Wednesday - the Day of Repair

 

We really took advantage of being at "sea level"  I'm sure we're not but close enough.  We didn't get out of bed till 8:00 mountain time.  It felt so good just to be where we could breathe and not feel the RV rockin and rollin.  

The mechanics  showed up just as we were getting up and around.  I had to hurry and get dressed and  Joe had to close everything up so they could drive it over to the garage and check it out. 

The generator/alternator  was really fried.  We have to get a new one which they ordered for us.  Now we have to wait for it to come in. 

While the motor home was being worked on we could stay in their waiting room.  There was a little kitchenette there, they had 2 coffee pots going, and there was a television with a WII.  All the comforts of  home.  Joe found the coffee, I found the teeny beanies jelly beans - yum.

I worked some more on the blogs and getting them posted.  I am getting better at this blogging.  By the time I finish I might be an expert ha ha.

I just want to say that the people we have met through this whole ordeal have been extremely kind and helpful.

There was the couple that took me to the emergency phone.   They stayed with me while I called for help and then they took me back to the motor home so we could help Joe.  They stayed with us till we were able to deal with everything.  There were passing cars stopping to offer assistance.  The state police from Montana were helpful and supportive.  There was a wrecker that came with the state police who offered his assistance.  He was kind and helpful but his wrecker was just for cars. 

The huge wrecker that came that night was even helpful (at the time we didn't think so).  He and Joe talked and decided it wasn't a good idea to drive it off the mountain because it could start a fire. We decided that it was a good thing that he never came back to get us because his truck just was not big enough. Even though it was for larger trucks. 

The Hanser people were very kind.  They were so helpful.  Mr. Hanser  the owner greeted us the next day when the motor home came over to be checked out and fixed.  He told us that it was his son that came to get us.  The office people worked very hard getting all the paperwork in order so that it was a smooth ending.   With everything that they did for us we are eternally grateful to all of them. 

They had the motor home all fixed up and ready to go by mid afternoon.   Thank you all very much! It was a pleasure meeting all of you - it would have been much better under different circumstances.

 

 This a picture of our home getting fixed in the garage

 Here is where we are parked and below are some of Hanser's Towing Service.

Tuesday

 Today was the day.  WE WERE GETTING OFF THE MOUNTAIN!!!!  I cooked breakfast and did up the dishes.  We got ourselves ready and we tried to get everything put away as best we could.  We were probably ready by 8:00 in the morning.  Now all we had to do was wait. 

When I talked to the girl at Hanser's we figured they would leave first thing in the morning and they would probably get there about noon time.  So we had all morning to wait.  We double checked to be sure everything was battened down so nothing would break. 

Morning came and went and no tow truck.  Here we were thinking we were finally getting of that windy, cold mountain and no one was there.  It really was tough to take.  We pretty much were thinking we were not going to get off this place.  It was very scary.  Joe decided to go back to the emergency phone at talk to them again.  They were shocked that we were still there.  Since we were in Wyoming, they called the Wyoming State Police.  They said they would take care of it.  So we waited some more.  We just decided that whoever gets there first was the one to get us off the mountain.  So we waited some more.

I tried to suggest that he take a nap but he couldn't sleep so he sat in the chair and dozed.  I sat in the captain's chair and just read my book.  I watched as some people on Bicycles went by and was amazed because if the steepness of the roadways.  These were not young men either. I went back to my reading and just  waited.

A little while later I looked up again and there was this strange truck in front of us.  It said Hanser's on it so I called Joe to say we had company and then I saw the wrecker coming up the road.  We were so happy to finally see someone there to help us.  The relief was overwhelming.  We were finally going to get down off the mountain. 

They got everything done that needed to be done to hook us up and we were really on our way!  We followed them in the jeep down off that mountain.  It was a slow process because of the twists and turns and because we  were so long.  There was a pilot car ahead of us to stop traffic on the sharp bends so we could take both lanes to go around them.  It was a slow, slow process.

The wrecker got there about 2:30 in the afternoon and we left there about 4:00 to head back to Billings.  We got to Billings Montana about 9:00 that night.  The pilot car and we had to stop for gas and the wrecker went on.  When we got back on the road we followed the pilot car.  We never caught up to the wrecker till we hit the exit to get off for the place we were staying.  They had a place to park the motor home where we could set up for the night.  We could let out our slides and we  were comfortable for the night.

It was so wonderful to be able to open it up because we never had it open all the while we were on the mountain. 

It just felt good for both us to be able to breathe.  On the mountain at almost 11,000 feet the air was thin enough that we had to light the stove with a match because there wasn't enough oxygen to light it.  All our containers that we used are sucked in because now we are down to a lower elevation. 

We finally made it off the mountain.  I cannot say it enough!

Monday

 

Now we are waiting for the wrecker to show up.  Joe does not want to wait another day on this mountain.  I don't blame him I want to be off this mountain too - enough is enough.  He waited till 11:30 for them to show up and decided to go see what was the hold up.  He is also going to call the kids to let them know we are alright.  We usually talk to at least one of them a day and it has been 2 days since there was any communication.

Most of the day for me was spent waiting for him to get back.  So I read my Kindle, worked on my blogging, played games on the computer and sat in the Captain's chair and watched the mountain.  There were birds just soaring with the wind.  They would soar on the wind then they would close their wings and make a dive.  They wouldn't necessarily go after anything.  It was like they were playing. I tried to get a picture of one but it was too far away.  There was a small lake that looked like it was a big ocean.  There seemed to be a gap at the far end of the lake and you could see waves going across.  It was really cool to watch.  All of that was happening because of the wild wind. 

In the morning you can watch the sun rise by watching the landscape.  You can see the shadows move as the sun hits the rocks.

There are a lot of cars that drive by.  A lot stop to take pictures and you can watch them for a long time as they traverse the roads.  As cold as it is there were a lot of motorcycles going up and down the mountain.  We pretty much had a bird's eye view from where we were.

Joe got back about 4:00 in the afternoon.  He was not a happy camper.  He talked to the guy who was supposed to come and get us and he said he wasn't coming and that he called Billings Montana to have the wrecker from there come get us.  He said he called them Sat. night.  So Joe called and wanted them to come and get us and they said that AAA had to call them if we wanted them to foot the bill.  So Joe called AAA and they said it would be about an hour.  Hhe called at about 1:00 So he hurried back because he thought they would be here when he got here. So we waited some more.  They never came. 

After some discussion, it was decide that I would go to Red Lodge - back the way we came - hoping to run into the wrecker - to call and find out what happened.  After being on this mountain and knowing what it was like driving up to where we were. What with all the vistas, and DROPS, I could not look at it any more so I just kept my eyes on the road and didn't look.  I did drive slow and carefully down the mountain. 

I finally got a cell signal and called Lois to let her know what was going on.  I also asked her to call her sisters to let them know.  I wanted to conserve my cell phone to call the wrecker. 

I got to a gas station, told my plight to the girl behind the counter and she gave me the phone book so I could look up the number.  When I reached the Wrecker Company they told me they were waiting for AAA to call them back.  Apparently they had called for a price and then never called back.  They couldn't get a hold of us because we didn't have any cell service.  So it all got stalled.  The girl I talked to told me if we wanted to pay for the tow they could come out to get us.  I said I would call her back.  We were talking big money.  I finally called her back and said that we would pay for it.  We needed to get off that mountain. 

I finally got back to the motor home - it was almost dark.  I told him what happened and we had to spend one more night on that mountain.

These are some of the pictures I took on the mountain.  The black borders you see in some is the window frame.  I didn't even want to go outside.  I did on some.

Sunday - Our Day on the Mountain

 

What can you do on a Sunday with nothing to do but watch the grass blow in the wind.  We had to wait till Monday for the wrecker to come back again.  We had all day Sunday to just sit and wait. 

We have no cell phone access, no internet access but we did have satellite access.  So we could watch television.  We could watch all the cars go by.  Some stopped to take pictures.  You can see for miles and miles.  I read my book, played some games on the computer, made egg and tuna salad and watched the cars as they traveled back and forth on the switch backs.  You can see them for miles and miles too.

I also caught up on my blogging.  I wrote our experiences in Word so now when we get internet access again I can just copy them into my blog.  Joe got to watch some tennis but not as much as he wanted to.

We also got to talk about the night before and the fear we both had.  I was so frightened that I could not go to bed that night.  All I could think of was the RV just running away.  Joe even went out and put rocks at the wheels to help make me feel better.  He is such a good man, he stayed with me.  I sat in the chair ( I wanted to be close to the door just in case) and he slept on the most uncomfortable couch.  Finally about 4:00 I agreed to go to bed.  I was up at 6.

Sunday - probably because it was daylight - I felt much better and Sunday night it was ok for me to go to bed.

The wind here is something else.  It literally rocks the motor home. I know the wind has to be really strong to tip something as big at this but the thought is still there.  We figured the wind must have blowing at least 30 mph.  We couldn't even open or close the door to the motor home without a struggle.

It was pretty much a lazy day if it weren't for our position. 

Driving to Yellowstone

 

Beartooth Pass 10947 Ft.

Saturday morning we decided to start on the next leg of our journey and head for Yellowstone National Park.  The day was just beautiful.  Not a cloud in the sky.  It was in the 80's and we were listening to "Vanishing Acts" by  Jodi Picoult.  We were on 94 then to Rt. 212 to take us to Yellowstone.  We stopped in Red Lodge at a grocery store for supplies and then headed on our way.   Well everything went to hell from there.   The road we were on went up a mountain!  That was ok.  There were twists and turn and if you looked down you could see where we came from.  We got to the top of the mountain when the RV started acting up.  It was shifting hesitantly and started beeping.  We got on a straight away and the beeping stopped so we thought we were ok.  We got just to the crest of a downgrade and it completely died!  When it quits, everything quits.  The hydraulics the steering and the brakes.  Joe had his foot on the brake and it still would not stop!  And of course we are at the top of a mountain - there is no cell phone service to call 911.  Joe tried to start the generator that charges up the batteries and it would not start.

You are in the mountains with no fields that you hope you could steer into to at least save us.  All you see are drop offs.  One of the problem was we could not steer it.   There was a car coming and I got out of the RV and flagged them down and explained our problem.  They drove me back down the road to an emergency phone where I called for help. They were sending a tow truck and the police to help us.  The dispatcher wanted me to wait at the emergency phone but we needed to go back and help Joe. All I could think of was finding Joe in a gully or over a cliff with the RV.  We went back to where he was and he was still in the road with the flashers going.  I was so relieved he was still there. Someone had come along and placed a big rock under a wheel and that held the RV in place.  Thank God!!  He had also gotten the generator running and was charging the batteries.  The police finally arrived to check on us.  They were very nice though there was nothing they could do.  There was one wrecker - like what you use for a car.  That was not going to touch us.  He talked to Joe for a while and then he left.  The officers then called for a truck wrecker and they told us the wrecker would be there in a couple of hours and then they left.  

We finally got all the batteries charged up so we decided to head down the mountain.  We met the wrecker coming up the road. Because of all the switchbacks we could see him from a long ways off.  He had his lights on the top of his truck flashing. When he got closer we flashed our lights and he stopped beside us.  He and Joe talked for a minute or two and decided we should not drive down the mountain because with a bad generator it could start a fire.  No one needed that!  So the truck turned around and started working at hooking us up to tow us down the mountain. 

That should be the end of the story, right?  WRONG!  As they were trying to hook us up something on the wrecker broke - the universal joint.  Needless to say they had to unhook us, get us parked on the side of the road and said goodbye.  They would be back Monday to hook us up and take us back to the garage.  Or they could call a trucker in Billings Montana to come get us.  We opted to wait till Monday for him to get his truck fixed and come back and get us. 

So here we are stuck on the top of this damnable mountain for now.

Medora Musical

 

 

If I had a brain I would be dangerous.  Saturday night we went to the Medora Musical and I forgot my camera. So I will do my best to describe it.

 There was a "steak fondue" and buffet before the show They gave us these metal sectioned off trays for our food and we would all be in a line to go to the buffet. The buffet consisted of fresh veggies like carrots,  cherry tomatoes and broccoli with a ranch dressing.  There were baked beans and baked potatoes too.  Pretty much a nice country buffet. 

The interesting part was the steak fondue.  There were 5 vats of hot oil along the wall.  These vats were about the size of big oil drums.  Then there were all these pitchforks leaning against the railing.  They took the pitchforks and skewered about 8 steaks on each of them and leaned them against the railing.  They prepared the steaks first so you are seeing all these pitchforks with raw steaks skewered on them and all leaning against the railing.   Then they would stick a pitchfork into the vat of oil and cook the steaks and then they would be served to the people in line.   Never saw anything like it. 

Then we had water and desert which consisted of cinnamon donuts and chocolate cake.  It was all a lot of fun.

After you finished your dinner you had time to wander around and see the land and canyons and you could look down in this canyon and see the stage and the theater seats.  There was not a bad seat anywhere.  Our seats were just perfect.  Not so close  that we  couldn't see everything and high enough so that we were just above the stage.  It was a wonderful show

The musical show consisted of a group of singers and dancers who told the story of Theodore Roosevelt and how he thought he would never have been president but for his experiences in the Badlands of North Dakota.  It was all outdoors right in the badlands.  It even had live horses in it.  It was a lot of fun.