I'm having to re-think this whole idea of campfire shindigs. I went to Ed's and out of all the vehicles on site, my pickup was likely the only one not insured, and was the only one that was damaged by the tornado.

This year, I plan on taking my new [ to me ] travel trailer to Paul's deal at Quemado. I really enjoyed my last trip there when I came alone and slept in my pickup camper. It was so much fun that I talked Peggy and her friend, Lil, to come with me.

I had pulled this trailer on a couple of short trips with no problem, never noticing that it weighed twice as much as my other one........ over 12k #. My old Dodge with the Cummins handled it just fine.

Now folks, from the time I leave my house until I get to Capitan N.M., about 500 miles, it is a steady uphill grind. It's 1300 feet here,3500 on the edge of the Caprock at Post, then you gain another 1000 ft going west up on the Cap.Then it's another 2500 foot gain up to Lincoln.

I had plenty of power, but it came with increased engine temps. It normally stays at 180 degrees and I don't like it to get over 200. To achieve that, about 50 mph was top speed.

After they held us up at the roadblock between Carrizozo and San Antonio, it meant I would be attempting to get over the Divide at Pietown right in the heat of the day, so I opted to abort the mission. I kept North on I 25 to Albuquerque, spent the night there, and headed Est on I 40 the next morning. I sidetracked to Roaring Springs Tx to spend the night and blew out a trailer tire when I got there.

Next morning I discovered I had a leak in the return line to the transmission cooler and it cost me a hundred dollar bill to get it fixed.

Now, the old Dodge is not starting as quickly as it should and that means I fried the High pressure fuel pump more than likely. That will be another 1500 bucks. It could just be the lift pump, but I doubt it.

I'm thinking I should maybe host a get-together here and let Y'all do the traveling. grin

Never holler whoa or look back in a tight place