Does Anybdy Know What Time It Is?

As I write this well past overdue entry, the cobwebs of DST are playing tricks on the Nardozzi's. The last time I published was early August and we had ventured into Canada. We exited our neighbor to the north at the end of July, so yeah, blame DST. Busy having too much fun, or simply lazy...

Since then, we'd visited Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, Oregon and now we're camped at the foot of Mount Shasta, California. So I suppose it's time to catch up and share some of the memorable places.

Back in the USA

We landed in New Baltimore, Michigan after about an hour delay departing Canada. We were flagged and pulled over to allow US agriculture inspectors to enter the rig. We had live plants and some dairy products. They confiscated one plant that we bought in Canada and a dozen eggs. The inspector was a decent guy and following USDA protocols. He said the eggs were a no no because of the Avian Flu. Oh? No worries, I guess. Let the Canadiens die from ingesting the eggs, but not in the US. Something tells me his wife made a massive frittata the next morning.

Our camp site was on the shores of Anchor Bay that is Lake St. Clair. This a really large body of water and as we looked across the bay, we were looking at Canada. The bay is fed from Lake Huron.

Julie decided to try the water. The downtown area was small, but lined with neat shops and a large beach that was packed with a lot of folks escaping the heat.

Bryan, Ohio

We stayed at the Stony Ridge Winery (a Harvest Host), and the people there were wonderful - it's a locals place and there's a good reason why - not much around. So we ventured into Bryan and discovered some pretty cool stuff.

Turns out Bryan is the home of Spangler Candies. They're the people that make Dum-Dums lollipops. They bought Necco Wafers, but didn't move the equipment from Everett, Massachusetts - too expensive. Now the candy is made in Mexico. Dum-Dum logo in bottom center image.

We're Going to Bremen!

Chandler Bing got on a plane to Yemen, we headed west via the Puffin to Indiana.

Bremen is southwest of Elkhart & Goshen, where Elkhart is referred to as the RV capitol of the world. Pictured above is an early vintage RV, but I doubt the people who reside in Rentown would agree. Actually, the largest concentration of Amish live in the Elkhart and LaGrange region.

In truth, the "Dachweggeli," is the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect for buggie. This one was parked outside the towns supermarket.

We spent a few days here, visited a mill renovated in downtown that was turned into retail spaces and antiques shops, food courts and clothing. Bremen is where we learned too much about manufactured and modular housing, as there was a factory there and we toured model homes. Some were surprisingly beautiful and well built. That had us thinkinng about what happens when we got off the road. Definitely an option, but still unsure of all the economics and pitfalls.

American Legend

As we headed west, we stopped in Illinois for a couple of nights, then continued until we reached Adel, Iowa. Adel was interesting, because in nearby Winterset, it is the birthplace of John Wayne.

There's a museum there and you can tour that and the house he grew up in. Last year, we went to the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma, which had an entire wing dedicated to the Duke. And there was still a lot here. Love him or hate him, or the movies he's made, he's left quite an impression on a whole lot of people. On the way back, we diverted to see Hogback bridge. It was constructed in the late 1800's and is seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

We made a couple of stops in Nebraska and camped at Pine Grove in Greenwood, which is just 10 minutes from Lincoln. There we had a weather scare, where lines of thunder storms, haboobs came barreling through the campground. The wind speeds were supposedly clocked at over 70 miles per hour. We were glued to the internet until the warning to seek shelter was announced. I couldn't open the rig door, the wind was so fierce, but managed to get out. Julie and I ran into the laundry, a brick building with a lot of others, some in bed clothes and waited it out. It passed quickly and the day unfolded like nothing ever happened.

We also visited a famous candy store, which draws tourists. We didn't buy a lot, but did get their "Melt-Away" candy that they're known for.

Wyo, Why is this happening?!?

Patience, we'll get there...

Small is Really, Really Big!

Pine Bluffs, Wyoming is a super small town, with a population of under 1,200 people. You'd think the name should have been Cheers, as everybody, but everybody knows your name. We stayed at a Harvest Host, Pine Bluffs Distillery, which was small and on the site that is surrounded by farm fields and construction of a new retail development... dusty and dirty for sure.

There were all of two places for dinner in Pine Bluffs and we chose the one that shares the building with a gas station.

Curries is family owned and operated and serves fresh, delicious meals. We sat at the bar and were the star attractions because we were obviously new faces. And everybody starts talking to us like we'd been there for a long time. A guy at the end of the bar was a bit cantankerous and mixing it up with the patrons. He ordered a steak, pulled out his own untensils and kept bellyaching about how much air weighs and other important matters. My eyebrows had a headache from arching in disbelief. Still, we had a really good time and enjoyed the place and the people.

The next morning we stopped at Curries and had a great breakfast. The owners daughter ran the place and it was just as great as the night before, although much more low key. From there, we hiked up to the towns historical museum from a truck stop on the eastern side of I-80, which was once the site of the town dump. There's a lot of history there that dates back hundreds of years. Oh, the museum guide asked if we saw any rattle snakes, as they were out yesterday, sunning thrmselves on the path. I feel my eyebrows starting to arch again... The guide was a sweet woman, who was the aunt and sister to the Currie family. Cheers!

Here Comes The Fun, Here Comes the Fun and I say, it's not right...

So yeah, I changed the lyrics to that famous Beatles song.... Not far from Pine Bluffs, the landscape was changing pretty dramatically, as we ascended up these long steep grades and happened upon the monument of Abraham Lincoln. It is significant because it marks the highest point of Interstate 80 and is located between Cheyenne and Larramie, but also because a man named Joy who believed there should be a continuous transcontinental roadway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Located on Sherman Summit, at a rest area it is well visited by more than a quarter million travelers per year. We stayed more than an hour, going through the visitors center and seeing the monument and surrounding exhibits.

We got into the Puffin and prepared to leave and as I was going through ensuring all was okay, the diesel brakes would not engage. Turning off the engine and restartting didn't let the brakes engage. We were puzzled, but know that the truck brakes work, so we'll slow down and take it easy. Then we started down a steep, curvy grade and the dashboad starts telling us that not only do we not have diesel brakes, but we can't accelerate and our speed was capped at around 40MPH on a 70MPH highway. What you see below is the area that had a cutout where we pulled over to figure out what was happening and how we get out of this mess.

We called Banks GMC in NH to ask what the heck was happening. We had just been in NH, had the truck a complete checkup, all systems checked, fluids, brakes, oil, etc. I talked to a tech advisor that said while the diesel brakes aren't woking the truck was still okay to drive while towing the trailer. He also suggested to get to a GMC dealer ASAP and lastly, have GMC run a remote diagnostic check. The remote diagnostics suggested a part was defective and get to a GMC dealer ASAP. Larramie was about 25 miles away, so we called the GMC dealer who told us that we could get an appointment in about 4 - 5 weeks.

There's a lot of ways to travel and camp in an RV. Wandering without having a reservation is one way and a lot of folks do that... it's pretty cool. Others, like Julie and I keep a schedule, specifically we needed to get to the Seattle area around the middle of September. Hanging around Larramie to wait to get a service appointment was not in the cards. So we pressed on to our next stop in Rawlins, which was about 120 miles west and had a GMC dealer. We called and left a message.

Rawlins used to be a vibrant community, it was a major stop for the Union Pacific railroad that serviced the sheep and cattle industries. It also was host to Wyoming's frontier penitentiary. Now it's a museum and has been the location of some major motion pictures. Julie and I toured the former prison and read a lot about the people incarcerated there.

Then the GMC dealer returned the message I left. They were a small dealership, had only one diesel mechanic and were backed up. They suggested we try Larramie. Okay, enough!

The Nardozzi Brain Trust convened a meeting of the superior council of what now? We're on a strict schedule, with a one or two day flex, if necessary, but waiting weeks was not an option. We were destined for Seattle, where my youngest was about to give birth to our first grandaughter. It's important and not to be missed..

The Puffin doesn't like that the Auk is having struggles and decides to join in - a sympathy strike - where one of the front living room slides doesn't want to operate correctly. I have visions of us stranded, the home on wheels rotting in a field somewhere, while the Auk looks on and says "I know how you feel".

So we decide to press on and get to Lyman, Wyoming, which adds another 175 miles to the journey and there is another GMC dealer to tell us what we already know. The image above represents the highway, where steeper grades and circumventing mountain ranges is becoming common and we are concerned about towing. So we make a decision.

Tow, Tow, Tow Your Rig... and yout truck too!

The next leg of our journey had us landing in the Salt Lake City area, Layton, Utah, where there was a large GMC dealer who would take us. We were told that GMC would pay tow costs up to a certain amount, but we also had to get the Puffin towed. Layton was about 150 miles and we weren't sure how long the Auk would be in for service and would need to find a place to sleep. We also didn't want to back track to pick up the Puffin, so we had that towed too. The decision to have everything towed to Utah turned out to be a good choice. Not only did we descend from mountains, it was winding and in places scary. Julie and I were in the cab with the tow driver who got us safely to Layton. After getting a ride to the campground, the Puffin showed up and the couple who transported it were really nice and stayed through the landing gear down process.

You Knew?

The issue was a control valve in the transmission that communicated to the engine. Okay, so replace it, we said. Turns out that GMC knew, never issued a recall and were backed up months in trying to address the problem We were told that we'd have to join a queue along with other customers to get the Auk repaired. It was kind of a first come, first served proposition. They said it could take months.

The service advisor was a really nice woman who explained everything, as we explained our need... we don't live here, are headed to Seattle and need to get there... we couldn't hang around for months and needed realistic options to keep our schedule. Again, we planned campgrounds in advance, paid deposits and would lose many of them if we had to cancel. We laid out options, as did they and it included trading in the Auk for a newer truck. As the Auk was still under warranty, they arranged a loaner, so our time is the area wasn't wasted. We also got a mobile RV service to fix the slide system, so things seemed to be looking up.

After a lot of hand wringing, we opted to a trade in. Although not a dually or a long bed, this is the "Ultimate" Denali 3500HD, which is every bit as capable of towing the Auk. The truck is loaded, including massage seating. I'm not sure I want a truck seat massaging my rear end, but whatever. The truck was the same year as ours, had fewer than 15K miles, new tires and air bag rear suspension assist specifically for towing. A dealership executive used it for towing a boat, and it was checked as having the right control valve. Although they were able to locate a new transmission and might have squeezed the service in before our scheduled departure, we opted for certainty. The people at the dealership were incredible. They understood our frustration, the Auk' technical woes and were constantly active in working with us to find a solution. They were a lot better than GMC corporate who never really responded to our issues. We appreciated everyone there, service, sales and management. They went out of their way to help us, so hats off to Young Buick & GMC.

Aside from worrying, Julie convinced us to make the best of our time there while we worked through the decision process.

We took a drive to Ogden and visited the campus of the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Beautiful gardens, upscale downtown where we had dinner. We also went to downtown Salt Lake City to visit some cool shopping areas. Parking is a PIA, but we were able to visit some cool shops, one in specific. Our goal was to replace the coffee maker that died (seems like the breaking things was with us), and Williams Sonoma was there, so coffee is now good again.

One day, we rode out to Antelope Island and learned a lot about the great salt lake, it's the largest saline body of water in the western hemisphere and is land locked. Of course everybody knows about its buoyancy; hard to sink. It's pretty shallow at roughly 33' 75 miles long and 35 miles wide. It's a haven for migratory birds, home to horses, antelope and bison. The lake is a unique place, as is the park. Brine flies and shrimp are in abundance, which leaves a symphony of odors. It smells. It's an amazing and beautiful visual place and well worth spending the day there. If you're inclined, you can camp there.

From Utah to Washington State next...