Early Monday morning, I went into the Sprinter Service Center as soon as the gates opened. I found two service technicians in the service building and explained the problem to them. I was told by the one that would look into the problem, that the battery would be put on a charger first and then he expected to begin work on the van around mid-morning.
He then gave me a ride back to the main MB dealership facility, where I would have to wait. The technician apparently got to work on my van sooner than I expected, as I was informed by the service manager that it was ready to go much sooner than I had expected.
The problem turned out to be a simple fix, once it was traced down. There is a connection below the van between the battery and alternator, where Sportsmobile wired into the van battery for the automatic step motor. According to the technician, Sportsmobile did a poor job of wiring here, pinching wires, partially insulting the connections between the wires at the terminal with shrink wrap and the nut securing all the wire ends onto a terminal stud was loose. The nut looked like a self locking variety, so it should not have backed off due to vibration.
Had I known where to look, I could easily have cured the problem myself and been on my merry way much sooner.
Anyway, I dismounted the solar panels, packed them away, and updated my son on my status.
He informed me that the weather forecast for Bisti had taken a turn for the worse, with much snow expected and colder night time temperatures. A little snow there might make for some interesting photographic opportunities, but a lot of snow might cover features too much and melting snow would render the clay soil a real problem to deal with. And the snow would melt rapidly during daylight hours.
Consequently, we decided to meet at Bandelier National Monument, which was only a 2-3 hour drive from Albuquerque. I was not elated about Bandelier, since I had overnighted there a couple of years ago and I was not overly impressed with the photography possibilities there.
But the campground in Bandelier is very nice, usually not crowded, especially at this time of the year, which is good, since the campsites are first come, first serve, with no reservable sites. There are also clean, newish, heated restrooms, but no showers.
I arrived at the campground first, drove through both campground loops and picked out two campsites that looked suitable, then went to the automated reservation kiosk and reserved those two sites for a couple of nights. We were not sure how long we would stay.
My son came into the campground shortly after I pulled into my site. After we got set up, we went down into the deep canyon, where the visitor’s center is and most of the Native American ruins are located. This is the most visited portion of this national monument.
We hiked for about a mile along the stream/river that runs through the canyon to scout for possible photographic opportunities for the next day. We were expecting some snow and we decided that snow would improve the scenery here.
We then retreated to our campsites for the night.
So finally the “bad” part of this trip was over and we were making plans for the remainder of this Spring Break Trip.
Stranded with a vehicle electrical problem in Albuquerque, at least I had my Kindle Reader and other reading materiel to occupy some of my time, especially at night, when I had to stay in my vehicle.
I had a full day in Albuquerque on Sunday and I needed to find something to do. I checked a map application on my phone, looking for some place within walking distance to visit. I noted a number of places of interest, but most were long walks there and back. I suppose I could have called a Taxi, but I needed exercise, so I looked for places not excessively far away.
I found a “Wildflower Park” on the map not too far away, so I headed there. The park was much smaller than I expected and there were no wildflowers. Most of the trees were still barren, too. There was a small group of several people flying a drone around the park and a lady walking her dog.
I walked to the far side of the park, crossed a bridge over a drainage canal and checked my map app again. I found a hot air balloon park on the map not too far away. Rather than walk back through the park, the way the map directions suggested, I walked along the canal, since it appeared that could get to another street and a shorter route to the balloon park that way. When I got near the street of my destination, there were high fences on my side of the canal. I had to cross the canal to get to the street. The sides of the concrete canal were steep, but there was no water in the canal and there were iron loops set into the concrete where I crossed, which I suspect are there for emergency egress from the canal. I did not need to use those bars to walk down into the canal nor up the other side.
After a short walk, I got to the edge of the balloon park, with metal bar gates across the street entrances from my side of the park. I could either go around the ends of the barrier or step over from where I stood, so I stepped over and walked along a dirt path beside a fence until I came to a street and I could see a large building in the distance, which turned out to be the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum.
Hot Air Balloon Museum, iPhone Photo
I paid the nominal entrance fee and went inside, wearing my mask as required. There were interesting exhibits, photographs and much information about the history of hot air ballooning in this museum.
Hot Air Balloon Camera, iPhone Photo
I used my iPhone to capture some of the more interesting and easily photographed items. There were many large displays that did not lend themselves to being easily photographed.
I captured my reflection in a number of the photos, such as the one above, but I cropped my head off in the post processing.
Poster in Albuquerque hot air museum, iPhone Photo
In the early days of hot air ballooning, entrepreneurs used them to provide entertainment, as depicted in the poster above with the young lady in the swing hanging from the bottom of the balloon basket. She seems rather scantily clad for that era.
Poster, Albuquerque hot air balloon museum, iPhone Photo
I have to wonder, if the poster above is realistic or just a come on. The parachute seems rather small and hanging onto that small handle with one hand, while dropping from 8000 feet seems rather risky. Better have a good grip and no sweaty palms.
Hot air balloon trapeze, iPhone Photo
This display contains one of the actual swings used in these balloon trapeze acts. It looks rather small, too.
When I finished my tour of the balloon museum, I walked back to the Tin Can Alley food court, where I had a late lunch, early dinner BBQ sandwich and a couple of pale ale draft beers, then I went back to my vehicle for the remainder of the day.
My oldest son and I have a tradition of taking an annual spring break trip, usually the last week of March. We had to postpone last year’s trip due to COVID19 concerns. I got both of my COVID19 vaccinations in February and my son got his vaccinations just in time to make this trip.
We settled upon the Bisti Wilderness in northwestern New Mexico as the most suitable place this year. The weather forecast for that area was for cold, freezing temperatures at night, but not so cold as to be of great concern and the daytime temps would be in the 50s.
I planned to arrive at Bisti a day prior to my son’s arrival, leaving home on a Thursday, since I was sure I could get a free campsite at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (LMNRA), my usual stop over place along this route, during the week. The temperatures there during March are mild, so I had no need to reserve a site with electric power for the A/C and I could still use the free showers in the good restroom facilities. Although, when I showered there on this stop over, the water was only lukewarm. This was the first time I had experienced anything other than hot water in the showers there.
I later noted a possible problem with the automatic step on the passenger side of my van. Sometimes the step did not go all the way back up. I thought maybe there might be some dirt in the mechanism, so I did not worry about that.
I left LMNRA early Friday morning heading to I40 at Amarillo. I’ve traveled this route a number of times, so I did not use the navigation system for guidance. However, I wanted to be sure to navigate around Amarillo, avoiding heavy traffic in the city, intersecting I40 on the western edge of Amarillo, so I stopped momentarily at a vacant parking lot at a church to verify that I was on the best route. When I got ready to start out again, the engine starter would not engage. I had not had any warning of a potential battery problem and the battery was not old. So I was concerned that there might be a more serious problem than the starter. It occurred to me that the problem with the step might be related.
I thought surely in a city like Amarillo that there would be a Mercedes Benz dealership, but there was not. I found that the closest MB facility was in Lubbock, 110 miles south of Amarillo and not on my route.
After a phone conversation with my dealership in Plano, Texas, I got connected to the MB roadside assistance. They dispatched a local service to come out to check the battery as a first step. The online app said the service would arrive in 18 minutes and gave me a countdown for the arrival. After 18 minutes, it just said “Arriving Soon” for the next hour or so. I checked online via my phone and found that the dispatched service had a 1 star, horrible service, rating.
I then called AAA, which dispatched a service that was to arrive within an hour. The AAA app, similar to the MB app, gave me a countdown, which expired and then it, too, said “Arriving Soon”.
About the time I thought AAA should be arriving, a work type truck, which I thought might be one of the dispatched services, pulled into the parking lot. But it turned out to be a couple of young local workers that saw my hood up and stopped to ask if I need a boost. They pulled out booster cables from the truck’s back seat area and we connected the cables. My vehicle started up with no problem. So I figured it must be a battery problem. I drove to a local auto parts store, purchased the best, most expensive battery they had for my vehicle and installed it with help of one of the parts store employees. But the problem persisted, the starter motor would not engage, even with the new battery. The auto parts employee brought out a booster battery device, connected it to the positive and ground posts under the hood and my vehicle started normally. (The engine starter battery is not under the hood. It is in a compartment beneath the floor in front of the driver’s seat). So now I’m convinced there is a wiring problem.
Via conversations with the MB dealership in Lubbock, I learned that they do not service Sprinter vans. The nearest Sprinter van service is in Midland, Texas, far to the south and far out of my way. I did get to talk to a service manager at the MB facility in Midland and got confirmation that the most likely problem would be a wiring issue between the battery and starter and/or alternator.
By now it was mid-afternoon. I called an MB dealership in Albuquerque, which was about a four hour drive along I40 and along my planned route. I talked to someone at the dealership, learned that they are open until 5pm during the week and open again at 7:30 Saturday morning. I was told that I can park on the street beside the dealership, if I get there Friday after they are closed. So I purchase a fully charged battery booster device in the parts store, figuring that if I have to shut off my engine for any reason, I can boost it. I hoped that as long as I could keep the engine running, I could drive all the way to Albuquerque.
So I began the journey. Before I got out of Amarillo, the dash displayed an “Alternator/Battery” error message; but the vehicle continued to run as normal. So I continued.
Just after passing an exit to San Jon, New Mexico, all kinds of warning messages began to show up on the dash, then the vehicle began to lose power. The engine continued to run and the vehicle continued moving down the highway, but at a much slower speed. I soon realized that it was highly likely that the engine would die. So I coasted off of the highway onto the shoulder in the shadow of an overpass. As soon as I stopped, the engine died and the dash display blanked out.
Sportsmobile dead along I40, just past mile marker 353 in New Mexico, iPhone Photo
I called the MB roadside assist again, having to be on hold for 20-30 minutes. After I explained the problem, a tow truck was dispatched from Albuquerque, 213 miles away.
The tow truck driver called a couple of times to get details about my vehicle and my location. The tow truck arrived after dark, sometime between 8 and 9PM.
The tow truck driver assured me that he knew exactly where to drop me off at the MB dealership, since he had done this many times. We arrived at the dealership after midnight. I got up early Saturday morning and went into the dealership as soon as it opened. I found the service manager, who had already seen my vehicle parked on the drive entrance behind the service area. He informed me that I’m at the wrong place. The Sprinter service had been moved to another location about a mile away and they are not open on Saturday!
The service manager said I needed to call roadside assistance for a tow, as they are not allowed to call on my behalf. Remembering how long it took to get through on the telephone to MB’s roadside assistance, I decided to call AAA. I was told a tow truck would be there in about an hour. The towing service called to ask for a photograph of my vehicle, which I sent right away. The tow service called to tell me they dropped me off there last night and I’m at the correct location. I had to inform them of their error, referring to signs posted on the building just behind my van with the address for dropping off Sprinter vans.
The tow truck showed up around 9AM and it was the same truck and driver that dropped me off last night. He had just gotten home, barely gotten into bed, when he was called out again.
When the tow truck driver dropped me off alongside a city street, adjacent to the cement block wall around the MB Sprinter service center, he told me this might not be a good place to leave my vehicle unattended. So I decided it best to stay in the van, rather than have my son drive down from the Great Sand Dunes, where he was currently. (We had talked earlier and our tentative plan, so I would not waste all of two or more days, was for him to pick me up and we would go to the Great Sand Dunes. I would call the Sprinter service on Monday morning to figure out what to do after that. There could be more days of delay, depending upon when the service center began looking at my vehicle and if parts had to be ordered, etc.).
So I mounted my solar panels on the roof to keep the house batteries charged and stayed with the van Saturday and Sunday nights, leaving a light on to make it obvious that the vehicle was occupied.
I was tired from not getting much sleep the previous night, but I decided I might as well find a place nearby to grab lunch, since I was stuck here anyway. I consulted my iPhone and found a food court place called Tin Can Alley a few blocks away.
After calling home to update my wife on my status, I went out looking for the Tin Can Alley. I actually got all the way there and realized that I had forgotten to bring a mask, which was required to enter. So I had to walk back to my vehicle, retrieve a mask and walk back to the food court.
Now really tired, I ordered a BBQ slider and coleslaw from one place, then took my order across the food court to a beer place. I figured I had earned at least one or two beers. Ironically, they had a pale ale on draft called “Happy Camper”, so I had one with my meal and a second one for desert before hiking back to my vehicle, where I crashed on the bed for a few hours.
After trips to Colorado in September and to Indiana in October, not much else happened with my photography hobby during the middle winter months of November, 2020 through February, 2021.
Part of this inactivity might be blamed upon the COVID19 pandemic, which suppressed much activity, but I’ve found that the deep winter months with holidays and severe weather and numerous personal things that tend to happen in this interval always seem to suppress my photography activity. Each year, I have tentative plans in this interval that always seem to get squashed for some reason or another.
This year was no different. My wife and I did get out more frequently after we received our COVID19 vaccinations and I made a few iPhone images on those outings, but nothing new or exciting. We were still wearing masks and taking precautions, which greatly reduce the pleasure of being out of the house.
March of Bottles, iPhone Photo of old bottles in an antique mallWhiskey Bottles in an antique mall, iPhone Photo
In the middle of February the great Texas freeze of 2021 hit, which kept most people home for a week or so. We were fortunate that we never lost electric power, so we were able to stay comfortable in our home, unlike so many others.
Texas Big Freeze, Feb 2021, iPhone Photo
It is not uncommon to get a brief, strong cold front here, but this one was exceptional. We’ve had ice form along the edges of the waterfall from the pool spa in the past, but this is the first time we’ve had the surface of the pool freeze. There was not enough ice in our pool to cause any damage, but some pools in this area were damaged due to the frozen pool water surface.
A few years ago, tired of the unending job of trimming large Ligustrum trees in a back corner of our yard, I decided to take out those trees and create a tropical landscape, that would look more appropriate behind our large pool.
I had already taken out a number of large Crepe Myrtles that were a year round nuisance, requiring severe pruning several times a year, clogging the pool skimmer with blooms, staining the pool apron, dropping leaves and seed pods, putting out shoots and trying to take over the neighborhood.
The Ligustrum trees were a similar maintenance problem. Knowing that birds frequently built their nest in these trees, I looked for nests before beginning the removal process, finding nothing but old, abandoned nests. So with my electric chain saw and pruning tools, I began removing limbs, working my way towards taking down the main trunks.
This process took some time, as I removed limbs, trimmed them to manageable size and dragged the trimmings to the front curb for pickup by our trash service. I was feeling quite satisfied, when I got to the point of removing the top of the last tree. My feeling of progress and accomplishment, as the tree top crashed to the ground, was quickly dampened, when I heard the frantic cries of baby birds and spotted their nest from which they had just been ejected. The babies were very young and did not yet have feathers. Feeling guilty and responsible for their plight, I gathered them and placed them back into the nest, while wondering how I was going to make amends.
There was a main trunk of one tree still standing with a stub of a branch, to which I managed to secure the nest. Realizing that the babies were totally exposed to the sun and elements with no tree foliage for protection, I retrieved an old umbrella and fastened it, with zip ties and twine, to the tree stub to provide some shade and protection of the nest.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
I’m sure my neighbors, who could only see the top of the umbrella above the fence line, wondered what craziness I was up to, cutting off the top of a tree and replacing it with a dilapidated umbrella. Had the umbrella been visible from the street, I’m sure my aggressive HOA would have demanded that I take the umbrella down.
I waited and observed from a distance to see if the parents would return to the nest. The parents soon returned, but were very cautious, spending much time watching from a perch on the privacy fence near the tree stub, fluttering near the nest, but not landing. After an extended period of caution, the parents finally accepted the new location of the nest and resumed caring for the baby chicks.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
As the chicks grew, I began to take a few photos, documenting their progress. The photos are not great, but serve to illustrate this event.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
The chicks developed, growing feathers, becoming more vociferous in their demands for food and beginning to venture just outside the confines of the nest.
Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chick in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 220mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
One day, I found one of the young birds on the ground. I could not leave it there for fear of neighbors’ cats, that frequented our yard, finding and making a meal of the young bird. I picked up the foundling, which complained loudly, as I tried to place it back into the nest, while being attacked by the parents, with all the baby birds screaming for help. While I managed to get the one bird back into the nest, another one was frightened out of the nest and onto the ground.
Bluejay Chick, prematurely out of its nest. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Realizing that any attempt to put the second baby bluejay back into the nest would probably result in another one jumping out, I decided that I had to put those that left the nest into something other than the nest, from which they could not easily escape and hope that the parents would still take care of them.
I had several plastic bins supplied by a recycling service, so I decided one of those would by suitable. I could not leave the bin on the ground, where the baby birds would be easily accessible to the neighbors’ cats, so I secured the bin to the tree trunk. This arrangement worked – for awhile.
Bluejay Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 145mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/200s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 300mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.Bluejay Parent and Chicks in their relocated nest with an umbrella for shelter. Nikon D70, Nikon 70-300mm at 130mm, 1/250s, f/9, ISO 200, edited in Nik Color Efex Pro4.
Eventually, all of the chicks ended up in the recycle bin.
We lived in an area subject to heavy rains and tropical storms. Late one night one of those strong thunderstorms blew in and I knew the baby birds were getting pounded by the rain. The next morning I went out to check on the birds. Much to my dismay, they had all perished in the storm. There was standing water in the recycle bin, which did not have drainage holes in the bottom. There was not much water, but apparently enough that the exposure was fatal for the young birds that could not escape from the death trap that I had unwittingly made.
This was a great disappointment. Those babies were so close to being ready to take flight on their own and my stupid mistakes had resulted in their deaths.
Such a simple experience, but it remains with me, in a Bluejay purgatory.
I am reminded of the words of the poet, Robert Burns:
“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!”
