Calmness Sets In–Albuquerque

   

Called Duke City Automotive at 9:30 am, the motorhome is ready to pick up. We arrived around 10:30, and by noon we were fueled up and sitting in the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post in west Albuquerque, up on top of the large hill heading out of town. 

Before we left Duke City, I managed to get a picture of “shy” Carlos (can’t show his face) holding the old fuel pump, and Aaron Messer, the head guy there, getting my keys off the board.

Although expensive, these fuel pumps, especially from the factory, are not cheap.  This pump ran $540, and they also put in a new fuel filter, and with labor and tax ($93), everything came to $1389.

All said, we could not be more pleased with the work done, their speedy service, and we are once again back on the road.  When these RVs are put together, many “after market” items, such as levelers, don’t take into account “what happens when a mechanic has to get into a gas tank.”  In our case, the back levelers had to be removed, and the mounting brackets, which is welded onto the frame of the motorhome, barely allowed for the removal of the gas tank.  Aaron said that they have had to cut off the brackets and weld on new ones once the job was finished.  And mechanic wages for working on motorhomes are more than a mechanic working on a car…so yes, it does get expensive.  That is part of the RV lifestyle.

We will be staying at the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post for three nights.  This time of the year the park is about half empty.  In the above picture you can see the flag...it shows a light breeze, way down from the heavy winds we have had these past four to five days.  But if you thought the “wind” has been playing havoc on your driving in the Southwest these past few days, just look at what it has done to this RV park.

 

  

There are tumbleweeds all over the place.  Those are all loose tumbleweeds along the fence. They are under RVs, under tables, under trees, and many just laying around.  When the lady apologized for the tumbleweeds when I checked in, I told her that with these winds I totally understand.  Did not know that I would need to clear my pad of them just to pull in…but they are light and easy for me to move (Marcia's cane came in handy...turned it upside down and just scooted them out of the way), which is why the wind moves them along so easily.  I also had seen something on the news last night about the high number of tumbleweeds due to the high amount of rain New Mexico has received over this past year.

    

One of the lures of this park is the vintage trailers and old cars that they have on display.  In fact, the vintage trailers are available for nightly rentals, and if interested in the types and prices, visit this page.

After a eight days of more than 2000 miles of driving, visiting friends and relatives, and being towed for 65 miles…we are ready for a bit of a “rest” as we wait for our travel window to open again.  As explained in yesterday’s posting, our tow service requires a three day wait between tows…and although we don’t expect to need the tow service again, one never knows.  At least now we will arrive in Sacramento with only some dirty laundry instead of a bunch of dirty laundry…luckily the park has a nice laundry facility to we intend to use.

And look what we are having for dinner cousin Casey!!!  How did you know Marcia had precooked up some BBQ for our trip???   It sure taste great!

Fell on our Face, Got Right Back Up Fighting

You KNOW you are out in the middle of nowhere when the best place to eat breakfast is a brand new Denny’s.  So we get out of the RV before 8 am, and turn it over to Unique Automotive Service Center and off to Denny’s we go.  About done with breakfast and we get a call…

“Dave, we got good news and bad news...the part is in, but as we started looking at dropping the tank, well, we just don’t feel qualified to do it because it requires removing your leveling jacks, which are hooked up to hydraulics, ….”   I felt like loosing my breakfast, which, was a typical Denny’s breakfast.

By the time we get back to Unique Automotive Service Center, Gene has found a place down in Albuquerque which can do it all.  Since he was only 90% sure the part he had in hand was the right part, he suggested that we just have them get the part down there.  And boy oh boy, there is no charge….   WOW!!!!  Might just have to send a batch of donuts through overnight mail...

Our towing service is offered through Blue Sky.  Something I read once long ago was telling me that once towed, they won’t tow you again for 3 days.  I call, talking to three different people, and when I explain the situation I am finally told that perhaps customer service “might” have pity and make an exception…after all, the place it was towed to “should have” been able to fix it, but are now refusing due to the hydraulic situation.  Finally, after ten minutes with customer service, we are given a one time waiver, and they agree to tow it another 32 miles to Albuquerque.  Hallelujah!!!

Here is our “now favorite” tow truck driver from Tavenners Towing in Moriarty, NM, hooking us up to take us from Unique Automotive Service Center, to Duke City Automotive and R.V. Repair in Albuquerque .  By 12:30 we are there, and before we drive off to a motel…yes, we cannot stay in the motorhome at this place due to the locked fence around the place…they have already started working on it.  We forgot a few things, so I drove the nine miles back over to Duke City Automotive and R.V. Repair (Aaron of Duke City told me that getting a motel on the north side of town was highly suggested), and surprise surprise, they were already putting a new fuel pump in it!  "Ford had one in stock," said Aaron, "should be done by mid-morning finishing it up and testing it out."   We should be on our way tomorrow … or perhaps not.



We still have a problem with our towing service.  Do we dare drive another 1,100 miles without towing service?  I don’t think so, that could cost us hundreds and even a thousand dollars or more depending upon where we need a tow from.  So instead we are going to get an RV park in Albuquerque through the weekend, and while here, turn the engine on and off a number of times just to be sure it is working again…and test the levelers, and the generator…then we will head directly to Sacramento where we hope to be there for my dad’s 88th birthday.  I have not seen my dad on his birthday for a long, long time.  We have been lucky enough to make mom’s birthday three out of the last four birthdays…but dad, born 24 days earlier, was always out of luck.  This year will be the year we make it.  And anytime you travel by RV, you just have to realize that plans change, breakdowns occur, live goes on.

Marcia has told me over and over the following saying....



So we have one night in a La Quinta, right near a Cracker Barrel...the same Cracker Barrel we watched the Hot Air Balloons from a couple of years ago.  If all goes well, and we will know tomorrow morning, we will be back in our motor home, and sitting in a park in West Albuquerque for a few days.