I'm OK

Deming, NM.

36 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy in the morning, then clear. High of 77F. Winds from the West at 5 to 10 mph.


I'm OK and am now in Deming, NM. It's been a hectic few days, but I think my problems are solved and my fuel system repaired. But, lets back up a few days and I'll see if I can bring you up to date on what's been happening since my last post.

By using some starting fluid, Jim was able to get my engine started Monday morning. We left the Eagle's Nest RV Park about 7:40 AM and headed for El Past to see if we could get my problem repaired.

I was a little nervous as we pulled out onto I-10, because I wasn't sure if my engine would continue to run right or not out on the highway. It ran fine though and by 9:15 we were pulling into On the Border Freightliner, which is on the East side of El Paso and about 1/2 mile off of I-10.

It was 98 miles from Van Horn to the Freightliner place and it had taken us an hour and 35 minutes.

After Jim went inside and talked to the Service Manager, he pulled me around behind the building, unhooked CLT from the back of me and backed me into a spot next to the fence.

Then, we had to wait until a technician was available to check me out.

We didn't have to wait too long though and soon the technician was driving me around to the other end of the building and then because all the shop bays were full, pulled me up right next to it.

As soon as I was parked, he checked under me for loose fuel fittings, tightened a few, and then found the problem when he got back to my fuel filters.

I have a little different set-up than most RVs have. I don't have a primary filter, as such, but have what they call a pre-filter/ water separator and a regular fuel filter. The pre-filter consists of a clear plastic part with a filter inside of it. It's small and sits right along side of the regular filter.

It was this pre-filter that was leaking at the bottom. There are "O" rings at both ends and the bottom one had been deformed when it was last installed.

Anyway, the parts were ordered, (new pre-filter and regular filter), and I had to wait over night.

Yesterday, the parts came in about 10:00, and the technician installed them without a whole lot of trouble.

It was a little hard to get my engine restarted, but once it started it ran just fine and there were no more air bubbles visible in the pre-filter. : )

After Jim paid the bill and got CLT hooked back up behind me, we left On the Border Freightliner 10 minutes before noon.

The traffic thought El Paso was heavy but moved pretty well, and soon we were North of the City and heading for Deming, NM and the Escapees club Dreamcatcher RV Park. This is where we were heading last Friday when my engine wouldn't start, so now instead of staying here for a week, we'll probably only stay for 3 or 4 days.

It was about 1:45 when we pulled up in front of the office / clubhouse so it took us about an hour and 55 minutes to travel the 114 miles over here.

Oh, at about mile marker 125 on I-10 in New Mexico, I saw a really disturbing sight in the Eastbound lanes. There were all kinds of flashing lights and police and fire vehicles all over the place and when we passed by, I saw what the problem was.

It was a large 5th wheel RV Trailer laying on it's side across both lanes of the Interstate road. : (  Couldn't see the truck that had been pulling it, or any other vehicles that were damaged, just the 5th wheel laying there. I don't know what happened and haven't heard anything about it on the news.

I just hope no one was hurt.

As soon as Jim and Linda had me set up, they took CLT and headed into town to get their mail. It had been sent to the Deming Post Office awhile back and they wanted to get it as soon as they could. Then, after taking naps and because the last few days have been very stressful for Jim, Linda and me, they decided to go back into town to a Pizza Hut for dinner.

Did you know that Deming is named after Mary Ann Demming Crocker, wife of Charles Crocker, one of The Big Four of the railroad industry?