The saga of going West

Cathedral Spires, Custer State Park, South Dakota

This was not our normal pre-trip adventure. Who knew that preventative maintenance has the potential to make things worse!

     In April, we needed to do some work on the truck, and some brake work on the camper.  Unfortunately we had a hard time getting a consensus on what,  if anything was wrong with the truck. Mark thought it was the brakes,  but the mechanic that we asked to fix them said they were fine, and that it was the idler arm and Pitman arm that were in really bad shape. Mark went for other opinions and was told that they didn't need replaced by 3 other mechanics. We were so confused, and after much research,  Mark decided to wait and keep an eye on things. Then he went for a simple oil change, so why was there oil dripping when we got it home? Turns out it was just really messy mechanics. Then Mark decided to have the camper brakes replaced, they had enough miles on them and we didn't think that should be a big job. But after they were replaced Mark didn't think they were working as well as the old ones. He took the camper right back to the shop and they adjusted the brakes again and sent him home.  Luckily he is a really handy guy, studies up, and understands this type of thing.  Because it turns out that the brake kits were installed on the wrong sides. They are marked right and left for a reason!
     We were somehow ready to leave on time, and made it to our first night's stop with no problems! Unfortunately the next morning brought some concern when Mark noticed some wrinkles on our camper roof that hadn't been there when we left. While we were driving down the highway, I did a bit of research. So I scrunched down in my seat so I could see the camper roof in the side mirror, and the membrane covering the roof was inflating like a balloon in the wind. Not so good!

Notice where the tan line above the white line is raised,
the tan shouldn't be showing! (The rest is clouds,)

     We made it to our next night's stop in Illinois and started our research. Was it safe to continue our trip? Should we head back to Ohio? Again we got many conflicting ideas. None of the local rv shops could get us in before June. We found a shop in Rapid City, South Dakota (which was our next decent sized city stop) that said they could get us in when we got there. Mark did some reinforcement and we crossed our fingers,  and headed west.

Lattice and tie downs from home depot are pretty handy!

     We did did stop for a bit of hiking at Starved Rock State Park, in Ogelsby, Illinois. It reminded us a bit of Hocking Hills.  

      We headed to the Wisconsin Dells next.  We spent a day exploring. We hiked to a little beach on the Wisconsin River, so I could put my toes in the sand! Then we explored the kitchy town, and took a nice boat ride on the Wisconsin River. We even went past the little beach that we had visited earlier. The Cambrian sandstone is layered like pancakes and has beautiful gorges and formations. The Witches' Gulch area reminded us a bit of Antelope Canyon without the reds and oranges.

      

      Needing some refreshment, we enjoyed a flight of local beers at a fun, quirky brewery. We just kept giggling when we looked at each other! But everyone was wearing them, so we didn't feel out of place!
 

At Moosejaw Brewery with our moose antler hats

 

     We had a new experience! We got to "camp" a few nights in an RV repair shop's parking lot! The owner is great and even plugged our camper in to his electricity! Waiting on insurance, we ended up spending a week there. There was plenty to do, and the good news is that the camper was ready in time to get us headed for Glacier National Park to start work on schedule.  In the meantime we waited and explored. We spent some nights in the parking lot and others at hotels in different areas. Tried out 2 different local breweries and a winery, and ate some really good food! We saw Mt Rushmore, hiked at the Badlands and Custer State Park. We even stopped at Wall Drug, On our last night in the area, we checked out downtown Rapid City and saw some of the cool presidential statues that are around the city.

Mount Rushmore

The Badlands

Mark always wanted to ride a Jackalope at Wall Drug!

The pararie dogs were so cute!

Bison at Custer State Park

More Cathedral Spires at Custer State Park

      We were finally ready to leave Rapid City, after being there for a week.  But the forecast was calling for 9 to 16 inches of snow on the route that we had planned. Ugh, what next! Should we stay put, or try to find another route. We were able to find another route that avoided all the mountain passes. We drove through alot of rain, but fortunately no snow!

     I thought we had enough interesting glitches, but there were more still. We arrived in the town of East Glacier, and there was a railroad underpass indicating a clearance of 12'  8".  Mark had written down that the camper needed 12' 6" to be comfortable, plus a bit more for the new roof!!! We really didn't want to knock off our air conditioner and damage that new roof!! As we were waiting, a semi truck passed through without problems, so we tried it and safely made it through! (Phew!!)
     We had arrived at our destination, Glacier Park Lodge, all was good!  We drove over to the campground where we had been told to find a site that we liked and to let the manager know what we picked. We walked around, and most of the sites were quite small for our slightly larger fifth wheel! The camp host tried to help us, suggesting that she could move people that were already settled to get us a longer site. Knowing the our co-workers likely wouldn't appreciate having to move, we looked again at the only spot that was even an option for us. It had 3 tree stumps in our way. The biggest obstacle was a smaller stump, and we have a hatchet.  Mark went to work on it until it was gone and we could maneuver into the spot! 

     The good news is we are here and settled in for the summer in this gorgeous area, just outside of Glacier National Park. The people we have met are all so nice (since we didn't make them move their campers), and there's miles of trails, glacial lakes and snow covered mountains to explore!!
Let us know if you'll be in the area!!

Running Eagle Falls

The view from the back of the lodge where we work