Monday (June 18) was Belushka's birthday. (Belushka's our van. Of course we named our van.)
Yesterday we bought her a new fuel pump to celebrate the day.
Here's the short version:
We were in Minneapolis to visit friends. Tuesday morning we dropped our friend Darcy off at the airport and turned the van off while we hugged and said good-bye. We climbed back in and turned the key and **sputter, cough, sputter, sputter.** We tried again and again.
Nothing.
While I got on the phone with AAA for a tow (while searching for the nearest Ford dealership, thank you to my iPhone), Bracken hailed the security guard to let him know why our big white van was parked in front of the airport, not moving. Sigh.
We were given (per airport policy) one hour to move. Otherwise, they'd call their tow guys and take care of it.
I am *so* happy that while this totally sucked, we were in a big city, where we had friends (and beds) and options. I can't imagine breaking down in Canada (we drove many miles in the middle of nowhere).
We made it to the dealership, got a rental car and carried on with our day. Turns out she needed a new fuel pump & filter. We picked her up yesterday, all washed and running like a champ.
We're making our way west to Rapid City and hopefully some climbing this weekend before rolling into Boulder.