Saturday, October 13, 2007

CATCHING YOU UP ON THE LATEST

KOA Campground, Gunnison, Colorado: Greetings from 7,700 feet up in the beautiful country of Colorado. This is an unplanned stop....let me explain.

Yesterday we left a town called Salida, heading to Gunnison, when we noticed a puff of black smoke from the tailpipe. I, of course, was worried, but Ernie in his usual comforting (HA!) way said, "it will be fine." So off we go, up Monarch Pass which is 11,812 feet, smoking more and more with each mile. The truck had power, it was just smoking, pinging, and whining! I think it was a beautiful drive...... I was so nervous that I didn't enjoy it one bit. We did stop at the summit and the engine wasn't hot, nor was the transmission, so we headed down the other side.

About 60 miles later we arrived in Gunnison, the black exhaust announcing our arrival. We drove down the main road and spied a Ford service center ahead, and pulled in. The guy, without checking a thing, announced that we had blown an injector. Fix needed. He said we could stay in their parking lot last night, and they would look at the truck in the morning. It was fine, we ran the generator when it got to 30 degrees, and morning came and they checked the truck. Nope, not a blown injector, two blown injectors. And we don't know if there is engine damage or not. They will know more on Monday when they get further into the repairs.

So, we are sitting in this KOA, either for two or three days, or for a week or more. We don't know. If we need a new engine it will be at least a week. And fortunately, the truck is under warranty. Otherwise the guy said it could cost as much as $12,000. And we of course have that in petty cash. NOT!

We took a very nice drive today, and after we go out to dinner I will try to post those pictures. Until then, signing off from Gunnison, Colorado, where we are headed to The Gunny Sack, a bistro, for dinner.

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