Gap Year Travel Day 6 and 7: We planned to drive off at 6:30 8/21 from Grandparents house but as we neared the end of the driveway, the deisel engine was sputtering, there was lack of power, there was opening the hood, there was consulting deisel friends, there was resignation that we weren’t leaving that night.

Then we heard from Javier that our ship won’t leave until 9/5, instead of 8/26. This is a great pressure relief because there are still some shipping documents to finalize, a dog health certificate all to be done in the Houston area, plus the repair to the truck in Amarillo, Texas.

The Dodge dealerships in Sante Fe and Albuquerque are all 3-4 weeks before a service appointment. We were able to get diagnostics run at Mino and Greg’s garage a mile from Mike’s parents, but he doesn’t work on diesel engines. Replaced the batteries because they were low. Started calling diesel mechanics along our route in Texas and found a place called Coffman Custom in Amarillo, Texas.

We are hoping that the repair to the truck in Amarillo, TX will allow us to go to take a side trip to Palo Duro Canyon. See the link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Duro_Canyon

There is a chance the repair will be simple. Hope was given by one diesel mechanic friend saying the error signal regarding the injectors may be triggered by the “harness” being damaged, that would be less than the thousands estimated if the injectors need replacement. I hope we get to Amarillo and the check engine light stays off, the error message isn’t triggered and we can ride off to Houston after visiting the Canyon.

It’s taken some collective brain power to work through the logistics of the moving shipping dates, lodging and rental car bookings, insurance requirements. Overall we worked as a very good team with moments of brilliance. Very inspiring. Very grateful to Lee and Candie for their open invitation to land back in New Mexico if repairs and/or shipping do not work out.