Our hope was lost. After calling Honda the morning after our van called it quits, we were devastated to find out they were full for the day, possibly even longer. We moved our camper to a site that would be available for the next night, and continued on to Honda anyway. There was nowhere else for us to go. After begging and pleading with our young, yet savvy service coordinator Andrew, he agreed to ‘try’ squeezing our car in. Camped out in the dealership lobby, we realized our carefully planned out itinerary was over. The kids were confused. So were we. Stranded in Fresno, what felt like the homeless capital of the world, we were ironically close to the same. Our home away from home was stuck in the residential Fresno RV Park campground, surrounded by video cameras installed by the owner to keep the homeless out. We now had no way to move it.

Eerily familiar to a couple weeks prior at the Colorado Honda, we set the kids up with the ipads, and I began to make all our calls, cancelling our site in Sequoia’s pristine Lodgepole Campground, setting up trip interruption coverage with AAA, and trying to get in touch with cousin Jill, who was stranded in Sequoia without a tent or sleeping bag. Then came the call to the extended warranty company that would become a daily occurrence and struggle for us. When we bought it, we never thought to ask if it was an actual Honda warranty. We had had a few car issues, but had never had a problem with it. Andrew informed us that he had placed the call to them, but was only left with an option to leave a message. It had been hours, yet they still had not returned his call. They had discovered quickly that it was at least a blown head gasket, possibly even the whole engine needing replacement. We were shocked and frustrated that the Colorado dealership had missed this.

Andrew told us that they would need authorization to tear down the engine before they would know how bad it was. He said due to the catastrophic nature, some warranty companies may insist on an inspector being flown in after tear down to inspect the vehicle before authorizing repairs or denying the claim completely. The $2000 tear down authorization was on us, and if the warranty company decided to deny the repairs, we would have to pay $1000 of it even though we would then be junking the car, as the repairs may cost more than the car was worth, with 80,000 miles. The warranty company had still not called Fresno Honda back, so I was left to call the customer line and wait on hold for the first hour of many spent on hold over the next couple weeks. After speaking with the warranty company, I handed the phone over to Andrew, who was told to call them back after the tear down was complete, and that they would indeed schedule an inspector to fly out afterwards. Even after arguing that we were stranded without a vehicle all the way across the country, and questioning whether they could simply schedule the inspector now since it was a Wednesday and we would like the inspector to come on Friday, they were denied. We were told he would fly out within 24 hours, but knew that when they called the next day (Thursday), they would not fly him out the next day, or even over the weekend, leaving us without a chance to order parts or continue with repairs for a week.

Andrew recommended we go without a rental car for as long as possible, as this was almost surely going to take longer than the allowed 5 rental days. Jill had realized we were stuck, came down the mountain, and was with us again. Honda asked if they could make us their last shuttle back to the campground, so we began the painful process of unpacking our well-travelled in van, and loading it all into the Honda shuttle and Jill’s rental prius. We spent the rest of the evening unpacking all our displaced belongings, and trying to relax by the much appreciated campground pool.

We were told that we would be covered for an equivalent vehicle in passenger size and towing capacity, but discovered the next day that there were no car rental companies that had a hitch or allowed towing of any kind. In addition, the rental place did not have any vehicles that would seat our family of seven people, and that we would only be reimbursed for $30/day for 5 days, maybe 10 if the warranty company agreed. Our options were (1) a non-towing vehicle that would seat part of our family, or (2) a U-haul pickup truck that could tow our camper, but only seat three of us in the bench front seat. We opted for option two since we were fortunate enough to have Jill with us for the next 10 days (who had room for the other 4 of us).. and it would allow us to move our camper to wherever we could go. We would be limited to 1200 miles over the rental period before getting charged by the mile, but it was still the best solution we could come up with.

We were elated to pick up our new wheels and continue up to Sequoia for the day, even if it was a 3 hour drive to the heart of the park. Not all had been lost! We spent the day seeing as many sights and sequoias as we could while Clawson Fresno Honda worked hard to get our engine torn down. One more night in the RV park, and we would be on our way.

On our way north to Yosemite, we stopped by Clawson Honda to discover the engine was torn down, but that the warranty company still would not return their phone call. It was a worst case scenario – the engine was blown. We were looking at an $8500 repair. Again, we set up camp in the lobby and spent the next hour waiting for them to pick up my call so we could be hand the phone over to Andrew and get the inspector scheduled to fly out. As expected, they told him nobody would be able to make it until early the following week.

During the time we were waiting, Chuck met somebody who played another key role in the Odyssey saga. Reno was the relationship development director for the Fresno Honda dealership. Only in California, right? He felt an immediate connection with us, took us under his wing, and did everything in his power to help. He tried to talk the warranty company into approving the parts order, called our Illinois dealership hoping to have them underwrite the warranty company, and agreed to help us out with part of the rental costs we were taking on. It was unfortunate that unlike many other dealerships, they did not have a loaner car to send with us. Reno offered us some form of stability and comfort in a volatile situation.   We left Fresno not knowing if we would have reception during our week in Yosemite, but insisted we would leave the national park daily to check in on the progress with our vehicle. Since it was Friday, we would have two days with no progress on the car, but a time of peace, knowing we couldn’t do anything about it.

Despite feeling anxious and worried at times, we tried to convince ourselves that nothing was in our power and that things could be so much worse. We were all healthy and together in one of the most gorgeous places in the world, with a home and vehicle to travel in. Moments of fear were overshadowed by hope and joy. We hiked, played in the river, and enjoyed our time in one of the most coveted campgrounds in America, Yosemite’s Upper Pines. Our site was next to the bathroom, keeping it somewhat easy to keep our phones charged in anticipation of news.

Monday came and went and nobody contacted us from Honda, despite having pretty decent service most of the time. We called Honda, the warranty company, and our Illinois dealership, hoping they could twist their warranty company’s arm into being more cooperative. Nobody knew what had happened to the inspector. It was a third party company hired to send out the inspectors, so they would try to find out what happened. Tuesday came and went and the inspector finally showed up.

Wednesday, we drove out of the park, expecting victory. Unfortunately, we were met with more trouble. Even though we were stranded across the country, the warranty company was requesting all maintenance records of the vehicle over the last 7 years of ownership, as well as registration information on our popup. We informed Andrew that some of the maintenance records were in our glove compartment, and he faxed them over to the warranty group. Tracy, the warranty person from the Illinois dealership, also played a critical role, as she pushed for some understanding in not having access to all maintenance records while being trapped across the country… and even better, was able to call the rep directly instead of being put on hold for hours at a time.

Clearly, the warranty company was looking for any way not to be held accountable for this Odyssey. Hours later, we were informed that the warranty company indeed denied our claim. We called to ask what the grounds were for the denial and were informed that our towing capacity exceeded our allowed limit. We were shocked. The 3.000 pound popup was lighter than most, and far below the allowed amount. Unknown to us,. the IL camper registration form lists a generic weight of 10,000 pounds instead of the correct amount. Stranded at a Costco with a moment of cell reception, we sent over pictures of our camper, proving the corrected weight. Tracy called to have them re-evaluate the situation quickly, so parts could finally get ordered. The warranty company was left with no choice but to change since their grounds for denial were incorrect. Approval at last!

And the waiting game began… 8 days in without our van this time, we had at least another week to go, maybe more, depending on how long it took for the parts to come in. We arrived at the Big Sur Pacific Coast wondering if moving forward with the Odyssey was our best option. Reno had planted a seed about trading the car in, so we spent the next couple days researching Illinois e-pricing on Odysseys and Suburbans, our two top vehicle choices. We waited for Honda to get back to us with the best pricing they could give us in California, knowing it would have to be another Odyssey since ours was torn apart on their floor, yet knowing an Odyssey probably didn’t work for us after what we did to this one. Still, we were so desperate to move on without having to drive around with what we deemed our most worthy belongings travelling around in the back of an open pickup. Within a couple days, we learned that the California pricing system would have cost us a few thousand dollars more, despite their desire to work with us. A different emissions package and destination charges made it impossible for us to consider buying in Cali.

 

The weekend hit again and we continued on without much stress, knowing Honda was doing their part to get our car out of there as fast as possible. The Hamiltons joined us in Big Sur and we continued on to Pinnacles National Park. We had a wild night with a truck bed full of raccoons there, a story we can’t wait to share another time. From there, we moved back to the Marina Dunes coast north of Monterey and Carmel. Poor cousin Jill left, after having to be at the mercy of our messed up schedule and discouraged selves for a week and a half.

As Honda worked on our vehicle, the warranty company continued to give them trouble. As we were ready to leave Marina for San Francisco, we got a call that the similar used engine with 80,000 miles the warranty group had ordered to “repair” our vehicle had blown gaskets and many other parts that needed replacement. The warranty group continued to fight those repairs. The contract stated the rubberized parts would not be covered for repairs, so we were forced to pay $700 out of our pocket to repair the broken engine they had chosen, but it was the best we had after arguing with them for hours on the next car ride until they agreed to pay the labor charges to repair the engine they chose. Sigh.

Moving along, we arrived in San Francisco hoping we would be able to join Mom (who had just flown in to San Fran) and make it to Oregon for her flight out the next week.  One of our biggest stressors was knowing we had friends and family flying in and out along the whole route who were depending on us being there.  After spending two nights in Samuel P Taylor State Park, Honda let us know the Midwest rust on our van was making it difficult to get the engine removed, and they would need another day, forcing the Hamiltons to continue on without us.

We were already 4.5 hours away from Fresno and could not continue up to the Redwoods 6 hours north without completely going above our allotted mileage allowance. Things got a little tricky as we had to find a new spot to camp… in a place we had reserved 6 months prior. We got lucky that night and were able to move to someone’s site who decided to leave a night early. It was one of the most beautiful sites we had ever camped in.

We were scheduled to pick up the car the next day, but upon breaking down camp and calling in to Honda, we were told they were still having trouble with all the rust and the car would not be done. We would not be catching up with the Hamiltons as hoped and were forced to move to a private Olema Campground, far from a favorite and the location of the poison oak that infected poor Braden. Mom was forced to keep her rental car, and we made the best of the day and explored Point Reyes National Seashore.

We cleared out everything left in the U-haul pickup and mom’s rental, and Chuck left early the next morning for Fresno, with Mom following shortly behind to return her rental to San Francisco. Chuck returned the rental just in time and he waited at Honda for most of the day. Honda was unable to get the check from the warranty group and Chuck had a little scare, as they are not supposed to send the car of without the payment. Lucky for us, they allowed it, and after picking my mom up at the San Fran airport, they made it back shortly after dark.

After 16 days in California without the car (24 total including the 8 days in Colorado), we revised our plans one final time, cancelling one reservation in Oregon, and found a one night cancellation in Avenue of the Giants. Camping among the redwoods was definitely a highlight of the trip, and we enjoyed every second we were able to spend there. Despite a couple scares with the temperature gage, the Odyssey made it out of California and all the way home, thanks to the help of friends and family all the way home! Our little log cabin never felt better!

There is something so admirable to me about the mentality to push yourself as hard as you can, no matter what obstacles come your way (although I realize some may feel differently). We recently watched our favorite show, Survivor, and fan favorite Joe Anglim was eliminated. Knowing he would be voted out if he lost an immunity challenge, he pushed himself in challenges so hard that he literally passed out with nothing left. Just like Joe wanted so badly to win Survivor, we wanted nothing more than to make it all the way to California.

The summer of 2015 was much anticipated… planned and tweaked for months prior… one of those once in a lifetime adventures we couldn’t wait to share with the pack. In terms of expected and especially unexpected adventure, the trip did not disappoint.  Many have asked us about the troubles we encountered, so we decided to share the whole story with those of you who truly want to hear it.

We made it through Nebraska for the first time in years with no issues.  Once we reached Denver, we were elated… and the mountains we call home were in sight. I started contacting all the friends we were planning to meet at Snow Mountain Ranch.  We could not wait to be ‘home’ and told them we would be there in the next two hours.

Of course, we spoke too soon.  As we started to go up in elevation and found ourselves in traffic, our Odyssey, with only 80,000 miles, gave us a hard time once again.  We noticed that the air conditioner was pumping out hot air… and that we were overheating.  We pulled off the highway at the next exit… which happened to have a Honda dealership!  Seriously, what are the chances? We drove in to the dealership and waited for them to squeeze us in. After a couple hours, they ran diagnostics, took the car for a test drive, and told us they could find nothing wrong. We were so relieved and chalked it up to hot weather, a bad traffic jam, and a big rise in elevation.

We hooked up the camper and headed back up the mountains, thankful we had only been delayed shortly once again.  Immediately, we overheated AGAIN!  After turning around and heading back to Honda, they hooked up the diagnostics with the camper attached and headed back into the mountains for a test drive.  They ran into the same trouble we did, but again, they could not identify the problem.  Our service coordinator, Ben, told us they would have to have a master technician look at it the next day.

At this point, it was 10pm.  The Hoff crew was out of commission.  We were unable to stay at the Marciseks and about to set up our camper in the Honda parking lot when a lovely lady we did not even know offered her Tahoe to us to head to the mountains.  The kindness of strangers is something we will never forget… especially in Colorado. At the same time, our friend Rich offered to come down to pick up our camper and tow it up while we drove up in our loaner Pilot courtesy of Honda.

At last, we arrived at Snow Mountain Ranch at almost 2am! We always try to arrive at a destination before dark, but there is first for everything. UGH… but we could not have been happier to be there.

Saturday morning, Honda called back and told us that after consulting with corporate Honda, the only thing they could recommend was a transmission cooler since they could find nothing wrong with our vehicle.  We asked all the questions as to why this would happen when we had never had a trans cooler and what would happen if this $1000+ part did not fix our problem.  We explained that we would have much bigger problems if we ran into trouble as we crossed the country through the Mohave Desert and more.  They truly believed it would fix the problem and we were left with no other option than to go ahead and do it.  After ordering parts and waiting, our car was at last ready 8 days later.  Good thing we had already planned to be at SMR with 18 of our favorite friends this long anyway!

We took the time to pack the camper down and test drive it up Berthoud Pass.  Thankfully, we had no overheating issues.  Everything appeared to be in working order, and a few days later, we left to meet the Davids in Santa Fe.  On the way there, we noticed the temperature rise once a little, but thought it may do this regularly and perhaps had never noticed. We were probably being overly sensitive.  When we arrived at Hyde Memorial Campground, it was raining and the dirt road up the campground was incredibly steep with little traction.  We overheated again.  We considered bringing the car back in, but decided conditions may have warranted it for once, and that Honda would again find nothing wrong.

After a fun, yet stressed time in Santa Fe, we plotted out the locations of Hondas across the country and had the Davids follow us west as we headed to Flagstaff and they headed home to Phoenix.  We reached Flagstaff with no issues.  We were so happy!  It appeared our problem was resolved.  After a couple days in the Grand Canyon and surrounding area, we headed west for our longest driving day across the Mohave Desert and beyond, looking forward to one of our most anticipated destinations – Sequoia National Park.

Aside from getting ripped off on gas just over the California state line (over $1/gallon over the price before at the last exit in Arizona), everything seemed to be going alright.  Suddenly, we overheated going up a steep incline in the Mohave.  We help our breath, thankful for AAA, and unsure of whether we would make it up the mountain, heat blasting, with a large cooler full of liquids in case we were left stranded in the hot desert.  We continued up more mountains that afternoon with no issues… until we blew out a camper tire.  After calling around, we ended up in a small, shady California town, waiting for two new tires, despite the fact we had two replaced on our way home from Glacier the year before.  We informed cousin Jill, who we were supposed to meet in Sequoia with her tent and sleeping bag, that we were having trouble and questioned being able to make it.

As we moved along, it seemed we were doing alright.  We even managed a stop in McFarland, USA to see our new favorite running town. However, as soon as we turned off to head into Kings Canyon and Sequoia, the Odyssey overheated like never before.  The temperature gauge topped out immediately with the incline that would have eventually landed us at the 10,000 ft Lodgepole Campground in the park.  Reality set in.  We were in big trouble.  We were done and there was nowhere for us to go but down.

As we headed down the mountain, we saw a sign for a campground. Exhausted and relieved, we pulled in and called the phone number at the office for late arrivals. This place was far from our kind of “camping.” After crossing a rickety old wooden bridge with our camper attached, we quickly surmised that this was no place for us. There was a scary old woman (clearly a year-round resident) sitting outside with her cats and pit bulls, next to the site the owner had recommended, which was adjacent to the only light around in the overgrown field called a campground. We weren’t at all sure we would make it back over the old bridge, but decided it was the lesser of the two evils. We never looked back.

On the road again, we looked at the map and noted that Fresno would leave us two hours from Sequoia… and two hours from our next destination, Yosemite.  If we were lucky, and clearly we deserved some luck now, this might possibly allow us a week to get our car fixed once again while we travelled around to both parks. Knowing that we were only supposed to be in each location for a couple days, and that those reservations had been carefully pieced together more than 6 months prior with difficulty and daily revisions, being off course would mean our vacation would take a heavy hit…not to mention the many visitors who had travelled thousands of miles to meet us in different spots around the country.

We called around, until we found a campground that would take us in at 10pm.  Fresno RV Park was a great place to land, despite its location amongst the homeless streets of Fresno.  The small campground was surrounded by video surveillance, which the old vet owner insisted provided a safe and secure home. We couldn’t have agreed more that day. By the time we set up in a residential RV park where we never expected to be, we fell asleep, totally exhausted, emotionally and physically, only to be awakened by Braden, who had vomited all over the ‘boy side’ of the camper after having a tummy ache from an earlier stop at McDonald’s. It was everywhere! Unfortunately, the bathroom was coded to prevent the homeless from hanging out inside, and we had not received the code with our late night arrival. Grateful for a crack in the door, we were able to sneak into the bathroom to shower Braden off and get the boys side back in working order for the night. There is nothing like cleaning up puke in the middle of the night, but this was almost laughable at this point given the severity of the situation we had now found ourselves in. Despite our exhaustion, there was not much sleep that night as we anticipated all the “what ifs” that would hopefully be determined the next day.

Cali or Bust. We had made it to California… and we were busted alright. Stay tuned for Part II…

If we had to pick one word to describe our family, it would be ‘adventurous.’  Every one of us thrives off of it. We live for it. Although every day probably qualifies as an adventure for us Hoffs, the summers define it. We built our marriage on it long before the Hoff pack became seven. Married in 1998, it only took two years to realize and resolve the fact that we wanted and needed them for a different purpose than most. I abandoned my career in engineering to join the teaching world with Chuck, and the rest was history. Every summer, we have been privileged to take off on whatever pursuit called our name… moving to Colorado, a drive to Alaska, leading kayak trips for a camp, a 4,000 mile bike journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic, etc. We continued once we had kids, taking off to Hawaii with our one year old baby and another on the way, a toddler and a newborn to the Pacific Northwest, and bought a popup camper to make things easier after baby number three. After a summer off before giving birth to the two girls who completed the team, the desire to adventure only intensified.

In 2012, against all odds and without reason, we travelled with our five kids (6 and under) to Colorado, which was ablaze with wildfires. At this point in life, we were uncomfortable anywhere but our own house. Even going to a family party was difficult for us, and we often spilled food (or worse) all over somebody or something if we went out of our comfort zone. Piling all of our kids, supplies, and a breast pump that followed me everywhere into our Honda Odyssey was quite possibly the best decision we had made in life, and a turning point that confirmed not to let anything tie us down or deter us from what we loved most. A trip to Snow Mountain Ranch, Rocky Mountain National Park, our old stomping ground in Boulder, Telluride to visit one of our favorite people, and back to Snow Mountain solidified everything we ever wanted out of life. Our crew that could not function at a family party survived and thrived off of a summer in the mountains. The last three years discomforts have made many question whether it’s worth it, but alas, “There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.”

In 2013, we put up our popup for the first night in North Platte, Nebraska, only to have the whole camper crash down from a busted cable.  We found quickly that the cable could not be replaced anywhere.  We needed to get to a StarCraft deal who serviced popups.  The closest dealer was hundreds of miles away in Denver. We would not be deterred as we were headed right through there!  Ketelsen Campers told us the wait was 6 weeks for service.  After begging and pleading and telling them we were supposed to be in our camper for the next 6 weeks, they told us if we could get to Denver by 8am the next morning, the tech guy would come in early to get us on the road.  We drove on to the Marciseks, crashed there for the night, had our camper fixed, and continued on to the mountains.

In 2014, while driving through Nebraska on our way to the mountains, our Honda Odyssey hit the mileage of 66,666 miles, we looked down to catch it, and the drive sign started flashing immediately.  We looked up the closest Honda, which happened to be in North Platte.  We camped at our favorite Holiday RV Park once again, brought the car in, and discovered the problem was a transmission sensor.  They thought it would probably be safe to drive all the way to Denver, given that we did not want to wait in North Platte for the part to come in 4 days later.  We worked up a plan with the Marciseks to continue to Denver, and that Rick would come out to tow us if we ran into trouble.  Even though we had friends we were supposed to meet in the mountains, we opted to stay in Denver at the Marciseks once again until our car could be repaired.  After a few days of Denver fun, we raced off to the mountains.  We had to be flexible with a new plan, but again, not too bad. We had been blessed to spend some extra time with one of our favorite families!

Summer 2015 was the third year in a row we had run into trouble (the most difficult by far, without our car for 24 days) and questioned whether we should continue on our path. The details of that story will be saved for another time, but without question, it has been worth it every time. The kids have earned a viewpoint of the world that most adults haven’t had the privileges of seeing. “Hoffing it” has given us the unbelievable opportunity to spend time in the most awe-inspiring places… and allows us to spend quality time with friends near and far who run their race like we do. We can’t wait to share the stories with you!