Trying hard!

More major drama! We have been trying to get back on the road, but the body and chassis damage from the blowout has proved to be challenging. We assumed a week or so to get it all done – three weeks later we are still trying to get moving. I have booked a flight out of Minneapolis on the 14^th so we need to get there by then for sure – and I had hoped to stop by and visit my brother Jerry in Denver while on the way. We finally got some good news – Colectiva was do

ne and we could pick her up in time to make our planned departure date – yippee!

Oops – I yippee’d to soon. We picked up Colectiva and as soon as we started the Cummins a-rumbling, the Check Engine light came on. Findlay doesn’t have Cummins diagnostic equipment, so they couldn’t diagnose the issue. I topped up the oil and coolant – most common cause for a Check Engine light – but they weren’t really low. So I pulled out intending to give the Freightliner facility in North Las Vegas a call to get the issue diagnosed. But before I went 3 or 4 blocks, the Stop Engine light came on. Check Engine means there might be something wrong – Stop Engine means there is something wrong. And if you don’t stop the coach yourself, the engine will automatically enter into a shut down cycle where you will lose power and then she will apply the brakes slowly and actually shut herself down. So, I pulled into the first neighborhood where I could actually park her, did just that, and arranged for a tow – there is no other way to handle a Stop Engine situation than to tow to a facility that can diagnose the issue, but it was too late in the day. So Colectiva had to sleep where she was for the evening. I let the folks whose houses I parked her in front of know that I was sorry to block all their curb space, and that I would have her gone in the morning.

We assumed that we were stuck and I was going to have to reschedule my flight to depart from McCarran. However, Silver State (the Freightliner facility) said they could get a guy on it this afternoon, and if it was something that they could get at and had the parts in stock, that they could assign someone to it first thing next morning. While it would be cutting it too close for comfort that might still get us on the road in time to make my flight from the Minneapolis airport. So just keeping our fingers crossed.

So, the blog is officially back online for a while. But, since we are going to be sitting in Minnesota for 6 weeks or more, there may be a few days that go by before a new blog entry appears – I can’t imagine that we could find riveting sites to visit on a daily basis, but we will pack in as much as we can.

Talk to you soon!