By Wednesday we had come up with a sort of “Plan B” and decided that once on the road, we would stop when we were nearing half a tank of gas just to be sure we could get out of Texas. We did stop three times before New Mexico to fill up, but didn’t see many stations without fuel. So the crisis was getting better.
We spent Wednesday night at a Lubbock KOA. Thursday morning it was cool and clear, a nice day to travel. Things were looking good when we crossed the border into New Mexico. As we turned west on I-40 we had a bite of lunch and settled in for our drive to that night’s stop in Gallup, New Mexico. The plan was to spend the night at a RV Park there and then drive on to Las Vegas where we had dinner reservations at the Eifel Restaurant. It was to be a celebration of sorts as we would have the three longest driving days behind us. The rest of the days would be new places to us with lots to see....the Las Vegas Strip, Death Valley, Larsen Volcanic National Park, the Pacific coast etc.
It wasn’t meant to be. About noon as we are tooling down I-40 at 60 miles an hour, about 50 miles east of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the SUV engine just died! Thankfully, even in the heavy truck traffic on I-40, Dick was able to coast to a stop and get us and the trailer safely off the highway. But the engine was dead, he could not get the SUV restarted.
OK, take a deep breath and regroup...what to do? We are sitting in front of mile marker 234 in the middle of nowhere. We have roadside assistance with Good Sam so Dick calls and they start the process to get help for us. But, for some reason the agent is having a problem determining where we are exactly..... New Mexico I-40, west bound, mile marker 234....how hard can this be!!
He finally finds us and tells us to sit tight, he will call us back when he finds a place that will take the SUV and a tow truck that can manage the SUV and the trailer.
It just happens as we are waiting to hear back from Good Sam, the Ford dealer that takes care of our vehicles at home calls Dick to tell him a part he ordered is in. Dick tells him what has happened and he tells us he will get on line and look for the nearest Ford dealership that can work on our car. He calls back in a few minutes to tell us there is a dealership in Edgewood, NM that can get right on the car if we can get it there before the end of the day. Dick calls the dealership and asks about towing. They give him a name and Dick calls. The guy asks all the questions about our set up and tells us he can do it. He will be to us in about 45 minutes.
We have not heard back from Good Sam yet, so Dick calls them and tells them that we have it all arranged on our own and we will just send the bill for reimbursement. There is also some discussion about how slow Good Sam is in arranging assistance. A few minutes later we get another call from Good Sam telling us that the tow has been prepaid! That is good since it will be $750 plus!
It is a tense 45 minutes sitting on the edge of the busy interstate, but the big flat bed truck shows up. The nice young man loads the SUV on the bed of the truck, hooks the trailer to the back and we are off.
While we were waiting Carolyn found a RV park near the dealership. It is not one she would have stayed in given a choice. But.....The tow driver gets the trailer situated in our spot. He takes us on to the dealership and drops the SUV. This process has taken about 3 hours. The service manager is kind enough to give us a ride into Albuquerque, 25 miles to the west, to rent a car.
We get back to the trailer shortly before 6PM; exhausted. There is not too much we can do until we know what the situation is with our SUV. But, the service manager is not optimistic.
We cancel our wonderful dinner reservations in Las Vegas and our spot at the RV park, since there is no way we will make Las Vegas by tomorrow, Friday. There is really nothing else we can do until we know more about the situation with the SUV. It is time to drown our sorrows and have some dinner.
Carolyn can’t sleep so she spends time after Dick goes to bed looking at different scenarios to get to the cruise....none are great.
Friday morning about 11AM, we get the really bad news that the SUV is dead, the engine is a goner and would need to be replaced taking at least a week and $5,000+. Since our SUV has 157,000 miles on it, is 14 years old and we use it to tow the trailer, that is not worth while.
We sit and stare at each other for a few minutes trying to absorb the situation we are in since this is the worst case scenario! We quickly toss out different options and reject them just as quickly. We settle on renting a U-haul truck and towing the trailer home. Then we will pack Dick’s Explorer and head to Vancouver by the easiest, fastest route. Fortunately, we really have plenty of time to meet the cruise on Sept. 21. It would seem like the best option would be to fly at this point, but the driving purpose of this journey is to pick up 3 wheels of Tiger Blue cheese in Penticton, BC. We love this cheese and they don’t ship!
OK, we want to leave for home this afternoon and hopefully make Lubbock for tonight. This RV park is really the pits!
Dick calls the local U-haul place and he can have a truck by about 2PM. Carolyn organizes the trailer to travel mode and we leave to pick up the truck and then head into Albuquerque to return the car. From there we go back to the dealership, clean out the SUV and give it last rites!
Back at the RV park we have the thrilling experience of trying to hook up the trailer to the huge U-haul truck. After much gnashing of teeth, Carolyn directing and Dick backing, pulling up and trying again, we are successful at mating the two monsters!
On the road again by 6PM we make Lubbock by mid-night. Up at 7AM Saturday morning and rolling by 7:45 we get home about 4:30PM and just crash.
This morning, Monday the 11th, we are awake at 6AM and are on the road by 7:30. Carolyn can’t face Lubbock and I-40 again so we head to Amarillo, Texas and plan to go up through Colorado and turn Northwest.
Our current plan...”Plan C”...is to get to Vancouver this weekend and pick up the original trip plan with the ferry over to Vancouver Island for a couple of days before boarding the Sojourn.
Stay tuned and see what else this journey has in store for us.....
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