It Wasn't Reining After All...

On Saturday, one day before our reining debut, a certain vehicle came to a screeching (well, more like rumbling, clanking) halt. We were headed over to our friends' place to fit in one last practice. I had just pulled onto the highway and was asking our F150 to get up and go because traffic was horrid and there were already other cars behind me. We were almost to 50mph when all of a sudden the truck quit accelerating. Then, the most hideous sound and knocking racked the truck. I quickly put on my turn signal and guided the truck to the shoulder. Up ahead was a business with a decent sized parking lot, a perfect place to pull off the highway. I pressed the gas pedal and it gave me enough to get us there.

Once I got into the empty lot I called my dad. He raced over to inspect the damage. He quickly determined that the spark plugs had met their end. Great. Normally, this wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Yeah, they're expensive to replace, but it isn't major damage. But, for my family, we have already had the pleasure of experiencing the curse of the F150 at least 3 times, with my sister's Lariat. *sigh*

Luckily my sister was home, so I called her and asked her to bring her truck over. When she pulled in, she immediately asked me if the truck had "angry gremlins under the hood." Yup, that's exactly how I would describe it, lmao! After blocking the trailer tires and raising the hitch, we unhooked "Pepe" and backed "Big Red" up. Thank goodness I reloaded the hay bag for this trip. Mercy stood completely content eating her hay throughout the whole ordeal. I think she knew she wasn't going to be worked, lol! ;)

My sister drove my dad's truck, "Old Blue," an older Dodge Dakota, home while I drove "Big Red" and Mercy home. What a weird feeling driving a 'different' F150. "Pepe" is a crew cab and "Big Red" is a super cab and I could tell. We took it slow getting home to avoid breaking another vehicle, quickly unloaded Mercy, and unhooked the trailer. Kimberly headed back out to tow "Pepe" home... and, of course, to rescue my dad, lol!

So, in the driveway "Pepe" remains. Hmmm... Yup. I decided not to drive to the reining show the next day, even though I could have used Kim's truck. I just don't trust it as a hauling vehicle. Plus, the freeway up there was reduced from 4 lanes to 1, for a couple of miles. It wasn't worth it. I still have a chance to attend a reining show this year. It's a weekend show in Lynden, which is quite a bit further away, but I want to rein!!!!! We'll have to wait to see what happens. Until then, I have a performance show on Saturday. I'm really excited for this show; they added a few trail classes! Our specialty! And thank goodness for walk/jog classes. I'll make sure to get some pics and write up a good post once I recover. ;)