Another Crazy Breakdown Day. . .enough of this already!

well. . .dear Lord in Heaven. . .thank you once again for your angels of protection on our travel day. . .

Left Palm Desert CA bright and early this morning. . .trust me, 8:30A is early. . .headed to Phoenix to meet up with RV friends Marsha and Paul for a Texas Rangers vs Cleveland Indians Spring Training game. . .

'bout 20 minutes out of Indio, as we're climbing the mountain, we begin smelling something weird. . .but just thought it was coming from outside. . .UNTIL. . .a waft of smoke went past my seat.

WHOA BABE. . .I think something's wrong. . . I jump up to look. . .the bedroom is FILLED WITH SMOKE. . .what on earth?

OK. . .OK. . .just get off the road. . .and while Dave is doing that I grab the cell phone . . .get the platform open that slides in front of the door. . .and we prepare to exit quickly. . .no further need to know what the problem is. . .right?

Jump out. . .no smoke on the outside of the vehicle. . .so we walk to the back, and the Jeep is coated in diesel. . .we can see diesel leaking from underneath the engine. . .good grief. . .here we go again.

Dave now feels safe to open the engine cover, and assess the situation while I start the process of contacting roadside assistance, as we will obviously need a tow.

Let me tell you. . .Progressive Roadside Assistance is FABULOUS. . .just FABULOUS. They ask all the right questions to make sure they send the right equipment. . .just can't say enough good things about their service.



They provided above and beyond what was needed. . .very pleased.

California Highway Patrol stopped by to check on us. . .very pleasant, and pleased that we had managed to get all the way off the road, and had our safety cones out behind the jeep.

Our issues were caused from our repair in El Paso. Evidently, when they replaced the fuel lines, they failed to secure them with the necessary harness to prevent them vibrating loose. . .so. . .all the bottom connections and one top connection were loose. I'm sure the added pressure on the system of climbing for 10 miles out of Indio was the last straw, and the loose connections started spraying diesel.

I've captioned each pic in the album. . .we are all put back together, and back on the road, but will not make it to Phoenix tonight. We've decided to stop in Blythe CA, and continue our journey in the morning. . .