Day 1,September 4 Albuquerque to Las Vegas, NM

Our Day 1 did not go nearly as well as Trump's predictions for his first day in office.  We went through the usual hectic mess, checking off to do, do pack, and do fix lists. This hysteria has been building for the last few days.

Looks great just before we ready to leave.

Nance tries to fix the garden, prepare the pets, educate the house sitter, do laundry and get all the stuff packed.  Bill has been working every day trying to make sure the LaSalle is ready for the road.  Naturally, the evening before our departure the sewer stopped up completely, spewing raw sewage into the basement.  Not a good sign.  Now we know that Roto Router will actually show up in the evening on a holiday weekend to ream roots out of our line.  Fortunately, we are a regular customer, they have our house on speed dial and our address pre-programmed into their GPS.  Next time we'll put fix the sewer on our to do list, as if it weren't long enough already.

We were supposed to leave at noon, but there was always just one more thing to do before we could go.  Finally, around 1:30, the LaSalle fired up enthusiastically and we were on our way.  About a quarter mile away, the LaSalle coasted to a stop, its engine just quit right in the middle of heavy traffic.  Curious and helpful bystanders pushed our monster car through an intersection to a safe spot on a very narrow shoulder while Bill had anxiety attacks wondering what was wrong with his supposedly well sorted old car.  Dragging himself under the car revealed that the rotary electric fuel pump that worked fine for years was now hot and silent. Although we had a spare electric pump in the trunk, installing it on this busy road was not an option. But this is New Mexico, where every other vehicle is a F350 Power Stroke Diesel. One of these fine trucks stopped in front of us and gladly offered to pull us home.  So our trip ended where it began, in front of our house with a now dead LaSalle.

But it really didn't end there, Bill spent several hours attaching a new electric fuel pump. He also re-plumbed the fuel lines so the conventional mechanical pump was also engaged so we weren't totally dependent on the electric one.

All this last minute jury-rigging took its toll.  Another shirt ruined.  Boy, the rear of the LaSalle is sure greasy from differential lube, I hope that pinion seal holds up for this trip.  Bill was worn out from the 65 ups and downs he took getting old pump off and the new one on under the gas tank. Oh yes, good things happen too.  When we came back Nance discovered. she had left one major suitcase with most of her clothes for the trip.  And our dog Sammi who thought she was abandoned forever was thrilled to see us once again.

The rest of the story was better.  We managed to complete a trouble free mere 125 miles to beautiful downtown Las Vegas New Mexico.  That's not very far, but it sure seemed far to us.  I think we are going to  sleep very well.