I have been lax in filling out the last part of our GMCless trip. But in typical hooptie fashion, there was some motoring excitement.
Not sure if I mentioned the AC deciding to take a powder after out New Mexico shakedown cruise, but an Achilles heel of the Panther platform (Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, and Lincoln Town Car), is the AC blend door motor. It went and we were stuck on FULL heat... I found pulling the fuses and cycling the engine on and off would reset it for a drive or two. I hoped it would get us home....
Before we left Texas, Lucy's sister went with us to a state park a couple hours away Mother Neff State Park . It was ONLY 102 out and we made her poor pregnant sister go on several hiking trails. They weren't very long and she was a trooper. On the longest loop, I left her and Naya as it was near the road and Lucy and went back and got the car. It was a small park, but had alot going on. The picture above is a 30 ft tower built by the CCC. There were a few other CCC structures in the park as well. Part of the park was closed from a recent flood earlier in the year, but the part we saw was pretty nice.
Jeannie and Lucy on the trail
Lucy taking a break on the CCC stone table.
A limestone outcropping used by indigenous people thousands of years ago for shelter.
A nest of Daddy Long Leg Spiders the size of a large platter.
Naya about to poke a bunch of spiders with a stick. She was disappointed they didn't jump all over her.
We drove back and had dinner and packed up for the trip home....
The next morning all systems were go and we got a reasonable start out of Austin. I stopped and filled up with gas at the edge of town and off down US 290 to Houston we went. About an hour in the check engine light started blinking and the car was running like crap. I had Lucy look up what it meant and it said to stop or damage the engine. I pulled into the next auto parts store and had them pull the codes.
Misfire on cylinder 6. Ok, new plug and coil (individual coils) and off to the local park a block away.
98 degrees outside, I wanted some shade! It didn't take long to repair, but it didn't make any difference.
I was a little stressed and it showed, 90 miles from her families house and about 600 from our destination for the evening and we had reservations bought and paid for....It was here I made a critical error. I trusted someone else and did not verify. The guy at the parts store told me #6 and proceeded to point to #7 cyl.....In the process of being at the parts store, he looked it up (I was starting to, then my Mom called on the phone with a question and then was further distracted by Naya asking me a question and never checked myself)....
So back on the road and it's still running like crap, but at least I know what the issue is, and running on 7 cyl won't kill the car and we still had a long way to go so off we went. Along the way I called a friend who lives in Houston and has one of the cars, He offered his garage and tools, but it was 2PM as we approached town and he didn't get off work until 5 so we pressed on......
The car wasn't horrible at highway speed and the MPG didn't suffer much. The biggest issue was the computer cut off the AC due to the misfire. So it was a HOT ride and my daughter got to experience life in the 70s when we used to drive for 3 days to Florida with no AC in the car.
Terrible weather and a big traffic backup didn't help. Post hurricane Rita in 2005, I worked for FEMA in Sulphur, LA . This came in VERY handy, as I routed us around the traffic backup on US90 and saved us a good 45 min of sitting in traffic. It was still thick through town as others also knew this way, but much much less time than staying on I10.... After that it was clear sailing for the last 3 or 4 hours.
By the time we got to New Orleans around 9PM (drove took us 12 hours), I was in a bad mood couldn't wait to check in and park the car. We got there after dark and got checked in, took showers, ate some food and had a cocktail and relaxed. Lucy and I went out to Bourbon St. (we were in the French quarter about 2 blocks off it) and had a nice but short evening as it was past 10 when we left the room and we were whipped from the car ride......
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