Universe calling; Line One

The Westy started up beautifully this morning; almost to say, “problem? what problem?” so we let it warm up, moved it around, turned it off and went into the gas station to say our good byes and thank yous. Jamie wanted to take the same dirt road as the Westy blew up on and after calling to him over the radio to find out why he wasn’t coming he muttered that the Westy wouldn’t start. We tried push starting it (popping the clutch). No go. We replaced two spark plugs (my brilliant idea, and yes, one did need to be replaced) but alas, that also did not work. We sat, we wondered if it were flooded, we checked connection after connection, Jamie pondered promising the Westy NOT to go to Chama. With all the mechanical brakedowns (generator, Westy coolant, Westy O2 sensor and now Westy not wanting to start) I wondered if perhaps the Universe was telling us not to go to Chama. You only get so many signs from the Universe…

Jamie unplugged the ECU (computer component of the Westy) and I was able to start it but it died. He then plugged the ECU back in and the Westy shook the cobwebs out of its brain and ran. We drove to the Auto Zone (simply to get off the gas station property) and tried it again. Shut down the Westy, Jamie made coffee, I refilled the kids’ lunchboxes (hey, it was 11:30 and they’d only had one lunch so far) and we tried the Westy. It STARTED! We turned it off and it started AGAIN!

I’m not sure if the Westy simply wanted more attention or if we’ll find out why it wanted to stay away from Chama in the days to come, but we’re in Chama. Luckilly, we drove Mexican roads for months before coming to New Mexico, because we are now ready for New Mexico roads. There was road construction on 84 coming up to Chama, and at one point, following a pilot car, the road deteriorated to such a degree that I thought the trailer was going to flip and that the Ford would not make it out of the sand/dirt. It certainly was an exciting ride.

Jamie has already gone for a ride, lasagne is in the oven and Michael is cleaning the bathroom. Jamie says that the pass is so cold that we probably would not have had much fun staying there so it is a good thing we’re down here with hookups. We’ll probably be here a couple days and then head for Colorado Springs (where we can get the genset fixed) or drive straight to Indiana and get the trailer and genset fixed at the same time.