This is the most luxury we’ve had in about a week. On Tuesday, we pulled into the Lowe’s in Santa Fe to dry camp and take advantage of the hardware store to construct beds adjoining the big (relatively) bed in the bedroom. After spending too much on storage items at Target the next morning, we headed to Trader Joes. I thought I knew the street it was on, and while it turned out I was right, we had passed TJ’s and soon found ourselves heading out of town. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going to boondock and had thoughts of “camping” in the driveway of different friends we have in Santa Fe, but once you commit to a turn in a 17 meter vehicle, you’re pretty damn committed. Or should be. Probably should be. So, we headed out of town and I remembered that casinos allow boondocking so we stopped at the very first we came to, Camel Rock. The parking area was a lovely dirt and grass lot ringed by trees and spectacular mountains. For dry camping, it really wasn’t bad. We had water nearby; close enough to walk to, and free phone calls at the casino. It really was quite nice and had the generator been willing to work better than ocassionally, it would have been idyllic. Well, as idyllic as a parking lot gets. We were, however, able to get the generator working once a day to top off the batteries and after envisioning multiple scenarios to get it fixed Jamie thought he’d figured out a very simple workaround. We visited with Niri and family, with Linda and Kaisa and had a lovely time in the gorgeous Espanola valley. After the generator finally decided to no longer work even once a day, we decided to head to Chama (as Jamie would rather die than bypass Chama) and pay to stay at an RV park for a couple nights, then stay at Passport America parks (50% discount) to Wichita. Jamie had called some Honda authorized service centers in Alburquerque but found that the turn-around was too long for us to wait. We were hoping that Kansas might be have a faster repair time.
So, this morning we bid adieu to Camel Rock Casino, pushed the Westy to pop the clutch as Michael had run the battery down to dead and headed down the highway to chama. We decided to gas up just outside Espanola as the prices were good ($2.66 for gas and $2.73 for diesel) and as we were pulling out the Westy’s engine dumped coolant all over the dirt road we were travelling and smoke began to pour from the back end. I saw Jamie emerge from the Westy and it looked like he was going to cry. After checking hoses and clamps and all that seemed obvious, we couldn’t figure why the coolant dumped and decided to refill and see if a leak ensued. We weren’t sure if we could even get the engine started as the battery had not had time to charge. Jamie poured, I watched and we were very hopeful as no leaks or drips appeared. Just as he attemped to top the coolant tank off, coolant began to pour out what turned out to be the sensor port. It had blown apart. We’re not sure if it was the cause of the coolant explosion or if the engine radically overheated and caused the sensor to blow. I asked the gas station we’d stopped at if I could drop the trailer and leave it there for an hour while we ran around town trying to find a replacement part and was overjoyed to find an electrical outlet within reach of the trailer behind the station. I dropped the trailer, plugged her in and headed to town. We tried AutoZone, Checkers and Lowes (to find something to simply plug the sensor port) and came up empty. We did, however, have incredible luck (in my opinon) to find that Checkers could order the part and have it tomorrow by noon. We tried to figure out many other solutions and finally scoped out a place to park the trailer and tow the Westy to, ordered the part, placated the hungry and tired kids and headed back to the gas station and Westy. The gas station attendants offered to let us hookup (water and electric) at the gas station, assured us it was safe and even offered to have a cousin come and help us push the Westy closer to us. They were exceedingly nice and terribly sweet.
So, here we are, behind a gas station, a few miles from Espanola and we have LIGHTS! And hot water! And WATER! And a convenience store! It seems much quieter here than the mountains of the casino and it is lovely to have such accomodating folk and what we hope will be an easy solution for the Westy.
A much more difficult and emotional solution with Michael will be seen with time. Jamie and I have talked to him 3 times now about his lack of participation in helping out and pitching in and have decided to give an ultimatum. He will have 2 months to earn our good graces; if, after one month, we are not satisfied, we will not wait the full 2 months but simply allow him to choose homelessness.
