Thanks to everyone who read, recommended and commented on the first part of this saga.
Let’s start with a little background. I’ve done plenty of camping before, I was a Boy Scout leader for nine years. I’m just new to the whole RV trailer thing. Since my grandson started quarter midget racing, we’ve found that traveling out of town one or two weekends a month, staying in a hotel and eating out for several meals. So we picked up a used trailer and a used pick up to haul it to the tracks. Before this trip I’ve hauled it from Seattle to Portland, Yakima, and British Columbia. So when I found campsite reservations at Yellowstone, it seemed like the thing to do.
Now back to Sunday morning in Missoula. After we realized that there wasn’t any irreplaceable or identifiable in the truck, and a police report was not going to get them back, we went in search of a wheel and tire. We checked at the Walmart across the street. Turns out it’s one of like 6 in the US without a tire department. They directed us to one 5 miles back towards the interstate. So we packed up and checked out of the hotel. At the next Walmart they did sell tires, but not wheels. I talked a mechanic into hammering out the dinged wheel and putting a new tire on it. We also picked up another tire iron (didn’t know if the first one was in the truck or not), a new jack and more leveling pads.
Once the tire was repaired, we threw it into the truck and headed 40 miles back west to our trailer. Unlike the tools, the trailer hadn’t been molested. I got the 4x4’s and and a set of leveling pads under the Jack and started pumping. Got the jack all the way up, but while it was high enough to pull the shredded tire off, but not high enough to get the new wheel on. Drop it down, add some more leveling pads, jack it up again, still ran out of stroke before I could get the wheel on. Drop the jack again, use the trailer lift the move the front of the trailer up some more. Put a couple more leveling pads under the jack and finally get the axle up high enough to get the new wheel on. Hook up the trailer (never an easy task anyway) and get back on the highway.
I kept looking back at the wheel and it really didn’t seem to be all right. I thought it seemed to be wobbling back and forth. Drove my wife nuts as I drove 50 miles an hour all the way back to the Walmart in Missoula. While the second wheel is getting a new tire, I get the mechanics to look at the axle and they agree that it’s bent. Well it’s Sunday, no self respecting RV or tire shop is open. Now my choices are spend the night in the Walmart parking lot or the KOA another mile back towards the interstate.
Well, the KOA has a full hook up site available. We pull the trailer up there and get settled in. Everyone we’ve talked to has suggested that the largest RV dealer in town is too busy to actually deal with customers and that we should try one of the smaller guys. So as I sat there stewing, I realized that there was no way to salvage a trailer based vacation. Even if any of the shops were open on Monday, it was going to take anywhere from days to weeks to get it back on the road. Got on the phone to the reservation folks and started a new plan.
All lodging, and the campsite reservations are handled by a 3rd party, Xanterra, so I called them up to cancel my campsite and see if I could manage to snag a room for a couple of nights. Their website is user hostile, but all the online folks were very helpful and they’re actually located in the park. They couldn’t find me one room for 3 nights, but we were able to piece together 3 different rooms for one night. Unfortunately one was a PREMIUM room in the Old Faithful Inn for $400 a night. I chose a different set of options but managed to get one night in the Old Faithful Inn (for less than $400) and another night at a cabin on Yellowstone Lake. I filled in the final two nights in West Yellowstone at commercial lodges. Finally, there’s hope.
Monday dawns wet and cold. It being Labor Day, no one is open. I update my status with the KOA manager. Unfortunately they they’ve rented my space out for later in the day, but they do move a few reservations around and give me a new spot I can stay at for 3 or 4 days. We move the trailer and settle in for a rainy day. I set up the TV and Blu Ray and we spend several hours watching Harry Potter.
More to come starting with Tuesday.
Shout outs:
bfitzinAR:
I too have found that mountains are my spirit place. Here’s a couple for you.
Yellowstone2011:
Thanks for the encouragement. Homestake pass without the trailer wasn’t terrible, it might have been hell with the trailer. I changed my original North Entrance plan for West Yellowstone once I got hotel reservations (the webcams were showing almost no smoke). So I pulled off the Interstate before Three Points.
jginnane:
Roger Miller said “You Can’t Roller-skate in a Buffalo Herd”, he was right. Wait til you see my efforts..
Link to Chapter 1: www.dailykos.com/...