Wednesday, October 10th - Jeep Repaired BUT...

Well, good news and REALLY crappy news.

We drove south to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, arriving at the Goodyear Service Center around 12:30. We dropped off the Jeep to have the lower radiator hose replaced. After lunch at Luby's Cafeteria, we returned to Goodyear where they told me the wrong hose had been sent. MA stayed at Goodyear and I drove the coach to Victoria Palms RV Resort, our home for the next month. Very nice lady, Nancy, checked me in and I drove the coach to our designated campsite, 2246. Well,folks, site 2246 is NOT suitable for modern motorhomes with slideouts. I backed in as close to the grapefruit tree on the left as I dare, got out to see if the slideouts could be extended and realized that I was three feet off the concrete pad on the right side!

I called Nancy in the office and they relocated me to campsite 2320, a MUCH better fit. After I got set up, MA arrives riding in a Goodyear truck. Turns out that Goodyear received a second radiator hose and it was ALSO the wrong fit. So, they dropped MA off and would call when the CORRECT hose arrived from Edinburg, Texas and was installed.

So, we continued to set-up the camp. I cleaned some bugs off the front and installed the sun screens, something we do when we plan to stay a while.

Around 5pm, Goodyear called and said that the Jeep was ready...they would come get us. They picked us up and we drove back to Goodyear, paid the bill (very reasonable) and TRIED to start the Jeep - would not start!!! Water had infiltrated the combustion chamber and the vacuum system. Mechanic, Tony, came out and quickly diagnosed the possibilities: blown head gasket OR a blown engine - due to the overheating that happened yesterday. WOW! He pulled the spark plugs and found one with water on it - not good news. After making arrangements for an Enterprise Rent-a-Car for one week, we were able to start the Jeep and drive it two miles to the campsite. The entire dashboard was blinking warnings but, we had a goal of getting to the coach and we made it!

Our plan is to get the rent car around 8:30am tomorrow and get MA to her 12 noon appointment at the dentist in Progresso, Mexico, about 15 miles from here. I will also discuss the Jeep situation with a machine shop recommended by Goodyear and see what's involved with diagnosing the Jeep's water problem. A lot of moving parts, huh?

Oh, yeah! The good news - we can pick all the grapefruit we want from the trees here. The really crappy news - they are not yet ripe!