Well day number 2 has come and gone for us. We had hoped to be in Phoenix tonight, but our plans changed. Our driving was going too smoothly thus far. More on this later.
Leaving Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh-klahoma where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain, we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise. I thought it would be a good idea to both be driving and taking pictures at the same time:
The second state of the day, the “proud home” of the president:
I’ve never seen this before a speed limit for the day time and one for the night time:
Everything’s bigger in Texas, and so are the steaks. Finish this 6-pound bad boy in an hour and it’s free:
The third, and unfortunately final, state of the day:
Traveling through:
So, we were traveling through New Mexico, almost to Albuquerque and having traveled about eight hours on the day (at this point it’s about noon). As we were going up a hill, the car started jerking slightly. A little more and I asked my dad what that was. He didn’t know. I didn’t know. Then the car started jerking very badly. Going up another hill, the car lost all forward power and we came to a halt. He thought we might have filled up with some bad fuel, so he put some fuel additive in the fuel tank. We started back up and continued on for a few more miles. Then the jerking returned, this time with the “check engine” light illuminated. Luckily, we were just coming up to a rest area, so we crawled off the highway to the rest area.
We called AAA, told them our troubles, so they dispatched a tow truck, saying the truck would be there within an hour. Well, the truck didn’t come until two-and-a-half hours later. In the mean time, I took some more pictures:
Finally the truck arrived, and of course at this time a thunderstorm rolled through:
We were towed to a Ford dealership about a half-hour down the road. From the description of what went wrong, the tow truck driver and the mechanics at the dealership all said the fuel pump needed replaced. The heat in conjunction with pushing the car hard driving can cause the fuel pump to fail and cause it not to feed the car any fuel, hence the chugging and forward-power failing. Luckily, they have a part in stock, but they can’t work on the car until tomorrow morning. So now we have nothing to do and no place to go.
The mechanics told us we could still drive the car, but just not too far, so we found a hotel and that’s where we are now, about 50 miles outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.
While we wanted to be in Phoenix tonight, we’re stuck in New Mexico, but at least we’ll get a good night’s rest tonight! Here’s to an uneventful driving day tomorrow.
