March 18 – Albuquerque Turkey

Remember that appointment I scheduled on Saturday after calling around looking for a certified Sprinter technician to figure out why we have a few lights lit up on the dashboard. So we had to do some strategic planning. We brought Molly into Petsmart to be groomed while the van was getting worked on and then pulled into the garage door as they opened right on time. Turns out their Sprinter Tech doesn’t work Mondays…….

I guess the scheduler that I spoke with who said the earliest the sprinter tech could diagnose our van would be Monday morning, was mistaken. This was not a good start to the day. We had to wake up early (for us) and we had already dropped off Molly and were told 3-4 hours. So now what do we do??? I brought Jen to Target just down the street to grab some items we needed that we had planned to grab while the van was being worked on. While she was inside I called around and found a shop that was very kind and willing to try and calibrate the Steering Angle Sensor (this is what I had diagnosed the issue to be, along with my good friend Googles help). So we went there, they tried, to no avail, they weren’t able to communicate with our van’s computer with their scanner. Strike two….

We heard back from our new family friends that they could get us half price tickets for the tram ride. So kind of them, not only to actually make the effort to check but they also were willing to meet us at the credit union to get us the passes. It was a huge blessing and at that point of the day, was the only thing that was working out.

We made the drive up to the base of Sandia Peak Tramway and got in line with our tickets (after pressing some pennies of course).

It was a fun experience and I’m glad we did it, especially for the price that it cost us. On our way up I got a call from Petsmart that I let go to voicemail, as we were crammed into the gondola with about 30 other people whom I sure didn’t want to hear me talk with the groomer. At the top of the mountain I called them back and was informed that Molly was ready for pickup. So we got in the same glass box that brought us up the mountain and rode it right back down to the parking lot below. I had setup one more appointment for the van at another mechanic shop that speciallizes in German vehicles that could look at the van between 1:30 and 2:00. So we drove back across town, picked up Molly, who sure was glad to see us, and I see her glowing report card 🙂

Once there were 12 legs back inside the van, we drove (of course) back across town to see if this mechanic could calibrate the SAS. Super kind in the lobby and very accommodating as they even allowed us to stay inside the van as the mechanic drove the van around the shop and up onto the lift (which of course Henry and Amelia were both very excited about). As the poked around the van I could hear the discussion regarding what they thought the problem was and when the lead mechanic stuck his head in and said they’d need the van for 2-3 days to “find the problem” I as calmly as I could, declined and said we’d continue on our journey as-is/how we’ve been driving it for the past 11,000 miles. Again, the shop surprised me when I went into the lobby with the mechanic to get the keys, sign paperwork, and I assumed pay my bill. They said “no charge”, “drive safe and have fun!”. Totally unexpected, and another blessing to be grateful for. With our release from this shop we had already decided that we would continue the adventure and knowing that we had another road tripping family within a few hours drive, we turned South towards White Sands National Monument and finally left Albuquerque in the rear view mirror (that’s just a figure of speech as our van doesn’t have a rear view mirror 🙂

We grabbed some groceries in Alamagordo as we neared our boondocking site and then settled in next to the lake while the sun fell on the mountains beyond the white sands, it was a long drive and an even longer day, but we were happy to be where we were, with people that we enjoy, and new adventures in front of us.