Stranded!

Yes, when I typed this, we were stranded! 50 miles from Kooskia, Idaho in one direction and 100 miles short of Missoula, Montana in the other.

Highway 12 – one of the most beautiful stretches of road we have ever traveled! Lots of twists and turns as it follows the Lochsa River, which is almost continuously white water.

BUT, it is also a very deserted stretch of highway. We departed the McCall, Idaho KOA right on schedule, knowing we had a long travel day, with 265 miles of state highway ahead. Although the state highways are always the prettier route, they are never a quick one.

Not too long after our turn on to Highway 12 at Kooskia, Idaho, we ran in to road construction. After following the pilot car through the maze, we were stopped at the end and told we had a flat tire on the trailer. Going so slow through the road construction, we just weren’t aware of it. Thankfully there was an area where we could pull over and Roger changed out the tire.

Thinking all was well, we headed out again. Only on the road about 30 minutes, when Roger pulled over to let the cars behind us pass, only to see smoke boiling out of the axle where he had just changed tire. Much to our chagrin, we discovered that tire #2 was also ruined! On more detailed inspection, Roger found that a spring & shackle had broken and was evidently the cause of the ruined tires. This stretch of winding road was obviously just the last ‘straw’ for the suspension of the trailer.

What does one do when you are 50 slow miles from ‘civilization’ in one direction and 100 slow miles in the other direction? Since we had just passed a ranger station/info center about ½ mile back, we unhooked from the trailer and drove back there . . . only to find that it was a ‘historical’ site! Yes, we found a ranger . . . with no phone – or electricity! He directed us back about a mile to an emergency call box. Found that and the voice on the other end took Roger’s AAA information and assured us they would dispatch assistance.

Ninety minutes later a very nice patrolman pulled up, checked to make sure we were ok, visited with Roger a bit, ‘assessed’ our situation, and indicated he would call for a tow vehicle large enough to get our rig off the highway.

Two hours later, a tow truck arrived, far too small to be of any use in hauling the trailer. The trailer couldn’t be ‘towed’ as the rear wheels wouldn’t turn anyway! But the guys couldn’t have been nicer and worked over two more hours trying to ‘fix’ the trailer where we could at least pull in to the “Wilderness Gateway” national park campground for the night. Finally, about 9:30 – just before dark – we limped in to this beautiful – but ‘wilderness’ campground, on three tires. They had even tried putting the truck spare tire on, but it wouldn’t work. For those of you who aren’t campers, ‘wilderness’is just that – no electricity, no water, no sewer hookups! Now I know some folks think that ‘wilderness’ camping is their idea of ‘fun’ – and it can be if you are prepared for it! But we were not.

Not good news when we are traveling with a chest freezer full of food. Hadn’t bothered to buy ice that morning, thinking we would just grab it when we arrived in Missoula. Guess we wouldn’t qualify for any ‘Boy Scout’ awards, for we were definitely not prepared for this!

To make matters worse (if that was possible!) Roger missed the turn into the ‘loop’ where our site was, and ended up having to back the rig back a hill about a quarter of a mile. That was just about the last straw for this girl, and a melt-down was brewing.

A few days later. . .

I'm happy to report that the next day, about 1:30 in the afternoon, a young man with a portable welder pulled up and proceeded to spend the next two hours working on our trailer, welding it back together. About 4:00 p.m. we closed up the trailer and tentatively tried out 'wings'. When nothing snapped, crackled or popped, we headed on north, making it in to Missoula about 6:30 that evening. Boy, were we glad to get back to civilization! Thankfully our freezer was nearly full and the food made it through two days of no electricity with flying colors.

Since we had no way to communicate, we had sent a message with the tow truck driver to call our boss at the Home Office and alert him to our predicament, and ask him to call the Missoula KOA and tell them of our delay. Well, talk about the child's game of "gossip"! By the time we got to Missoula that evening, the story was that the 'axle had come out from under the trailer and we were in an accident . . .' Far from the truth, but that's how easily things get twisted. Me thinks that the tow guy was trying to tell our boss what 'could' have happened, instead of what actually happened . . . or maybe it just lost something in the translation!

But with that 'adventure' behind us, we decided to do two reviews in one day so we wouldn't have to reschedule several parks. Had a beautiful morning at Missoula, but by the time we arrived at Deer Lodge (about 90 miles east), a cold front had come through and we did the walk-about that evening in cold, wet weather. By Saturday morning, the temps were in the low 40's and headed lower.

Our next stop was a bit south in Dillon. Woke up Sunday, June 7th, - our 40th wedding anniversary! Opened the door to find it was SNOWING! Made for a memorable anniversary anyways! But for us, right now, it was just another day. We'll take time to celebrate this fall with our cruise to Mexico.

So here it is June and we'll spend most of this month in Montana. Had scheduled two nights in Butte, as our boss was scheduled to meet up with us there for three visits. Got word at the last minute that his plans had changed, so we actually had a bit of down time to catch our breath. At the suggestion of the new owners there, we did their exit review at Muzz & Stan's Freeway Bar - over their infamous Whop Chop sandwich! Its a fried pork chop that literally is so tender it melts in your mouth! Made for a nice break.

As I write this tonight, we are at the Bozeman KOA - one of our favorites. They have a beautiful pool and splash park complex here and it always makes me wish the grandkids were here to enjoy it. This is also the place where Roger always finds his huckleberry ice cream - and I noticed he slipped a couple of pints in the freezer this evening.

We'll land in Billings early next week and plan to take the trailer in to the dealership for a check up. It will be nice to sit still for about 3 days and hopefully catch up with some old friends. But we won't let any moss grow, for we'll be back on the road again as soon as the trailer has a clean bill of health.