Kevin, we had just enough adventures to keep us on our toes (figuratively speaking).
Kim, I would have never imagined in a million years I would be driving a motorhome like that. It handles really well and is quite easy for me to drive. I think the biggest challenge was coming to grips with the geometry of how it turns. Once I figured that out, I find it quite easy to maneuver, even in tight places.
NeikoiStar, I had noticed you are from Montana. That is certainly a beautiful state. I am envious of how close you are to some of my favorite places!
In this installment, I will describe our trip to Yellowstone.
For the first time, we had decided to take 3 days to make the roughly 10 hour trip to Yellowstone. We spent the first night in a Walmart parking lot in Craig, Colorado, which is a bit less than 3 hours away from our house. The drive to Craig is almost all on narrow, two-lane roads that wind through various gaps in the rocky mountains. The drive went well and we had no issues with the motorhome (a first for us).
The second day we drove from Craig, Colorado to an RV park just outside Boulder, Wyoming. Again, it was a pretty uneventful drive. We did get to drive for about 80 miles on interstate for this leg of the trip, which covered a total of about 275 miles. Once again, we had no issues with the motorhome.
Our third day is where things started to get more exciting. Normally, we would drive from Boulder, Wyoming through Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park, entering Yellowstone through the south entrance.
Due to construction on the road from Yellowstone's south entrance to Madison campground, we decided to take the long way around, avoiding Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park. Instead, we went through Alpine, Wyoming and Idaho Falls, Idaho and entered Yellowstone through its west entrance.
Shortly after making the turn toward Alpine, Wyoming, my wife notified me that the van's volt meter was reading low. We pulled over at a gas station in Alpine, Wyoming and used a multimeter to test the alternator's output and confirmed it was a bit low.
While we were doing this, a nice guy wandered over and suggested a repair shop in Idaho Falls, which was still about 60 miles away. Alpine, Wyoming is a very small town and there was no hope of getting our van repaired there.
So, we pressed on, with my wife keeping a close eye on the volt meter. She reported that it continued to drop. The levels were low enough that I knew we were not putting energy into the battery, only sucking energy out of it. Before long, the car would simply stop running.
While all this happening, I was trying to work out alternatives that would allow us to charge the van's battery so it could limp into Idaho Falls. I realized that I had packed a bench power supply for use with my wheelchair that uses lithium batteries. For those who don't know, a bench power supply is simply a box that takes AC electrical input and outputs DC electricity at very carefully controlled voltage and current. I usually don't take that power supply with us on trips, but had packed it "just in case".
Our motorhome has a generator that we could use to provide power to the bench power supply.
About 30 miles from Idaho Falls, I found a place wide enough to pull over both the motorhome and the van. We fired up the motorhome's generator, hooked up the bench power supply, set it to the correct voltage, and charged the van's battery for about an hour. This put about 10 amp hours worth of energy into the battery, which I figured was enough to get us the next 30 miles to Idaho Falls.
While the battery was charging, I called the repair shop that had been recommended to us. They were booked up for the next 6 weeks! However, they did recommend us to someone that might be able to fit us in. I called that shop and they said we could drop off the van that day and they would squeeze us in the next morning. So, that is what we did.
Of course, it was not that simple. We drove to Idaho Falls and promptly got separated in traffic. The shop was in a pretty obscure location and both my wife and I independently got lost several times on our way to the shop. Eventually, the shop owner drove his own vehicle to where I was lost and guided me to his shop.
He turned out to be a wonderful guy and took really good care of us.
We spent that night at an RV park in Idaho Falls. We drove from the repair shop to that RV park during rush hour. Google routed us through the old downtown of Idaho Falls, which has ridiculously narrow streets. This was the first time my wife had ever ridden in the motorhome. She kept shouting that I was going to hit things on the passenger side. I had to reassure her there was more space on the passenger side than on the driver's side. The streets were really quite narrow.
We made it to the RV park and got settled in. Once again, we had no issues with the motorhome.
Our two cats accompanied us on the trip and they really liked that RV park. I have attached a picture of them peering out the motorhome's door.
Our van was ready the next morning. The repair shop did outstanding work, going above and beyond to replace our failed alternator. I can't say enough good things about it.
We ignored google's advice about how to get from the RV park to the repair shop and drove a much better route without any issues. We picked up the van and proceed to the Madison campground in Yellowstone.
So, our 3 day trip to Yellowstone turned into a 4 day trip. There was a little excitement with the van, but nothing that could not be handled with the equipment we had with us. We were very fortunate to find such a wonderful repair shop.
Steve
