Welcome to Roswell, New Mexico.
Im going to keep this blog on how I would have seen it if issues with the truck didn’t happen, but unfortunately the trip to Roswell starts with the truck issues.
About 80 miles East of Roswell New Mexico, the truck started sputtering as if needing fuel. Trying to make it to the next town 20 miles to go, check engine light came on, and truck just died. My biggest fear on the road is breaking down in the desert, miles and miles away from any cell service. If you’ve gone through Palm Springs, California to Parker, Arizona, you probably understand with 100 mile spaces of no fuel or cell reception. Luckily I had reception, but decided to try to start it up again. Made it 5 feet and just died.
I ended up calling for a tow which the nearest dispatch was in Roswell and the only place that had mechanics and auto part stores. Once the driver loaded us up so told him I believed it was water in the fuel, or fuel pump was bad which he agreed after seeing the symptoms.
On our way into Roswell his truck started acting up the same as mine which we had to pull over, drain the water out that mixed in with the diesel so I believed that it was the gas station I filled up at last ( which still wonder about).
I had him drop me off at auto zone to put some fuel treatment in (which he did also for his truck). We got the RPMs running good, no stalls, or any problems. Thought “great, going to head to camp about 18 miles from here”… things never go as planned.
5.6 miles to the camp, the truck dies again. Ended up road siding it for the night which wasn’t bad when you have solar, a radio, and a 12 pack on ice next to a camp chair. Besides the mosquitoes, it was pretty nice.
Next morning I decided to make a run for it to town to hopefully get to an auto parts, but died again right in front of the sign to welcome me to Roswell. Town was still a good 8 miles to go, and another 2 to the closest auto parts… called for another tow back to autozone.
I started calling mechanic shops to see if I could get it in to get a diagnostic of what the issue was before I decided to start draining 100.00 in fuel. All shops in town were booked up for a min. Of 2 weeks, and only 2 shops in the town work on diesels which were over a month wait. After doing plenty of research, and talking with family and friends, all of us agreed that it sounded like water in the gas so at autozone, I got the tools needed and drained the tanks, added fuel, and more additives to the fuel. Took it not even a block, and it died in the middle of the road.
A neighbor in the area helped push the truck to the curb, and I just desired I need a break from the truck, and Roswell still hasn’t been explored besides autozone.
Main Street has the main attractions in the town when it comes to aliens. You can’t pass a clinic, fast food restaurant, or government building without it having to do something with aliens. Gas stations have alien wood carved aliens. Pass by Baskin Robbins ice cream and you will find a 50’ alien holding the sign. Mc Donald’s is shaped like a UFO that lights up at night. Inside looks like aluminum walls and roof. Gift shops have everything you could imagine dealing with aliens.
after a tour of the town desired to head back to mess with the truck to accomplish a task that I didn’t believe was going to get fixed.
Once the truck quit starting all together, I decided it was time for a hotel for the night since I was stuck in town. The guy that helped push the truck offered to park it in his driveway so that it wasn’t in the open, so We got the truck parked, and reeked 1.7 miles to a dog friendly hotel to take a break.
The next morning I tried starting the truck and the batteries were completely dead. Luckily Autozone was across the street so I took a battery over to be tested and found out that both batteries were completely shot. I thought I did pretty good getting the life out of them that I did that were 2 years beyond there life.
2 new batteries, later, I got enough power to get the truck back to Autozone to try and drain the tanks again to start the process over since I still had some fuel that was missed. In fear of ruining my injectors I made multiple trip to the gas station with a 5 gallon diesel can to fill up again and start the process again but this time with a new fuel filter. Once done, thinking it would work this time… and nothing. Luckily one of my brothers is a diesel mechanic (Kirk Sawyer) and recommend checking the cam sensor. Of course AutoZone didn’t have it so found an O’Reilly auto parts that had one left, so walked 2 miles to pick it up, installed it, The the truck started right up.
Hope if you visit, you have a better experience. Over all I like Roswell, Seems to be more of a tourist trap and the only place you find companies competing not of what they have to offer, but who has the best alien. My next post will be on a really nice camp I found that you will probably enjoy if your in the area and looking for a camp.
Goodnight everyone, and we will see you on the next stop.
RAT PACK DRIFTERS 