Mid-vacation update.... "GETTING THERE" Day's 1-3. It's a long story.


DAY 1.....
We left Saturday and intended to reach Post Falls, ID. BUT... we didn't. The boys were mostly terrific during the following tale. We were just past Ellensburg when the brake controller started to read an error message. Mike pulled over quickly at the rest area (which was conveinently right there). But even with a quick pull over the tire, rim, etc were scorching hot, melting the plastic "hub cab" and the brakes were smoking. This was around 3 PM. With few other choices, the boys and I tried to enjoy the shade, explore the rest area's information about windmills and electricity, viewed/chased the chipmunks, discovered a birds nest, and hover in the shade. Mike figured out that the magnets in the brake had locked up and then wore through, melted, fried the electric brake. We un-hooked the trailer, drove to Vantage (the next "turn around" spot) and then headed back to Ellensburg. First we went to the RV sales/service location, but they couldn't help us (***note critical issue happened here, to be described later)... so we headed to Les Schwab, who nicely prepared a new electric brake etc and bearing ($131.). We drove back to the rest area and thought we would install it, hook up and be on the go again. NOOOO. We got there and the brake went on ok.... but the bearing was not the right size. So we had to get on the highway again, this time making an illegal turn around at one of those paved connector roads between East and West bound to save us 30-40 miles of extra driving, and headed back to the RV Sales/service center, because they had called Les Schwab previously and told them Mike had dropped the bearing and pieces by accident. Well they were closed when we got there. So then we went to Les Schwab to get the correct bearing... they were closed. So THEN we went to an Auto Zone and got the salespersons best guess to which bearing will fit and a random washer that he also hoped fit. Then we drove BACK to the rest area. This bearing did fit, BUT the washer did not.... Mike decided to assemble it all and get on the road without the washer. We were FINALLY on the road at 8:15pm, 5 hours behind schedule... which means we had to say good bye to viewing the Cabela's and eating in the deli, rather we'd just be happy to get there and stay in the parking lot for free over night. But hey, we're moving.
We checked at a rest stop to make sure the bearing/brake were still ok, and they were, so we checked again at another little side city/road, again ok.

Suddenly, 9:15-9:30pm, BOOM. We pulled over fast and discovered. Our tire had blow up and peeled tread. (picture to follow). It was not only undriveable, but also destroyed the utility box lid, sheared off the cable hook up, dented and black streaked the side of the trailer and ripped the molding right out of the frame about 14 inches worth. Well, with nothing else to do. Mike put the spare on, it was a little low on air, but hey it got us moving again, but there was a shimmy in the tire side to side because we still didn't have a proper washer. I stood on the road during the tire change with a flashlight to provide light and a little signal to the oncoming cars that we were there, don't hit us. During this entire time, the boys were blissfully unaware and watched "Barnyard" on Daddy's laptop. So by the time the tire was on, it was fully dark and nearing 10:00pm. As I mentioned to Papa Bill, our confidence in our trailer/tires/equipment was probably the most damaged of all, even though the trailer damage is the more tangible. Anyway, we regrettably had to call and wake up Papa Dahl and ask for the directions to where to stay in Ritzville and we limped in there at a little after 10pm, no where near the Idaho location we were aiming for at the beginning of the trip. Day 1's positive report: we were safe, parked not on the side of the road, and Mike got a shower.

DAY 2 ... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, we're in Ritzville, on a Holiday SUNDAY with a problem in a po-dunk town for ammenities. But Mike found a hardware store and after three trips, 2-3 different washers, and a purchase of a dremel tool kit (needed to fashion his own drilled to fit washer).... and a stop at the gas station for air, we were on the road again. It was about 1:30pm, well behind schedule with Butte, MT as this day's goal if we were to stay on schedule.
We stopped in Spokane, we figured that we would be fools to proceed without a spare tire. But on a Father's Day Sunday, NOTHING was open save Wal-mart and Costco, neither of which carry this particular tire; we did succed in wasting time looking for and open location however. So we proceeded on because it was either get into Montana on this day or turn and head home. We are stubborn so we continued east; we headed out of Spokane at 5:30 and anticipated dragging ourselves wearily into Butte at 11-12Am.
We got out of Spokane and Washington, through Idaho and into Montana. We pasted Missoula and we thought we were nearly there. Just 80 Miles to Butte to go when BOOOOM. Another tired blew. Here we are between two of the smalled towns in the world with a flat, no spare, at 11:15pm. Oh, no, wait a minute, we hit a time zone, it's 12:15AM. So Thank the LORD and Papa Dahl who bought Road Side assistance for us for this trip... we called them up. Sure they will TRY to reach someone who has the special equipment needed to tow us. (It took some effort to communicate to the person exactly what kind of equipment was needed. sigh.) So we get a call back, they will be there in about 1 and 1/2 hours... so we wait. The boys are blessedly asleep, although Jockey got upset and had to sit on my lap during the wait. Mike napped too, but I couldn't sleep... my eyes kept thinking they saw buffalo or elk (no I really was awake, but it was just THAT dark). So the tow gut finally gets there at nearly 2AM. And it takes 45 minutes to get all the equipment settled (it would have been shorter, but the guy's tow dolly.... had a flat.) And the second dolly was low on air, so the decision was make to drive at a snails pace to Drummond (previously mentioned smallest town in the world) to the gas station there and fill the dolly tire with air.... would have been great, except... it was shut down for the night including the compressor. So Mike and the guy proceed to pull the two good tires from the two different dollies and make one working unit. All this while, the kids are munching on the only available food in the truck... swedish pancakes I had previously made&frozen and had used as "cooler ice "during the day, and we listened to the cows. So then we were set to get back on the road again and head for the "Nearest service center that can handle our vehicle's needs".... Missoula. So at a snails pace not to exceed 45 MPH we drive from Drummond to Missoula. Mike was exhausted and starting to nod off. I was tired too, but decided to try to keep Mike awake rather than call roadside assistance again upside down from a ditch, I'd do my best to keep Mike up. Which means I was cruel at turning the heat off, made ridiculous jokes about music, the composers and the lyrics, and general odd ball comments. We watched the dawn arrive at 4:22AM in Montana. We rolled into Les Schwab at a little after 5AM. We slept until Les Schwab opened, then set them to work. We decided to blow a little of the savings account and invest in our safety and 5 new tires ($587, but hey, it's that was savings is meant for, emergencies. I'd say stranded on the side of the road two states away from home in the middle of BFno-where in the middle of the night with kids IS an emergency!) Day 2's positive report: I did see 20 deer, Mike was remembered with cards/gifts on Father's Day, and we were safe.

DAY 3 Monday. We have our tires and an official washer from Les Schwab, although the guys were thoroughly impressed with Mike at his gumption to fashion his own washer for the bearing. So we leave at 9:30 AM... and by leaving this early (we hadn't planned on leaving Butte until 11ish) we were actually right on schedule, even if we've only had 2 hours of sleep.

This is the offical start of the normal part of our vacation (or so we thought at the time, more on this later).

We decided to continue with the plans to go to the Lewis and Clark caverns. It was tempting to just head for West Yellowstone and "just get there"... but I pushed for going to the caverns because we aren't coming this way again and there's nothing like this in Washington. The Caverns were VERY interesting and well worth it. The kids liked it. They got to see fossils embedded into the rock and they got to go inside caves/caverns AND use flashlights. It was a bit of a hike 2 miles in the heat, and they got a little concerned when they learned to becareful of snakes... and later the "sleeping bats" that were in the caves, but over all they had a good time. Although, by nap time, Jockey was in the cavern on Daddy's shoulders screaming that he wanted down and out! It was a great experience, and I'll post pictures later. We did the best we could with our cameras, learning the settings for such dark environs.

So we left the caves and onward towards West Yellowstone. We saw Pronghorn on the way, and I can't remember if we saw anything else that day... I think we spotted a few Elk.

We got to Grizzly RV park and PROMPTLY hosed ourselves down with bug spray. I got 4 bites in as many minutes. Mike halted me during the backing up process and had me spray down before any more had their chance at me. We parked, Caleb got to the playground, we ate, we calmed down. That's it.
Day 3's positive report: We made it, we're safe.

The boys did have their moments (are we there yet, and fighting over toys, dropping their toys out of reach, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty) don't get me wrong.... BUT, in the light of the 'tradgey of woes', they did great and handled things as if this was the normal course of a road trip. They seemed to accept that we have a flat and we are trying to get help. Which is great, I guess I should understand why asking the question "where are we going?" 80 thousand times IS important when it changes with every tire explosion. Sigh. The kids are in great spirits and can't wait to see animals... us too.