We got to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof. We got to wake up to the
sound of birds outside our window. The neighbor on the starboard side has
bird feeders. They've been there for quite a while; the neighbors and the
feeders. This time, we put the binocs next to the bed the night before, so
when the birds went off in the morning we could just lift up and look at
them. Tons of birds. Mixed in with all the other birds, we saw another
unusual one. Acutally, two unusual ones. We saw the Bendire's thrasher
again. They're shy and secretive compared to the curve-billed thrasher, and
the Abert's Towhee. We've only seen him once before. And more of my
favorite: the little chuckling clucking gamble's quail scratching about on
the ground. I don't get tired of listening to them nurdling.
Another day in the rain. We decided it would be a good day to drive, so we
could be stopped somewhere when the sun comes back out. We drove east
underneath the weather. It didn't change all day. If you drive from east
to west, you drive through the systems moving west to east. The weather
changes every day. You drive west to east, and the weather doesn't change.
We're still in Arizona, south and east from where we were. South on
Interstate 17 through Phoenix, then east on Interstate 10 through Casa
Grande, Tucson, Benson, and stopped for the night in Willcox. Stopped for
the night in Willcox? Limped into Willcox. We picked up fuel in Casa
Grande. A lot of fuel. Seventy gallons from a truck stop. It wasn't long
before the sputtering started. But we didn't know it was fuel. We just
knew it was sputtering.
We pull over and shut it off. We wait. We start again. It's better.
Seventy miles an hour. Then it starts slowing down. It's losing power.
Then it starts sputtering. It goes slower. I put the flashers on. It
starts blowing black smoke. I pull over and wait. It gets better.....
Judy called ahead to a Freightliner mechanic in Willcox. He has helped ten
RVrs in the last two weeks. They all tanked up at the same truck stop.
Rubble in the tank. Now it's in our tank. Our fuel filter is blocked. He
needs to change it. We need to burn up the rest of this fuel and get some
good stuff. Guess stuff happens. Life on the road.
Judy is awesome. Two weeks ago, she was in surgery. One week ago she could
barely move. Today. She is still sore and gets tired easily, but she can
get up and down by herself, climb and descend the motorhome stairs without
assistance, and even reach above her head to get stuff out of cabinets.
Yesterday, we shared a laugh. A really big laugh. It takes a lot of
abdominal muscles to laugh. We've snickered a little. We've started to
laugh, then groaned instead. But last night, we shared a guffaw. It hurt a
little, but it had to happen.
