It's time to get on the road again, 9 AM, waiting for the early morning traffic to lighten up, headed for Lubbock.
Very misty out this morning, almost seemed a little like winter. A little wind in our face headed up through Tijeras canyon, toward Santa Rosa.
And that's when it happened, the first bad luck we have had with the Truck in all the time we have been pulling the 5th Wheel. About 70 miles out from Santa Rosa on Interstate 40, the check engine light came on and our speed dropped from 65 mph to 45 mph, with the foot feed to the floor and the engine at 2,000 rpms. This started a series of amazing coincidences.
I called AAA to see if I could get road side assistance, if needed. They responded that they did not have any AAA repair shops in the area and that I would probably need to go to a dealer. I found that very hard to believe as Cline's Corner is a big travel stop site and Santa Rosa is a big trucker place. I asked then to give me a phone number of a dealer in Amarillo as that was the next biggest place headed east. I talked to the dealer and she said they could not get someone to look at the diesel truck until Tuesday; and this was Friday. So Albuquerque was the next bet. My cell service was indicating that I was "off network", which, based on prior experience was not a good deal. I called 611 and got them to authorize me to use my phone in the "off network" mode as I was in an emergency situation.
I called my good buddy Droop to get him to check on Albuquerque dealers to see, that if I was towed in, they would be able to take a look at my vehicle. By this time we had slowed down to 25 mph. Droop just happened to be with his friend that does truck rebuilding and maintenance and when told of my situation suggested that it sounded to him like a fuel filter. Also Droop mentioned that one time when he was traveling through Santa Rosa, he had truck trouble and stumbled onto Bozo's Truck Repair and Wrecker, and he also owns a car museum across the street, Route 66. I asked if it would hurt if I continued to drive the truck in this condition until I reached Santa Rosa and the feeling was that it would not hurt. I was able to look up Bozo's using my I phone and got a phone number. I called and talked to Juan, he said that he had a fuel filter and to come on in. He couldn't guarantee that that would fix my problem, but he could get it replaced. So, off to Bozo's we go at 25 mph.
We finally found the garage and located Juan, it was cold in Santa Rosa, 40 plus degrees and the wind blowing at a pretty good clip. He located the new filter and replaced the old one. He indicated that it looked pretty clogged. I started it up and it seemed to be reving pretty good. I told him that I would take it on a test drive on the interstate to see if I could get it up to speed. I did and it did. I returned to Bozo's and said everything seemed to be functioning as normal and that we were going to take off toward Lubbock. At that time the check engine light was still on and Juan suggested that we stop at a dealer in Clovis and have them check it out, I agreed. Got in the truck and re-started it and drove it a few feet and the check engine light went off. I reported this to Juan and he flashed me a thumbs up and said your good to go. From now on I am calling Juan, Jesus. The charge for these services were not unreasonable.
 |
| Jesus |
After we left Santa Rosa we stopped in Fort Sumner for a quick burger and one of the nicer places.
The truck ran fine and that evening we made it the rest of the way to Lubbock arriving around 6 PM, with the time change. Happy, Happy, Happy Hour and some hot soup and a good nights rest, thanking our lucky stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment