June 30
I swear Texas is trying to keep me here. First, the fridge doesn’t work (but the freezer does). Take it to Camping World to look at on a Friday, don’t get the trailer back for 8 days. Go to pick up the trailer (June 29) and stop at a flea market on the way. 110 degrees in San Antonio. A/C works fine. Hook up the trailer to take it back to Irene’s for the night and we have no a/c. Over an hour later, get to Irene’s and we all take showers because we are soaked with sweat.
Cool off then go check the truck, no fuses are blown. Get refrigerant and discover the low level is fine. Take it to Pep Boys. Im told the low pressure is fine, High pressure is too high and low in oil. Put in oil a/c is ice cold. Told either this will fix the problem or the compressor will freeze which could be catastrophic. Get back to Irene’s and hook up trailer and leave (June 30).
Don’t get far and a/c stops working. Roll down windows (outside temp is 72 for a while) by the time we get to San Angelo its 92 degrees. Unhook while the kids are inside cooling off. Take the kids and go to Walmart where there is food and its cool. Go to leave and see a belt lying under the engine. Sit in heat wondering what else will go wrong. Start up engine (wondering if it will). Miracle happens and it starts.
Monday morning (July 1) call Rudy’s automotive and they are nice enough to look at it first thing. Compressor has frozen and it will be $900 to fix it. Catch a ride with the owner back to the campground (can’t leave the kids for 5 hours by themselves). 12:15 Tornado siren goes off. Kids freak and we walk to the office to see whats going on. Turns out KOA do a siren test on the first of each month (would have been nice to know).Get back to the trailer and deal with an angry teenager and an upset Sean who takes 20 min to stop crying. Waiting for the call that the truck is done and a ride back to pick it up.
Get a call at 4:30 that the truck is ready (place closes at 5). Get a cab and the kids and I race to get it. At this point we are thinking we might actually get to leave Tuesday to continue our trip. Everything checks out and we leave at 5. Get 3 miles down the road and I hear a soft pop (mind you this was over the diesel engine noise, so not so soft). All of a sudden I’m not able to accelerate like I should. I pull over and fluid is dripping down the right wheel wheel. Call Rudy’s and since its after 5, they don’t answer. I get it towed to a transmission place, turns out its the turbo. A tube has popped off and leaked coolant everywhere. Mechanic place 2 doors down looks at it. They clean it up and see there was a small leak. Claim it will be ready by 9 am July 2.
Still hoping to get to Carlsbad, NM and get out of TX. I think there is a black hole here that doesn’t want us to leave. On a positive note. I did finish tinting the windows. True its a different color than what I originally used, but since we are headed to the desert, I don’t think I will care. I just want to move it, move it.