Maggie Was Chugging and Sputtering…Again!

It has been two weeks since we have contributed a blog and so much and nothing has happened since then…

Last week we did a Walmart run to Cedar City this time which is over the mountains but a beautiful ride. We arrived without incident and settled into to our site at CedarCity KOA with the plan to stay two nights and shop on Saturday. It was a warm, peaceful sleep. Check out our separate review of our stay.

On our way to shop Maggie began to chug along, sputtering and coughing to the point we pulled over into a parking lot to get her to stop chugging. We soon realized we needed a few items which we ended up having to come up with alternatives until we could get to Walmart to buy those items. It was just a few miles there and back and she made it without incident. Jerry changed the fuel filter, air filter, crank case filter and added dry gas, Stabil and gas treatment, all in the attempt to help her breath again without sputtering. It seemed to have worked since we made it back to our site at Bryce Canyon without any other issues…talk about a stressful ride back.

Our week was filled with incidents that led us to the predicament we are currently in…

Tuesday they began a controlled burn which did not get out of control but the smoke was really heavy beginning on Tuesday night and finally ended Friday morning.   I already have breathing issues at this altitude so all that smoke almost choked me beyond anything I could imagine.

But the good news was we were going to get out of the cold and smoky area for our two days off and head to Mesquite, Nevada for a play day…

On Friday morning the skies opened up and the torrential rain began, along with loud thunder and some very bright lightning strikes…this lasted most of the morning and afternoon with a few open opportunities of clear, sunny skies, but then…

When we got off work the skies were clear and we decided to give it a whirl…we packed Maggie up and was heading out with just one stop for gas at our station located a block away from us where we filled her up and then we were off…NOT!

The chugging began again, not as bad as the initial time she did it last week but still not her usual get up and go powerful engine she usually has so we turned back to our site to figure it all out.  We barely made it back to our site and hooked her back up when the skies once again opened up.  This time it poured so hard we could barely hear ourselves inside our rig, then the hail began which we could not hear ourselves think and the thunder rumbled the ground and the lightning cracks made us both jump out of our seats.  These storms continued throughout the night with a few intermittent times in between of clear skies.

Oh boy what a night, we stayed up past midnight just drinking wine and talking and we both realized that we were not meant to be traveling this weekend and as hard as it is on both of us to feel as if we are “stuck” here now we are planning to make the best of this week and possibly through next weekend.

Jerry is working on getting the part he needs to be delivered to us so he can replace the fuel pump, which we think, hope is the solution to resolve her chugging.  Then there are things we have on our list around this area to do where we will not need to travel to and our cost will be significantly low because they give us deals on many adventures because we are working at Ruby’s InnGeneral Store. We will be taking rides on Ruby's ATV’s Guided Tours, we will take a Wagon Ride to the rim, we will attend the Rodeo, we will attend a cowboy showing with dinner at Ebenezer’s Barn & Grill, and we will take several trips into the canyon. Then once Maggie is feeling better and the weather cooperates we will take a trip off this mountain and have a play day.

Until then we are focusing on the bright side of our lives and stop with all the negative nellies that we have been enduring lately. We know Maggie has to be replaced, as well as our bikes so we are exploring all sorts of different ideas…from possibly downsizing to a Class B to possibly getting a vehicle and towing a trailer and so many options in between.  

We are choosing to spend our time on all the possibilities and not sit here and have melt downs about the bad things that are happening. Things will look up once we choose to see the possibilities and stop dragging ourselves down by dwelling on all the bad. Life is full of ups and downs and when we dwell on the down we tend to stay at the bottom, but as soon as we embrace the down and live our lives anyway to the best times, the outcome is brighter. Not always easy but we are working on it. Life is good!

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