We were suppose to leave Cortez, CO on Wednesday, May 18, but due to a winter storm rolling in, we decided to leave Cortez a day early. I contacted the Bayfield Riverside RV Park where we are going to stay for a month to see if it would be ok to come in a day early in order to beat the weather. The owner, Mack, told us were were welcome to come in a day early and that there wouldn't be a charge for doing so. That was very nice of him.
The drive was uneventful until we got past the ski area, Hesperus, and on the border of West Durango, when a light came on the dash showing a wrench icon. John pulled over and I pulled out the manual to see what the warning was about. There were a couple of items it could have been but it wasn't anything that would keep us from getting to Bayview that was only another 18 miles or so. Once we got set up, John called Keesee Ford in Cortez to discuss the matter with them. They thought it could be a plugged fuel line. There is a Ford Dealership in Durango but it would be a week before they could take a look see. John called Keesee Ford back and they could get to us Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Guess where we were headed on Wednesday; yep, back to Cortez from which we came. John pulled our maintenance records last night and the fuel filters were suppose to have been replaced with our 60K appointment at Holmes Tuttle Ford in Tucson. Our records do not show that they were replaced. Something to have Keesee Ford check in to.
Wednesday morning we were on the road around 8 a.m. to Cortez. Roads were dry but the threat of rain and snow were forecast. We got past Durango before the wrench light came on again with the message that we were running at half power. We could have gotten bad fuel but the truck didn't act like it. The truck got taken in before its scheduled time with diagnostics being ran once again. Tony at Keesee Ford checked the Ford records and interestingly enough, the records at Ford submitted by Holmes Tuttle Ford show that the fuel filters were replaced. It appears to us that Tuttle Holmes Ford charged Ford for the work but didn't do it by our records (we have a prepaid maintenance plan). What a sleazy way of doing business. We are beginning to see a bad pattern of workmanship with Holmes Tuttle Ford that we will never allow them to touch our truck again. If the Ford Dealership in Cotttonwood hadn't caught that Holmes Tuttle hadn't done the reflash and did it themselves, most likely, we would have blown up the engine when the heater hose blew. I digress. Keesee found that it wasn't bad fuel filters but two thermostats that failed most likely due to the heater hose issue. The thought is that we could have driven forever with no problems but when towing the trailer, it put so much pressure on them that they failed. While there, we had them replace the fuel filters at our expense. Events come in threes so we should be done, right?
We were headed back to Bayfield a little after 2 p.m. It had been raining in Cortez so we were knew there was a good chance it was going to be snowing over the pass. We saw the dusting of snow over the mountains that make up Mesa Verde NP.
The further east we went, the harder it was snowing.
Most people were driving sensibly but then you have some real idiots who drive like the roads are dry. We were relieved to make it home safe and sound. We spent the afternoon watching it snow like crazy, rain, and then repeat. We were very happy that we made the decision to drive to Bayfield yesterday rather than waiting for today.
