So I called MacDaddy and a nice guy answered the phone - sure he'll take a look at it in the morning. Come in about 9am. Good. So T and I relaxed and decided not to worry about it…
In the morning as I packed up I told T to prepare to go sit in a dinky dark waiting room for awhile while mz Mac got checked out. He seemed to understand and gave a big sigh.
Arrived at MacDaddy's promptly at 9 and was pleased to see a line of Sprinters out front. That's a good sign that people are trusting him with their Sprinters… I walk in and there's this really cool spacious waiting room - set up almost like a bar! It has pool tables, electronic games…
and a separate sunny office with big windows (where I set up my laptop). All very clean. Even a play area for kids!
So far so good! I'm feeling good about MacDaddy.
I go and talk to Baden. He obviously knows a lot about Sprinters and is a very bright guy. They have all the Mercedes code readers to tell them exactly what the problem is. The more we talk, the more I'm thinking I was being given the run around by Dodge (with whom I have the warranty). Anyhow, suffice it to say I sit down in the waiting room - he takes it in - and in half an hour he comes back with a specific diagnosis. Its the temperature sensor in the EGR cooler. Its a relatively cheap $350 repair - can order the part and do it the next morning. We are saved! Why couldn't Dodge figure this out? We won't go there...
He said we could drive the van, just take it easy and not climb mountains, so we moseyed a few miles up the valley to the second campground in the Colorado River State Park system. Its a gorgeous day - its been sunny, low humidity, 70s. Theo and I decided we needed this day off… So I got set up, got a couple loads of laundry done and then couldn't bear to put the clothes in the dryer in these near-desert conditions…. but its a very anal campground - nice and neat, no clotheslines allowed… so I opened up Mac and put up a couple clotheslines inside and hung up the clothes to dry in there!
Hey, I figured we were going to be outside anyway and why waste those fossil fuels and add to the carbon output?
Theo was outside when I set up the system, and was doubtful. He doesn't like things moving in the breeze over his head… so he stayed outside in the grass and relaxed… well, at 1:30 the automatic sprinkling system came on and scared the holy bee jeezus out of him and he dashed into the van. The clothes didn't seem so scary after that!
Its a beautiful spot. We've had a nice day, with several walks with views like this along the Colorado River. Of course my cell phone camera does not do them justice, but you get the idea…
Onward! Westward! …in a bit.
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