also allows me to get some other things done.

Can you guess what I forgot to do before we rolled on down the road? 

When we rolled into Ft. Bragg, California, we unhooked the car before heading to our campsite. When driving it to our site, we heard a clunk, clunk, clunk sound. I didn’t know what to think so I parked it for the night and decided to deal with it in the morning.

The next day things didn’t sound any better. As we were headed towards Glass Beach, I decided to stop at an auto repair shop. They couldn’t see me for a couple of days so I moved on to the next place. They in turn had to refer me to yet another shop. Three times a charm as they were able to get me in to take a look.

The news was pretty disappointing, it seems the clunking noise was coming from the parking brake shoe. It had broken off and was rolling around inside the wheel. The damage was pretty extensive, new brakes new rotors and I found out the next morning there was another part damaged. The final total, a whopping $900.

I felt sick to my stomach that I had made such a horrible mistake. (notice that I’m inserting calm soothing photos while I write about this!) But in hindsight it could’ve been worse as the parking brake could have started a fire from the friction. See, I told you it wasn’t just the weather that was heating up! Luckily we had not endured the worst.

The repair shop was able to get me a rental car which we ended up needing for the entire time we were there. But it was pretty cool because the rental car was a Ford truck with a crew cab. I’d never driven one before let alone seen the inside. I was surprised how much room the kids had in the back.

The whole reason for visiting this location was to check out this place in Ft. Bragg called Glass Beach.

It’s several beaches that are supposed to be covered in sea glass. There’s a pretty interesting story on how it all got there. It seems that during the early 1900’s the beach was used as a dump. They dumped onto one beach and when it filled up, they dumped onto another and then yet a third.

The true garbage eventually decomposed but the items made of metal, glass, ceramic, etc didn’t. It also didn’t go out to sea as many thought it would. Instead it kept coming back over and over and over again until the metal rusted and the glass was tumbled by the ocean.

The end result was a couple of beaches covered in precious, time-aged sea glass.

There used to be a lot more glass but people have come and taken it over the decades. Now the glass is starting to disappear but there is still enough to be seen and enjoyed. The coastline was absolutely beautiful but the Pacific coast is not conducive to swimming. This is due to the current which flows from Alaska, making the water very cold.

We had fish and chips at a place called Sea Pal Cove. The restaurant wasn’t anything fancy but it was the best fish n’ chips I’ve ever eaten. It’s a seaside dock and you can watch fish getting filleted as you eat. There’s a skilled worker who prepares fish for fisherman bringing their catches in for the day. For two dollars a fish, they’re descaled, gutted and made into fillets.

Before we knew it, departure time was upon us. We were getting a little worried as the car was promised the day before we were supposed to leave. They called and had to move it ahead to the day of departure. Luckily, they held good on their word but we got a late start on moving day.

The drive both into Ft. Bragg and our next destination, Trinidad, California was treacherous.

There were lots of windy, narrow roads that I had to take my perfectly enormous rolling lady onto. Most of them were 25 to 35 mph and very, very narrow with drop off’s on the shoulder. I will not take an RV that size in that direction again. It made for some uncomfortable driving as I had to be very careful navigating so we didn’t end up either plummeting over the side or smashed into a huge redwood tree!

But we arrived safely with our brakes in good shape. The Redwood National and State Park was absolutely stunning. So stay tuned to the blog and we will share our adventure with you.

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{HUGS} from the Crew!