Wednesday 6/12 Gardiner, MT
Beautiful day on the 70’s. Relaxing day getting ready to hit the road. We walked into town to the little grocery store, Nancy did laundry, I loaded the smart. Late in the afternoon we drove the truck into town and picked up burgers at a food truck recommended by Gary. Good burgers.
Watched the St Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup and relaxed. In the evening another thunderstorm rolled through with some pretty close lightning strikes. Rain off and on all night.
Animal count in Yellowstone and environs:
Numerous antelope
Numerous elk, several calves including from our back window
Numerous bison
Five black bears and two cubs
One gray wolf
Thursday 6/13 Rigby, ID
There is a curse that says “May you live in interesting times.” Well, with that thought in mind, today was an “interesting” day!
Up at five AM. We had closed up the slides, dumped the tanks and gotten most everything ready to travel yesterday. When I got into the truck the clutch felt really weird and it was difficult getting it into gear, much like the old bugaboo I have experienced with the clutch brake going out of adjustment, but the clutch feel was different - it got worse..
Skipping breakfast, we headed out 5:45 and South into the park. The three mile construction zone still had two lanes open, but it was muddy from the rain, so we are really dirty again. No issues all the way out other than bison. West of Madison Junction we ran into a traffic jam cause by a big herd of bison walking along on both sides of the road and walking back and forth! There were at least 20 little calves in the group, running circles around the adults and jumping around. Really cool to see, but looked like a big delay. Then a park ranger came along, passed our line of cars, squeezed back in ahead of our line and started actually herding the bison along and off the road with his car! Kind of neat to watch, he had obviously done this before!
Got out of the park and into West Yellowstone, MT a little after seven. Stopped at Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast. Discovered that our umbilical cord (wiring connector to the trailer) was dragging! Could not have been out long or I would have noticed the lack of lights. It ground off a side of the connector with no real damage and wore the insulation off a part of the cable, but I was able to tape that up and the connector still inserted properly and everything still works. There was also a big cow pie bison pie splattered dead center on the lower front of the trailer, about the size of a big pumpkin!
After breakfast I hooked up our water hose, turned on our water pump and rinsed off the front of the trailer as best I could.
When we stopped I realized the clutch was getting worse, very hard to shift into gear when stopped. Once we got going everything was OK since I float shift without using the clutch. Only way to stop was in a low gear and shut off, then restart in gear!
Nancy got on the phone and started calling repair shops ahead of us. Fortunately we have reservations tonight in Rigby, only 90 miles down the road. She found a Volvo truck dealer in Idaho Falls, too busy to work on it today, but said they could look at it and determine the extent of the problem. Arrived at Mountain West Truck Center. at 11 AM. Service Manager, Mike, had a tech look at the problem and he determined that both the clutch and the clutch brake were toast! Also the front seal on the trans is leaking. Pretty major job! “If we can get parts by tomorrow and get started Monday we can have you back on the road by the end of the day Wednesday.” Great. Will be expensive, but what can you do, has to be done, truck is practically underivable! I have been anticipating needing a new clutch for some time (occasional chatter, frequent clutch brake adjustment), but every time I had someone look at it the answer was it was OK.
So we called Jefferson County Lake Campground to see if we could extend our stay. Helpful lady at the gate was able to shuffle sites around so we could stay through Friday. Unfortunately a back-in site. It was a real struggle to get the truck into reverse to back it into the site. Fortunately it was almost a straight shot to back into the site and I was able to do it in one try.
Back to the Volvo dealer to unload the smart just as a thunderstorm rolled through! We sat in their lot in the pouring rain with lightening all around for more than an hour before the storm passed and I could unload the smart.
Drove into downtown Idaho Falls and stopped at the Visitors Center there to see what there is to do here for the next week. Looks like a pretty good place to get stranded, lots to see and do. Had a late lunch/early dinner at Snow Eagle Brewing, pretty good. Then back to Rigby to get the trailer hooked up (all we did earlier was drop it off) and settle in for at least the next seven nights! Nowhere as nice a spot as we had in Gardiner, backed up to a noise wall along limited access US20, but a nice lake and swimming park. No neighbors at all now, will probably get some over the weekend.
Friday 6/14 Rigby, ID
Beautiful day in the low 80’s, with light clouds. First thing in the morning I took advantage of having no neighbors and actually washed the trailer with a hose and brush, not a sponge bath like we did in Cody. Hopefully this is the end of the muddy roads, rain gets it dirty, but not coated in mud.
Yesterday we called the RV Park in Ketchum, ID and left a message cancelling our reservation for the weekend. This morning I called the Oregon Trail Campground in Twin Falls and cancelled Tuesday night. Mark could not have been nicer and said to let him know if we could make it on Wednesday night.
After we told Joan about being stranded here yesterday she had looked at things to do around here and told us about the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, ID, about 30 miles South of Idaho Falls. So after washing we headed down that way. Instead of taking I-15, where the speed limit is 80 (!) I decided to take US-91 which parallels I-15. The smart will cruise along OK at 80, but it is working hard and not real comfortable at that speed. It is one thing to go along 10-15 MPH below the limit with the truck and trailer, something completely different in the smart!
The drive down through the West side of Idaho Falls and a couple of small towns was fine. The Potato Museum was small, but interesting, lots of old photos and a good education on the potato farming business. Had lunch in the cafe there - two huge baked potatoes and a basket of fresh fries for the two of us!
Heading back North we stopped at Cox’s Honey in Shelly, ID, then at Mountain West Truck to get my tool box out of the truck, have a couple of repairs to do on the trailer. Stopped at a grocery store in Idaho Falls and then back home, several neighbors now.
Saturday 6/15 Rigby, ID
A number of years ago we were stranded in West Virginia waiting for repair parts for the trailer - the first of many broken spring hanger incidents to come - and we rather enjoyed exploring an area we had had no intention of visiting. It looks like this area may be the same. Headed into Idaho Springs (about 15 miles) first thing to visit the Saturday Farmers Market.
Very nice small market, a bit early in the season. We picked up some cheeses and some rhubarb. Visited the Mormon Cathedral, busy place as a number of weddings are taking place. The visitor’s center was quite nice and the ‘tour’ consisted of a guided tour of the visitor’s center, not the cathedral. There were photographs of various typical rooms within the cathedral.
After that we took a nice walk along the west side of the snake river. Very nice park and walkway along both sides of the river. Nice views of the waterfall over the very long dam and rocks below it.
Drove back to Rigby for lunch at Lil’ Mike’s Bar-B- Que. Nancy had brisket and chicken, I had a half slab of ribs. Ribs were very good, nicely cooked, sauce so-so. I would give them a seven. Nancy said Fire and Smoke in Tucson has nothing to worry about.
Going back home we stopped at a small, local cheese place, Manwaring Cheese, and picked up some Swiss and a package of curds.
Back home I crawled under the trailer to fix the folding arm under the living room slide that had once again pulled away. This hold the wiring for the electricity in the slide and it has pulled loose a number of times, not a good design. I thought I had it pretty goos the last time and it lasted about two years. The under side of the trailer is coated in mud from our two construction zone adventures: the bad news - anytime I touched anything I was showered with dried dirt! The good news - the mud had retained the old screws in the plate that had pulled off, so all I had to was reposition the plate and run the screws into fresh metal - which I’m running out of!
Nancy made three little strawberry/rhubarb pies, Yummy!, while I watched some of the 24 Hours of LeMans.
Sunday 6/16 Rigby, ID
Took our time getting going this morning. Another beautiful day, the weather, other than a couple afternoon showers and the thunderstorm on Thursday has been close to perfect here. Nancy had a hair appointment in early afternoon, After I dropped her off I went to the Bee’s Knee’s Pub for lunch, good black and blue salad with questionable sirloin in the salad. Then I took a lawn chair and sat on the grass by the waterfall on the riverwalk for the rest of the afternoon.
Monday 6/17 Rigby, ID
Starting out I ran the windshield wipers on the smart as it has sprinkled during the night and they streaked bad, too much sun in Arizona. Stopped at the O’Reilly Auto Parts just down the road from the park to see if they could order a pair and lo and behold they had a pair in stock! Turns out the manufacturers have figured out a way to cover all of the odd-ball attachment methods and the smart wiper have an attachment like I have never seen before.
Into town mid-morning. Stopped at Fred Meyer for a couple of things and then to the Museum Of Idaho. Mixed opinion about the museum. They had a row of 19th century storefronts containing the kind of displays we’ve seen in numerous museums around the country, a small display on the frontier history of the area, and a massive ‘special’ show on the inventions of Archimedes, this show was quite interesting, with a huge collection of large scale working models of his inventions. A high school physics course on two floors. Had lunch at La Vanilla Bean Patisserie in downtown area.
On the way home we stopped at a wonderful True Value hardware in Rigby. One of the best stocked we have ever seen with a wide variety of hardware and farm and ranch supplies. I was able to find a clevis that I could modify to correct the umbilical cord hanger that I had fixed with a couple of spring clamps on Thursday.
Tuesday 6/18 Rigby, ID
We’ve been making the one mile walk around the campground loop the last few mornings. One of the problems with traveling is lack of walking. We both feel better when we can get in a walk in the morning.
Mid-morning of another beautiful day we drove into Idaho Falls to the Aquarium of Eastern Idaho. One of the big attractions was the virtual reality undersea experience, which was out of order!
Not a bad little aquarium though, included displays of lizards and a number of birds as well. Stopped at Fred Meyer again and then Lucy’s Pizza for lunch.
Back in Rigby we stopped at the Scotty’s True Value again to pick up a new space heater since the little one we use in the AM conked out this morning, then the laundromat to do some laundry and back home around three.
Mike called from Mountain West and sent a picture of the damage to the old clutch. Flywheel not badly damaged, but out for normal resurfacing. Difficulty in removing motor mounts delayed them, still target completion tomorrow afternoon. Not surprised about the difficulty with the motor mounts, the truck is twenty years old and the trans has never been out.
Interesting weather around here, lovely days, but thunderstorms seem to build up in the afternoon. Severe thunderstorm warning north of us around 5 PM, followed shortly by tornado warnings just north of us. Watching the storms on radar on the iPad. We got some light rain and that was all.
Wednesday 6/19 Rigby, ID
During our walk this AM we spoke with one of the campground hosts and found that there is an RV dump station at the Sinclair gas station just down the road on the way to the interstate. That will be out first stop, hopefully tomorrow morning. Relaxing morning, only going as far a Rigby this afternoon. The round trip into Idaho Falls is getting to be a bit of a pin and we have ticked off most of the things we wanted to do.
We had thought about visiting Yellowstone Bear World just north of here, but decided that $36 was more than we wanted to pay for a drive through wildlife park.
Went to the nearby Wendy’s for lunch since we had free burger coupons from our tickets at the museum and aquarium. Went by the TV Museum, but it was still closed. Stopped at grocery store.
Late afternoon we found out the truck won’t be ready until Thursday afternoon. Bummer! Turns out they had a couple fleet trucks come in that needed immediate attention. Hey, those guys are losing money when their trucks are down, plus they bought their so understandable.
Very, very windy this afternoon, tree branches rubbing the side of the trailer. I trimmed as high as I could and after we found out the truck would not be ready I got out my ladder and trimmed it all away. Also fixed a missing spacer on one of the slide cover mounts. The big True Value came in handy again, found the spacer I needed for the awning. Stopped at Lil Mike’s BBQ for take-out for dinner.
So we will be cooling our heels here for another day! Tanks are getting full and we are using the pit toilets close by, fortunately clean and fresh.
It’s an Ill wind that blows no one good! We had planned on one night in Rigby, and were scheduled to be in Twin Falls tonight and headed for Caldwell, ID, on the far western side of the state, tomorrow. But we are here through tomorrow, only 148 miles from Gardiner, MT.
Our friends Karen and Gary, who are work camping in Gardiner, decided this week to cut the summer there short and go on a trip to Alaska. She has a collection of houseplants with her that she cannot take into Canada, so they called tonight and are driving down tomorrow to leave the houseplants with us! Without the truck breakdown and delay we would have been another 282 miles west tomorrow!
Thursday 6/20 Still in Rigby, ID!
Cool and very windy today. We just stuck around home, hoping truck will be ready in the afternoon. Karen and Gary arrived a little after 1 PM. Longer trip than they expected due to traffic delays in Yellowstone. They also brought Margo along with plants for us to take care of. Had a nice visit and they left around four.
Truck still not done! Double bummer! Now promising noon tomorrow. Keeping our fingers crossed!
Really, really windy this afternoon, glad to not be on the road!
Friday 6/21 Caldwell, ID
Cold last night! 37 degrees this morning. Finally ran through a propane tank so I ran down to the Sinclair station and filled the tank. Then prepared the trailer for travel, got everything done so we could just return and hook up.
About 10:30 we drove into Mountain West so we would be there when the truck was done. They didn’t make the noon time due to a couple of extras, but it was out of the shop a little before three. I loaded the car, we went back to Rigby to pick up the trailer, stopped at the dump station and finally dumped our tanks and we were through Idaho Falls and headed south by four. 300 miles to Caldwell, just north of Boise, and we arrived at Ambassador RV just about 9 PM. would have been a bit earlier except for two stops and go traffic jams, one for construction, one for who knows what! Long conversation with some kids and their dad about our rig, not so much the smart as the duals on the trailer! Turns out he is an RV tech and was quite interested.
Nice park, long pull throughs, large stone sites a bit close but with concrete pads beside trailer and strips of grass. very well maintained. Even had a greeter there to show us to our site at 9 PM!
So we’re back on schedule. Short haul tomorrow, 158 miles to Burns, OR.
Saturday 6/22 Burns, OR
Slept late this AM! Must have been due to the late arrival. We took quick showers and went to the nearby Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then stopped at the Flying J to top off our tanks, not cheap fuel, but the cheapest we will see until we are out of Oregon and Washington.
Back to trailer to pack up and rolled out at 11:01! Check out time 11! Uneventful trip to Burns, OR. Good road, light traffic, arrived to Burns RV Park about 1 PM Pacific, three hour drive. Long climb over the Steens Mountains and through the Harney Basin, but not real steep, just constant 9th gear climbing for quite a long time.
Relaxed in the afternoon, watch F1 qualifying that we had recorded this morning, then drove into downtown Burns to check out Gourmet and Gadgets kitchen shop which had been recommended by a commentator on the RV Park Reviews site. Amazing place where we spent the better part of an hour and bought several gadgets.
Went on to the next little town, Hines, to Boomers Place. Looked brand new in an old church. Very good burgers and beer on tap.
Sunday 6/23 Bend, OR
Got on the road about 10 AM. While we were hooking up I had a conversation with a neighbor about the smart and he said they came out of Boise the day before and they were held up for more than an hour by and accident involving a couple of semi’s, one towing a brand new fight wheel! Glad we stayed north of Boise in Caldwell!
Fairly easy drive to Bend, but a long period of slow traffic behind a couple of motor homes with trailers, plenty of places for cars to pass, but not so much for us.
Arrived in Bend around 1 PM, a lot of traffic going through town and to Scandia RV Park on the south side of the city. Nice park but a lot of trees! Satellite locked in on cable stations, but cannot pick up locals. Used our regular antenna so we can watch Endeavor tonight on PBS.
No pics this post, on campground WiFi.
