Kayla, wife Tracy, Sierrah.


all in full bloom. We took pictures of a bear and her two cubs resting in the shade of tree off the roadway. We still had time to make Sierrah’s


birthday wish come true, to go horseback riding in Yellowstone. So we took the kids to a ranch just outside West Yellowstone. Tey loved it. Aſter a dusty horse ride, all the kids needed showers!


Montana. As we were driving up a never-ending hill, I commented how warm it was getting in the truck. Is the A/C not working? NO, the engine is overheat- ing, it was almost red lining. With no room to pull over, I played with RPM and speed, and by the time we hit the top of the mountain, the engine temp was back to normal, but may stress level wasn’t. I stress on every hill with this truck! We continued for hours with no more events and finally stopped at a rest stop a little before Coeur d’Alene Idaho, but the smoke from local forest fires was too thick to stay so we headed a few miles down the road to the Wal-Mart where the smoke was much thinner and manageable. We hit the road around 7:30am hoping to get to our campsite shortly


Sierrah’s birthday horseback ride in Yellowstone. Te next day we hit the highway to


Oroville Washington, planning to stop at the Louis and Clark caverns on the way, but unfortunately I took the wrong highway and we missed it. We drove on and saw country singer Alan Jackson’s tour bus and two semi trailers pass us in


aſter lunch. We arrived at our destination shortly aſter 1pm and it was hot and the aſternoon winds we usually get there were nonexistent; the air was still. Tis is when the west coast had the heat wave and broke records on the coast. We watched the plumes of smoke over the hill to the west as a forest fire burned out of control. Te weather was too hot even for the kids to play, so we spent a lot of time in the lake that was warm too. Te day before we leſt, a thunder-


storm rolled through with heavy rain and strong winds, which dropped the temperatures by 10 degrees. Now we were in the low 30’s and the kids could play again. Te next morning we packed up and headed for home. By the time we hit


Princeton, the thunderstorms were back. We stopped at Subway for lunch but the line up was to the door, so we headed to A&W. Wrong move, once we got in line at the A&W, their tills crashed and they were taking order with pen and paper, the line up didn’t move. We took our meal to go, by the time we got back to the truck, our friends had already eaten and waited in their truck for us. We drove in the pouring rain for the rest of the way home to Maple Ridge. Once at home I found water on the kitchen counter in the trailer, the A/C unit had loosened itself during this trip and water leaked in. I decided to check all the water connections and found the elbow


under the shower had undone and water was pooled on the under belly. I guess that what happens when you drive miles on a washboard gravel road. “Won’t do that again!” Glad to be home. Even with all the stress this trip created, it was incredible. I’d say the


Alan Jackson Tour, Montana.


eighth wonder of the world. I will be back in the future, without the kids, and do a lot more hiking. 4


RVT 174 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 17


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