July 26th, Saturday- Day #77 Saw the new truck today.

 Sometimes good things can come out of situations like this. We have met the nicest people at the Tilleman Dealership. From Bill the Service manager, Sam the service writer to Jennifer the Sales Manager and Mark our salesman- they couldn't do enough for us. We even met the owner who wants our case number to call GM and see if he can get us something.

All of these friendly, kind people have made a very difficult time a whole lot easier to handle and Ed and I can not thank them enough!

                                                          Hello new truck.

Today emptying our truck was the goal. Lots of RV things that had to be moved like the hitch, generator, water and def. Then on Monday we will move it all into the new truck. They also are switching the tires and moving the tonneau cover onto the new truck along with our mud flaps.

                                                        Goodbye broken truck.

I am sure everything will go smoothly. Ed has had to change our reservations once again for the third time but we will be ready to get on the road again on Tuesday and might make some additional stops on our way East. 

We shall see!!!

July 25th Friday- Day #76 A truck is on its way!

 

It took all day yesterday and all afternoon today to find a truck at a dealership that would swap trucks. We thought we found a black truck this morning and by the time we contacted them it was sold. 

At 4:20 pm (they close at 5:00) a truck was found that would work! I am SO glad we didn't have to wait until Monday to find one. We were starting to run out of dealerships that were close enough to swap and transport trucks. Even thought of renting a truck that would haul the RV but then we would have to return it here in Montana, so that wouldn't work.

The new truck will be here tomorrow, papers will be signed on Monday. We will be back on the road on Tuesday!!! 

                 I took a walk to see the little petting zoo they have at the campground.

                                                                     Donkeys

Rooster, hens and Chickens that were still in the coop.

Goats

Goat sleeping on a rock.

Swan Goose

We are still waiting to hear something from the dealership about a truck. Guess it takes time when you have to "trade trucks"!

July 24th Thursday- Day #75

I try to think "it could always be worse" and "this too shall pass". 

We could have had an accident while traveling on the high, curvy roads through the Rocky Mountains in Canada with no cell service.  

At least we are at a campground that has utilities and a Walmart 10 minutes away. Things could have been a lot worse!

And a train 500 feet away that runs every couple of hours hauling mostly fuel. At least it doesn't blow a whistle and run after 12:00 am!

Spent the day at the Dealership. Everyone has been great trying to help us in both service and sales. There was even a lady waiting for her vehicle to be serviced that overheard what was going on. She offered to keep our RV at her farm if we needed to store it for a few months!

The issue with GMC is a parts request has been placed and they will not even look at it for 14 days. There is no thing as an emergency. After that they will tell us that the part is on back order (covered by warranty) and as we know it is around a three month wait. 

Right now it looks like our only hope is that they can find a truck that we can buy. Fingers crossed! This too shall pass and we will be on the road again.

 

July 23rd, Wednesday Day #74- NOT a good day

 Wednesday headed to Harve, Wyoming and The engine banged, reduced our speed and the engine light went on again. Ed drove 45 mph on a 70 mph speed limit and called the dealership in Havre. We got there at 4:00 pm and they were so helpful.

We dropped the trailer in their parking lot and they squeezed us in to read the code. It was not good. The valve body needs to be replaced and guess what? There isn't any anywhere. This truck dealership has 7 trucks waiting for the part, same thing with a dealership Ed talked to in Oregon.  One man has been waiting since April- that's right 3 months!

Ed called GMC and after numerous phone calls nothing can be done. He even called the Ocala dealership. No help, no parts available.  Everyone says it is back ordered.  

 So what are our options?                                                                                            

Stay here for up to three months waiting in line for a part. 

Try to ship the RV back to Florida and leave the truck here or ship the truck home too. 

Then try to ship all the fish in the freezer home.                                                                       

Buy suitcases and take as much of the clothes home as we can. (We packed both winter       and summer clothing for this trip.) 

Pay for flights home for us and Aussie. How does that work? He can't fit under our seat!   

Hire transportation to the airport here and again from Orlando. If we leave the truck here we need to fly back up to get it. Then pay for hotels to drive it back home.

OR buy a new truck even though this one is almost paid for and this dealership doesn't have anything that will tow our RV except one that has a bed too long so they need to trade trucks with another dealer.

What to do? 

July 21st Monday Day #72 & July 22nd Tuesday Day #73 - Glacier Park

Monday- Today we went to the GMC Dealer in Kallispell. When Ed changed the filter the code and engine light went out. The service guy said that was what it was and they couldn't put the code machine on the engine until Wednesday. He wouldn't put the machine to read the code error until then.

Tuesday- Day # 73

Went to glacier but the weather was rainy and foggy so we decided to take the free shuttle to the top. Here are some photos.

Before entering the park.

Entering Glacier Park

We couldn't see anything at the top but I got this 

shot on our way down from the shuttle.

Planning to leave tomorrow for Harve, Wyoming.]

July 20th Day #72 Sunday- Columbia Falls, Montana

 

                   We are staying at the Mountain View RV Park, Columbia Falls

                                      

Drove into Whitefalls, a real "western town", walked around and shopped in some of the stores. Many of them were closed because it was Sunday. But there were also many bars, restaurants and sports bars open. 

A stage was set up for a band but unfortunately we didn't get to hear them play.

I saw these books in one of the stores. It reminded me of all the animals from our vacation.

 

They have coffee buildings just like in Alaska.

Off to the Truck Dealership tomorrow. Ed changed the air filter and it was really clogged. Must have been from the dusty Alaskan roads. The truck seemed to be running okay today so hopefully that was the problem.

July 19th, Day # 71 Saturday- Headed to Montana

 

We had the most amazing vacation of a lifetime because of Cathy and Charlie! Cathy is like a walking Alaska encyclopedia and she showed us places and things that we never would have seen or experienced without her! 

We can't thank them enough for being our "Tour Guides". 

8:00 am 

We left at the same time from Jasper.  Cathy and Charlie went east and after getting gas we traveled south. 

But one mile away from the gas station we had a problem with our engine. The engine light went on and the rpms were running high. the exhaust brakes wouldn't engage and the trailer mode wasn't working either. 

That meant we could only traveled 40 mph instead of 70mph. Ed and I should have gotten across the border and to our RV site around 2:30 pm. Nope, it took us 12 1/2 hours and we arrived at 7:30 pm exhausted! 

Ed decided to stop at least every hour for about 10 minutes to make sure the engine and transmission didn't overheat. He called the dealer in Ocala and they gave him the name of a dealer in Kalispell.

                   While driving through the Rocky Mountains we saw some beautiful sites.

And we saw some more animals.

Bear

Goats

We finally reached the border and the line wasn't long.

We can't call anyone about the truck until Monday so we won't be going to Glacier Park tomorrow. Can't risk driving around those mountains roads until we find out what is wrong with the truck.