June 13, 2009 - One very long day

Blog 1, Saturday and Sunday - One very long day

We actually were rolling by 9:00 a.m. and all headed out as a group. When I saw all the vehicles lined up going over the narrows bridge I was shocked at the site of the fire engine, ambulances, police cars and a bus altogether.  So was everyone else that saw us. When everyone saw the Spanish graphics on the vehicles we had tons of double and triple takes. I knew at this time this was much more, and was a huge logistical operation, that was going to require a lot of work. The writing was on the wall, so to speak, and I said get ready for tons of problems and something new being thrown at us daily. On top of that we had a dozen new drivers that did not know what to expect. The biggest fear is we would get into the Arizona Dessert and some would realize we weren't even half way there, bail out and fly home. Especially if there are problems, three times the vehicles and three times the problems, what’s the possibility something could go wrong.

We made our way down I-5 not having any problems until we stopped some place in central California and the fire truck would not start. We sent everyone else on their way while Ed, Phil, Jose and I stayed back planning on waiting for a mechanic in the morning. About an hour later one of us jumped in the fire truck and turned everything on, hit the button and the fire truck started. We got back on the road and 4 hours later caught up with everyone else. Everything was back to good; we were just a couple of hours behind as a group.

We all re-grouped  on the road and the sun came up in the mountains of southern California when all of a sudden it was reported that Javier and Omar had fire and/or sparks coming through their vents in the ambulance. We stopped to find that the air conditioning pump seized up and tore the belt off and the bearings were throwing sparks, so no real fire. That was the good news, after towing it to the shop the bad news was the auto part we needed was nowhere to be found. This time Ed and I stayed back with Javier and Omar and the four of us hit the road in the Bronco going from town to town till we found that part. We brought it back and had a mechanic put it all back together. Everyone else is 8 hours ahead of us at this point. The four of us spent all this time in a hot parking lot staying hydrated. Ed and I got to know Javier and Omar well and like them a lot.  They are an excellent addition to this group.

When everything was done we got excited, put everything together and were ready to hit the road. We started the Ambulance and heard the most hideous noise. All of a sudden transmission fluid poured out all over the parking lot and it sounded like the engine was grinding to pieces. I looked at all the guys and thought we were all going to burst into tears together. But luckily we all just started laughing hysterically, guys way of crying I guess. Turns out the mechanic left a tool in the engine, it got caught in the belt and spun around in the fan tearing the transmission fluid line and fitting off. We lost about 4 qts of fluid. The mechanic was honest about it and it took another two hours to fix. We got on the road and got to Tucson 4 hours before our meeting time to cross the border. After a quick power nap we were all where we needed to be, on time, fueled and heading to the border Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. or so we thought. The Fire Truck did not start so we made the decision to find a shop and fix it right. We all headed to the border and started the day long permitting process while the engine got fixed by a road Mechanic. Phil and Gonzo stayed behind this time. To make a long story short it was a cheap fix that caused major problems. Phil and Gonzo met us at the border about 4 hours later and we were all on track again. We were where we needed to be at the time we needed to be there. Reflecting on all this I thought...We are not even in Mexico yet.


Day 4 - Ed Hauge preparing to get the shot


Day 4 The short cut we took to avoid coolican.


Getting fuel, everytime we do this it costs about 6-7 hundred
dollars, and no these don't get good mileage.


New Drivers Javier and Omar in what will turn out
to be the ambulance ride to hell.

Posted by The Mission To Mexico at 6/13/2009 8:45 AM
Categories: uncategorized
 

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