Monday, October 29

We are home!  But not exactly according to schedule....

Buick's battery gets a lift from our charger in Brownfield, TX

Our problems from Sunday continued with our departure from Brownfield.  If you recall, Buick limped in here with no generator and a dead battery. We left her battery on the charger all night but it was still dead in the morning. Not a good sign.  We started her with the booster and proceeded to a nearby O'Reilly auto parts store.  They had one 6V battery that we installed with their help -- it is not easy wrestling one of these heavy batteries in and out of the pit underneath the floorboards.

Buick fired up readily on the new battery and we headed toward New Mexico running on our vacuum tank fuel pump.  The lack of a generator was no problem with the electric fuel pump removed.  The car only drew about 1 or two amps from the battery for its ignition.  All went well for almost 130 smooth miles through Texas flatlands.  We stopped in Roswell for lunch at Farley's.  They graciously offered an electrical outlet to charge our battery while we ate.

We decided to aim for Vaughn, NM for the night, about 100 miles to the NW.  All was well until high headwinds and a very steady 2500 ft climb from Roswell to Vaughn was too much work for the vacuum tank and it went dry.  I added gas to the tank from our reserve gallon and we managed another 10 or 15 miles before the pattern repeated.  On the third refill, the high winds blew away an important gasket that seals the fuel line to the tank.  As we looked for the gasket, a good Samaritan Joe Aronda stopped to help.  Joe had a big, empty trailer he was hauling to Santa Fe.  He offered to carry us to Albuquerque.  With the missing gasket likely to degrade the performance of the vacuum tank even more, we decided to accept his generous offer.

Buick settles in on Joe's trailer

Loading Buick was tricky, keeping the engine running with a fractious fuel pump didn't help.  But eventually she mounted the stout trailer and off we went at 70 MPH in a very smooth and powerful Ford F150 with a crew cab.  We were home in about an hour while enjoying our conversation with Joe. 

Our last effort involved getting Buick off the trailer and in her garage.  I primed the tank once again to give us enough oomph to get the car moving.

Buick didn't quite complete this event.  But she did take us about 2200 miles, most of it in smooth comfort. She needs a few repairs, but nothing really major.  I am ready to try it again soon.  I think Ken would agree.

Check out our epiblog, I'll try to write it tomorrow....