Once again, Boone and I got a great night's sleep, and milled around his house for a couple hours before we headed over to Dale's. At this point it felt like the anti-hell week for us, it wasn't that we didn't have stuff to do to our cars or rigs to be ready to arrive at Cordova Illinois on Sunday, it's just that we were comfortable that we could finish up fairly easily.
"It did it twice from Phoenix to Flag, then it was fine until Texas, and it happened twice from Amarillo to OKC. Then it acted up like ten times after I fueled in OKC to Dale's house." I was explaining to Boone how the Cummins was momentarily shutting off going down the road. "When is the last time you put a fuel filter on it", Boone asked. "It doesn't feel like it's starving for fuel, it feels like it's electrical", I explained, "but I think I've replaced the fuel filter once, maybe twice." "I change mine every other oil change, so I'd say you need a filter. I've had them jerk like that with bad fuel. How long have you had that truck?" "Eight years, and fifty thousand miles", I paused to recollect, "it's been a darn good work truck, but I rarely drive it without a trailer on the back". "I think you should definitely change the fuel filter, just on principle, might make the diagnosis easier anyway." "So now we're Ford mechanics, 'replace with known good part' until the problem goes away?"
We stopped at several places for parts and stuff, then rolled into Dale's back yard at around 10:30. We were the only ones there, no Michelle and no Cody, just us. We grabbed a cold drink out of the cooler, sat on the park bench under the big tree and just soaked in the perfect weather. "This just feels wrong". "Yep...we'll probably pay for it on Saturday", he laughed. "What have you guys done to the Duster, to improve on last year, other than repairing the engine of course," I asked him. "Well, we put down dynamat and carpet, and Dale was determined to rebuild the front end, even though I told him it drove fine, but nothing has been done about the wiring or charging situation!" "So you're going to be sitting around with the charger and generator attached at every stop again?" "Most likely! When does Rachael arrive?" "I'll have to pick her up at the Airport around four I think".
Engrossed in our own little projects, time seemed to tick away until finally it was getting close to Rachael's arrival, so I asked Boone to help me disconnect the trailer from my 1 ton. "You can just drive my truck", he offered. "You're going to be taking the Duster to get an alignment, and that sticker on the roof tomorrow morning right?" "Yeah, that's true." "So Rachael and I will need our own transportation, so I may as well do it now."
"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks"
4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
