Wyoming

Yesterday we got the RV closed up and hitched in 20 minutes. It turned out to be a really good thing that the campsite behind us had been emptied, because after the RV was hitched to the truck there was not enough room to pull out. I had to back it up into the other site in order to make the truck turn onto the road. That is one of the disadvantages of having a bigger rig.

We pulled out before 8 and went through the town of Estes Park to go east on highway 34. Another spectacular drive through the Big Thompson River canyon. The walls were rocky and covered with trees, and the river crashed over rocks as it wound into and out of sunlight and shadows.

It was a long drive day of 541 miles. Nothing much to see along the way. Rolling hills with sparse grass and vegitation. Almost no evidence of people in some long stretches, no buildings or cattle. Just the highway. Mile after mile. When there were structures, they were set into the south side of the hills so the winter winds would blow over them. Not my idea of paradise.

I noticed we were going right past the Little Bighorn National Historic site where Custer was wiped out by the Indians he was chasing. We had visited there before and I thought we could stop and get our parks passport book stamped and get a vinyl sticker for the RV and count it as a visit. Even with the stop we could still get to Billings by 7pm.

The roads in Wyoming were better than the rough roads of Colorado. The horrible front/back rocking of the rig was minimal, but there were plenty of repaired cracks that would vibrate the rig up and down and make a constant racket. Many miles of road were single lane and drive with one wheel on the shoulder as they were grinding up the previous asphalt and putting down new in the other lane.

Terri's part of the drive convinced her that the truck was handling the hills very nicely. Better than she remembered from any other drive. She wondered if the trouble code reset had improved more than just fixing the transmission self protection mode problem. The new rule is not to think that what we just fixed was the last problem we would have with the truck. (Ominous organ music indicating pending doom.)

We stopped at one paved parking area along the way for lunch. When Terri opened up the RV to get lunch out of the frig she found that the freezer door had opened and all the ice and ice cube trays had been dumped onto the floor. The frig has a nasty habbit of being a sealed box with two doors each for the freezer and frig parts. When one door is closed, the air pressure often opens the other just a bit. We need to be more careful, but no harm done. We bought ice at the campground in Billings.

Terri had been driving about 67mph (speed limit of 75). I decided to push up to 72mph and try to get there sooner. The Little Bighorn site was open till 9pm but it is always nice to set up the RV and relax. A couple of days ago with Terri driving, the truck acted like it was shifting up and down changing the engine speed as we climbed hills. It did that for me too, and I dropped it into manual shift mode to prevent it. But it continued without actually shifting. Odd. (Organ music begins to build.) I continued to be bored by the landscape and decided to set the cruise control to 75. Everything was running well, but on steep hills we could hear a knocking sound from the engine for a few seconds. (Organ music continues quietly with the stars of the show unaware of the problem.)

At the instant we crossed into Montana, the engine began knocking badly and lost power and the check engine light came on indicating a problem. I pulled over with a "what now" look on my face. I used my little PPE computer to read the code, but cell phone coverage again prevented me from finding out what 0087 meant. As if by magic, cell phone coverage went to 4 bars and I could see that it meant low fuel pressure. When I had prepared to the truck for the trip, I had not had the fuel filter changed because it still had 30% life. The truck dashboard computer said it had 16% life left, but it seemed by the loss of power and other problems noted that it may be on its last bit of useful life.

We immediately began driving slower (less fuel needs to go through the filter) and cancelled our planned stop at Little Big Horn. We had no real problems getting into Hardin MT where we filled up with diesel and found an auto parts store where I bought a new fuel filter and wrench. No obvious place to take the truck to have the fuel filter changed, but the worst case was now much better as I had one in our posession if we actually broke down. Terri drove since she likes to go slow.

As we entered the town of Billings MT where we were going to stay, I spotted a billboard that indicated lube jobs for semis and RVs at the 1st exit. We pulled into a huge building (RV attached), and three guys were able to do one guys work (no other customers and they were bored). Terri walked the dogs and in 10 minutes we had a clean filter. I paid them for one of their filters and kept the auto parts one as a spare for the trip. (Organ switches to "Take me out to the ball game. Home Run! Wait, didn't I say earlier not to assume fixing the current problem was the last problem.)

The KOA campground we stayed at is the 1st in the nation. EXCELLENT facilities. I had a buffalo burger and Terri had a cheeseburger at the campground grill so we didn't have to figure out what to cook. So far, that is the only meal we have purchased in 5 days.