She's alive!

 7:21 am - Friday - May 8th - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 39%, cloud cover 12%, wind ZERO mph.....mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 78° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were overnighting at Terry Bison Ranch in Wyoming just south of Cheyenne....

Buffalo Burger

....they have an onsite restaurant called Bison Restaurant and Terrace where we ate that night.  The view this morning....

Yes, we have our Beetle back!

TLE and I slept in until after 8 am Thursday...that hasn't happened in a long time.  As we were rising TLE mentioned she heard my phone 'buzzing' a few minutes earlier, so I retrieved it and found I had a voice mail message.  The message was from Junior at Junior's Automotive where we had left our beloved VW Beetle on Wednesday to have the compression in each cylinder checked, and a pressure test on the colling system to be sure there was no damage from the sudden loss of coolant back in late March.  Additionally they were going  to diagnose that loud rumble/vibration I was hearing.  In about 20 seconds Junior brought joy to my life when he advised the vibration was being caused by a broken motor mount resulting in the right side of the transverse engine resting on the frame thereby causing the rumble/vibration.  Wait, what?  That's all it was?  Total cost.....$289...I mistakenly reported yesterday that it was $268....oh well, close enough, right?

I quickly relayed the information to TLE, and a few other local friends.  I cannot imagine a better outcome than the problem being something so innocuous, and easy to repair!  I was expecting the car to be out of service for at least a few days, if not a week, but it was fixed less than 24 hours after we left Junior's Automotive.  A local friend, Rich Samko, had offered to give me a ride into town Thursday if the car was ready, so I called him to let him know I would take him up on his offer.  He advised he and his wife, Patrice, were going into town around noon time, and would pick me up at my site.

In the interim I spent time 'tacking' down the artificial turf with spikes to keep it flat in case of wind.  The wind can pick up the ends and fold them over on occasion.  Then I retrieved one of our camp chairs, and one of the anti gravity chairs, and set up our propane firepit to finally complete our 'lido deck' setup for this season.....

....Rich and Patrice arrived to pick me up around 12:10 pm, and we were at Junior's about 25 minutes later.  While I was waiting for them to arrive I took a couple of pictures of the Warner Mountains, and Eagle Mountain specifically.....

......as promised the VW was ready for pickup, so I paid my meager bill, jumped in the VW and drove over to Dollar General to pickup a few things for TLE.  The car ran just like it did before the unfortunate demise of the turbo water pump.  I made two more stops at NAPA and ACE Hardware to get a few things, and was home by 2 pm.  The Beetle ran flawlessly all the way home.  So, after 6+ weeks of wondering what was wrong with our car we now know it was something minor, not major, and now life can return to normal.

TLE and I headed over to the Clubhouse to have dinner.  We ordered their Mahi Mahi fish tacos, and were not disappointed.  Claude joined us and ordered their Meatloaf, which he loved.  DeWayne was also there, having their Meatloaf, so we had a nice group for dinner.  After dinner TLE and I adjourned to Claude's 'lido deck' for adult beverages, a fire, and conversation....a great way to end the day....

....thanks for stopping by!