BY DARREN BURROWS
darren_tracy@shaw.ca
Sometimes that long anticipated Road Trip can be more stressful then relaxing!
Aſter 10 months of waiting,
the day finally arrived when the Burlindowbach (the Burrows and Lindenbach families) were headed to Yellowstone National Park, a road trip talked about for years. We started this trip as we do
every year. Tursday, June 26 aſter work we head down to the Burlington Wal-Mart to finish our grocery shopping (items we couldn’t bring across the border) and spend the night in our trailers in their parking lot in preparation of our long drive the next day to Farragut State Park in Idaho. We leſt Wal-Mart by 7am on a
hot sunny day. It started out as a good day: kids were quiet, truck was running good, and we were making good time, (due to less bathroom breaks). Just as we were passing through
Moses Lake on Interstate 90, BANG, I saw the hood of my truck shake. I pulled over imme- diately and yelled out over our hand-held radios, “My engine ex- ploded!” It was 40 degrees outside and even hotter under the hood of the truck. I am not a mechanic, so any breakdown is devastating. Tankfully I found the problem. Te clamp holding the air out- take from the turbo had snapped and blown off. Tis is our first trip with a new GPS unit I bought in May. Lots of new info on this unit, like rest stops and repair shops! It showed a Ford dealership 1.2 miles away. Tankfully we travel with friends, so my buddy (another Darren),
The Burrows
The Lindenbachs Burlindowbachs Yellowstone Vacation
yes we both have the same name, disconnected from his trailer and drove me into the town of Moses Lake to find the Ford dealership. I showed the kid behind the service counter a picture of where the clamp came from as well as the broken clamp. Tey said the computer says this is the clamp, (different than the one that broke)! It looked too big but we took it anyway and headed back to my truck on the side of the highway. Of course, it was far too big. So we headed back to town again and started to ask at every auto parts store if they have a clamp like the one that broke. Now my stress level was rising, with our families sitting in the trailer on the side of the highway in very hot tem- peratures and Darren and I not being able to find a simple clamp. Aſter the fiſth auto parts store, finally, Fader Auto Parts had the clamp we needed for only $3! We returned to the truck to see our families very hot and heat exhaustion hitting them all. I climbed up into the engine and installed the clamp, holy crap, the truck runs! I had fixed it. Aſter a two-hour delay, we continued our drive to Idaho. Aſter a very long day, we arrived at our campsite. Beers were opened and camp was set up for the next four days. Farragut State Park is very nice. Te park hosts were awesome with great attitudes and
friendly. We talked to them about being a camp host as that is what both Tracy and I, and Darren and Lisa would like to do in our retirement days, or as soon as we win the Lotto. Tank goodness we had electrical hook up, because the air conditioner ran almost
nonstop in the 42 degree weather. Our first day we planned to do nothing, just some R&R. It was so hot I had to drive into Coeur d’Alene and buy a pool for the kids to play in. Aſter the pool was set up and kids had cooled down, we planned our next day. Silverwood Teme Park sounded good to everyone. We planned to get there for 10:30 to get good parking. Ten next morning about 6am, my son Jayden woke me up saying he didn’t feel
good and started getting upset and saying he can’t go to Silverwood today and then he got sick, and continued to get sick for the entire day. Both families agreed to postpone Silverwood until the next day so no one would get leſt behind. Te other five kids spent the day in the pool while the adults sat in a circle with their feet in a small kiddie pool. Te next morning Jayden woke up crying again, as he was still too sick to go any- where. My wife Tracy volunteered to stay back with Jayden at the trailer while the rest of
14 RVT 174 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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