4th of July pretty much rained out...

We pretty much got rained out of most of the 4th of July plans... 
Brandon and I rode into town to check out the shops and a yard sale, and grabbed a McDonalds for lunch.   We came back into town to try to go the local Rodeo, but it was raining, and they didn't have any more seats in the covered section... So we passed on that-  while we were downtown, a nice rainbow showed up.

There were actually two of them- 

We came back to the coach, and watched tv for the rest of the night.

On Wednesday, we are planning to go on a 4 hour horseback ride, and then Thursday, we'll try for the rodeo again-  Friday, we head on over to Cody. 

Thursday June 30th- On to Bozeman, Montana

Here's a shot of our campground this morning at 550 am- one of the prettiest sunrises we've seen in a long time.....

Here was the mountain across the street in the morning sunlight:

We left Missoula about 130- and drove about 210 miles or so down I-90 to Bozeman Montana....  Pretty scenery enroute, and up and down a couple of mountain ranges...

Along the way, Bette grabbed a shot of Brandon and Buster in their element traveling down the road.....

We grabbed a spot at the Wal Mart here in Bozeman, right off I-90.  There are 13 other units hanging out in the parking lot so far- our next door neighbors are in a horse trailer, and are from Ocala, just 40 miles down the road from us in Elkton!

Tomorrow, we'll sleep in, do breakfast at McDonalds here at Wal Mart, then we have about 80 miles down the road to West Yellowstone, Montana for a week.

Back in Missoula at Bretz's

We called Bretz and they agreed to take us in this morning, so we left Deer Lodge at 6 in the morning, and drove the 80 miles.  They took us right in, and after a short while, we discovered that the valves for the water fittings for the washer/dryer were cracked, which led to the major leak.

They had the parts here, and we are expecting to be back on the road by around 1 pm or so. 

While we were here, they also agreed to replace a cracked potty seat, and two broken latches for the sliding glass doors in the closet, and they will be shipping us the parts to Yellowstone.

As for now, we plan to leave here soon, then head about 200 miles or so down to Bozeman, Montana, and spend the night and then head to Yellowstone on Friday, back on schedule.  

We also had Terry explain a few things to us we weren't clear on as far as the coach is concerned, so all is well. 

Hopefully, we are all debugged now. 

Wednesday, June 29th Some of Helena, then over to Deer Lodge MT.

Spent a crowded night in Camp Wal Mart at Helena, then after getting up and eating, Bette and I drove downtown to see the State Capitol and the Montana Historical Society building. The State Capitol was very nice, built just after the turn of the century in 1912 or so-  You could drive right up to the front door, and park, which I thought was a little weird for the nature of Montana...  no security to speak of, maybe not much because they weren't in session, but they handed you a pamplet, and off you went touring. 

Lots of stained glass, statues, etc honoring famous Montanans, Mike Mansfield, and lots of marble. 
Across the street to the State Historical Society, but I didn't get to see it because they were having a meeting of the staff, and no one was available to oversee.

We drove back to Wal Mart, saddled up, and drove over Route 12 for about 60  miles over to Deer Lodge Montana, our stop for the night. 

We drove over McDonald Pass, which was about 6200 feet or so, and had a great view of the scenery back towards Helena.. It was  a pretty day- 

We then headed into Deer Lodge, and found a spot at a nice campground, sort of right off I-90.  Got settled in, then Brandon and I took off for the local sights-

That included National Park number 142, Grant Kohrs NHS, which is actually a working ranch that depicts the life of Montana ranching back in the 1890's or so.
The ranch was originally a 100 thousand acres or something like that. 

From there, we went a short jaunt to downtown Deer Lodge, and toured the complex of the Old Montana State Prison Museum.  Pretty cool.  The prison was the original and only state prison facility for almost a hundred years, before they built a newer one just outside of town. Pretty forboding place...

 Managed to catch Brandon in  a photo!

 There was also a car museum on the premise, and they had about 120 automobiles there, from very old to a little newer...  Included was this 1951 Mercury, which my brother owned, I think.....

On the outside part of the tour, they explain that the 3rd story window was damaged back in 1959 during a major prison riot, and they actually shot a military bazooka at the tower to try to kill the inmates who were rioting.  During the riot, a warden was killed, and two inmates committed suicide. 

Then we came back to the coach, and now have discovered yet another problem- there is a rather large leak in the washer/dryer area- and we don't know whart the problem is.  I turned off the water to the source, and have called Bretz. It also leaked into the storage bay below. 

Looks like we're on our way back to Missoula in the morning. 

Damn

Coach is back good as new, we head to Helena Montana.

The part showed up at about 130, the tech started the repair at about 230, and we left the dealership at about 5 this afternoon....

We are now convinced that the compressor was in fact bad on the lot before we left Bretz's, since we were feeling hot air coming out of the dash air slots and almost turned back, in fact did turn back for a few miles, then turned around again, thinking maybe it was something we didn't know about the coach!

We now have 56 degree cold air coming out of the dash vents, and the buzzing and warning digital messages are all gone!

We did a 90 mile trip down through some gorgeous mauntain scenery on our way to Wal Mart here in Helena, Montana. 

We paralleled the Missouri River for a lot of the way, and drove through big mountain passes, and open grassy valleys on the way down.  Lots of open range also.   We drove through terrific crosswinds and thunder and lightning, but the skies are just overcast here in Helena.

Once we got here, I ran over to the ballfield for the Helena Brewers, and picked up a ball, they didn't have any pins.....  then we are all settled in watching South Carolina winning the college World Series so far. 

Tomorrow, we may do a few things to see here in Helena, there is a train to ride, the State Capitol, and a couple of good museums, then we'll head about 50 miles over to Deer Lodge Montana, where the Grant Kohrs National Historical Site is, and may spend the night there, there is also a multiple museum site there to see. 

Again, kudos to Bretz RV for picking up the tab for the repair, almost 1400 dollars, including 120 dollars for the air freight... Yikes.

Hopefully, we are now coach perfect- had a great smooth ride on down here today... 

Latest update, still waiting on part

Waiting, and waiting, and waiting... They say it was shipped UPS Red, whatever that means, but it isn't here yet.  They were hoping it would have been here by 1030, and of course we did too. 

Pretty sure when it gets here, it should be a fairly rapid fix, hoping so anyway. 

Watched pot doesn't boil.... trying to keep busy with other things, and not spend any money......

Carolina won in the bottom of the 11th last night, could get it all tonight.....

Shout out to Bretz RV!

Just got off the phone with Bretz.. they are picking up the entire tab of the repairs..  now that is good customer service.  I am a Bretz cheerleader!!!!!

The verdict is in.... Really broken

Well, we have the verdict.  We were called by Coach Net at 0800 this morning, and directed to drive to I State Truck Center, about 3 miles away...  The coach would be ok to drive, according to the tech at Monaco, as I called them also.  Off we went.

Good to go....  we arrived, and they were nice enough to take us in fairly quickly, and I pointed out the shredded fan belt material hanging out of the back of the engine grill, and sure enough something had given way...

No worries, the called up NAPA, and they shuttled over a belt and Shawn started the repair. 

Well crap.  As he was attaching the belt, he discovered that the air conditioning compressor had seized up.  This fits, since Bretz had spent a couple of days fiddling with the dash air, and I thought had replaced a belt also. 

They located a new compressor, you guessed it, it"s in Oregon, and it is on its way here, airfreight, to arrive tomorrow. 

Of course, when we called the extended warranty folks, they hadn't gotten the paperwork from Bretz, so we aren't covered.... 

I spoke to Bretz, and they were ready to expedite.... thinking it was a small repair, just the belt. 

Now were looking at a 1400 dollar repair, and Bretz hasn't called me back yet. 

This ought to get interesting. 

The air conditioning tech, Rowdy, showed me the bad compressor, and sure enought, it was trash.  It had broken internally. 

Soooo, we've lost another day, and may lose most of tomorrow also. 

If we get the coach before noon, we may go to Helena to get the ball and pin, and then on down to Deer Lodge for the night, if we can make it.  If not, guess we'll spend the night here again. 

Learning its best not to make a lot of plans!!!  Next place we have pre-paid reservations are for the 4th of July week at West Yellowstone, so we for sure have to make that one.  That's not until Friday the first. 

At least the systems work on board, we have the generator working, so we have air and TV, so Brandon can watch his beloved South Carolina Gamecocks try to defend their national championship in baseball tonight. 

Going to call Bretz again..... 

Here we go again... Broken down at Wal Mart

We got ready to leave this morning, and as we started the coach up, we got a dash warning light, then a notice of "low battery", then a notice of "alternator fail." 

That was only the start of the frustration.  I called the 800 number for Monaco, got a recording of course, its Sunday.  They referred us to Coach Net. No problem, we've used them plenty.  Then a nightmare.  I thought we bought a 5 year Coach Net contract for the coach at Bretz.  Know we did, I looked at the purchase order, and there it was.  They have no record of it at Coach Net, it seemed.  Then she said we were members, but for one year from date of purchase, and since we hadn't had membership verified, we were to be liable for any towing, etc. 

The service advisor was no help, then he said we might be able to get to some truck service place in Helena on Monday. 

The frustration of course is its Sunday, we're going to for sure lose another day on the schedule, and I can't get any answers.  There is a pretty major RV dealer here so we may be able to take the coach there Monday....  I think the coach will drive, not sure what the problem is.  I think it may have to do with a disconnect switch that we are not using properly, and it may have drained the batteries...  We also noticed some loose fan belt type of material. 

For sure, Bretz will get a call, but they don't open until 12.  Meanwhile, there is not much to do, and we are stuck. 

Just crap crap crap.  We are so tired of our coaches not working.....

Missoula Osprey 10, Great Falls Voyagers 2

Brandon and I decided to go to the first ball game of the trip, and it was at Centene Stadium, a smallish facility that was built back in the 40's.  Large crowd.. The Voyagers lost 10-2.  This is Advanced Rookie Baseball.  The Voyagers are a farm team of the White Sox.  Thier lower team is the Bristol Va. White Sox.  DeWayne Wise started his major league career here when he graduated from Chapin High. 

They really did a poor job on thier concession stands... Not sure if it was just a big crowd, or what, but they didn't have Pizza that Brandon wanted, never did get it I think, and then the didn't have cheese fries... that on top of 30 minute waits on line for food... 

We sat on the front row right next to the Voyagers dugout, but our view was blocked most of the game by the bat boy and the coaches, who sat in chairs in front of us.  They also were totally not ball friendly-- big screens everywhere, and they were telling the players not to throw the balls into the stands..  Pretty cheap. 

Today, we're off to Helena and Deer Lodge Montana- Helena to stop by the Brewers field for a ball and pin, and Deer Lodge to see Grant Kohrs National Historical Site and some local things there. 

It was 39 degrees here this morning!!!!!  Almost July 1st!

Saturday, June 25th To Great Falls, Montana

Left Coram this morning in chilly temps, about 41 degrees, and headed over to Browning, Montana, about 75 miles away.  Pretty but scary drive alongside a riverbed, narrow 2 lane road, with lots of construction. 

We stopped at Browning at the Museum of the Plains Indian, but sadly, didn't get to go through, since they didn't take charge cards for admission, and I didn't happen to have any cash on me.  Got a pin anyway, but sorry we missed the exhibits. 

Then we hit the high plains of Montana, thankfully exiting the mountains for a while...  Beautiful scenery.....

 We skirted the side of Glacier National Park, goodbye mountains,

Then hello to the plains again! 

About 128 miles on down to Great Falls, Montana, our stop for the night.

Brandon and I went along the river to see the Falls of Great Falls,

Then, we headed up to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, up the river a piece.  Our lucky day, they were having a big display of stuff, Native American Dancers, and crafts, and a camping reenactment.  This center is very well done and explains the story of the expedition.

A display from inside the center, showing the struggle to portage the canoes around the falls.... 

There were several very interesting dances explained from the various groups of Plains Indians from the area..... 

Then, we dropped by Centene Stadium,. home of the Great Falls Voyagers, a minor league team of the Chicago White Sox.  Got a ball and pin, and we're heading back for the game this evening. 

We're stopped for the night at Wal Mart, along with about 10 or 15 other motor homes!!!

Tomorrow, we head down to Helena, Montana for a baseball game at 1 pm...

Friday June 24th Glacier National Park....

Headed over to the park, which was about 7 miles away this morning at about 930. 

Stopped at the Park Headquarters for an Anniversary stamp, then to the Apgar Visitor Center, then drove for several miles alongside Lake McDonald on the Going to the Sun Road.   The road was open only until Avalanche Point, due to heavy snow still blocking the road, so we turned around, and then headed to the East Glacier Railroad station for three more stamps.  Got a pin and postcard also. 

Awesome park, best to come back in August, so we can do the whole park.... might be cool to take the train to here, then do the park one day. 

Tomorrow, we're off to Browning, Montana, for a visit to a museum and then over to Great Falls Montana.  Have two or three spots to visit there in the afternoon, then there is a ballgame that night with the Great Falls Voyagers. 
We'll do our first Monaco boondocking at a Wal Mart. 

Thursday, June 23.. Zip Line, and Hungry Horse, Mt Dam

We were interrupted last night at 0230 by a terrific lightning storm, and light rain.  We were worried about being rained out on our planned zip line expedition today.

Not to worry, we woke up to beautiful sunshine and temps in the 60's.  So Brandon and I headed down the road at 815 or so to Whitefish Mountain. 

We got checked in, signed up, and did our orientation and out we went... We did a total of 6 zips, including a treat of 2 rides on the biggest one.   Here's Brandon doing the Big Zip: We zipped about 1300 feet or so, over 300 feet above the valley floor... The speed was about 45 mph, which is why you hear the wind blowing so hard!  At the end, you smack into a landing zone.  We had to stop for about 15 minutes during the trip when a big rain shower came through-  Lots of fun.

After our zip line, we ate lunch in downtown Whitefish, then we decided to head to the Dam at Hungry Horse.  Pretty awesome views. 

Tomorrow, we're off to Glacier National Park- and will do as much of the Eastern Side of the park as we can. 
Saturday, we're off to Browning, Montana, then over to Great Falls and a 7 pm ball game. 

Just got off a nice Skype session with Greenwood, Cooper, you're looking fine!

Wednesday June 22- First road trip

We woke up early, got the coach all fueled up, hooked up the car, and off we went, headed for our first road trip. 

About 150 miles up Highway 93 almost to Kallispell Montana, then over the top of Flathead Lake, then up to our home for the next three days, Coram, Montana.  We are about 8 miles from the entrance to Glacier National Park.. 

Nice campground, a little behind in their maintainence, since it has been so wet up here, plus a lot of late snow, but still a good choice for us.  We are in the trees, but have full Sat, 50 amp, water, no sewer.  Right across from a very nice rest room/shower set up.... 

The drive up was absolutely beautiful, we drove along the famous Flathead Lake, and it lived up to all of its press releases....

We got here in about 3 hours or so, taking our time as we were getting used to how the bus handles.. Lots of power, cruises at a very low RPM compared to the Nova. 

After we arrived and set up, Brandon and I rode over to Whitefish, Montana, and he got his hair cut, and I mean totally cut...  he said he feels much better.... and he looks older and pretty handsome!  Looks just like his older brother... but he of course wouldn't allow a picture. 

We also made plans to go on a big zip line ride tomorrow-  I understand it is 6b different levels, you go up to 50 mph, like 900 feet off the ground, and over 3500 feet or something....  I'll take videos and post them. 

I've gotten the news that a family member is quite ill in Atlanta, Ga., so we are on standby in case we need to get to their bedside.. As of right now, we're far from an airport that offers decent connections, so we're on hold for just now.  Hoping that there will be a quick recovery soon. 

Tuesday, June 21- The coach is ours!!

We actually had the coach turned over to us late yesterday afternoon, and we spent the night at the dealership getting acquainted with the unit.  Today, three parts were air shipped in, and they spent about 4 hours tweaking the dash air, putting on the Blue Ox towing system, and some other adjustments, and we got the coach back at 5 pm.  We'll spend the night here again at the dealership on one more shakedown night, then start our trip back tomorrow. 

We spent a good part of yesterday and most of this morning transfering gear from the Nova to the Diplomat-- turns out we have plenty of room...  We are more than happy with the room in this coach- Brandon loves his new bed, since it has an air mattress on it, and we love the new shower, and well, the list goes on and on. 

We are looking forward to many years of trouble free comfort!

As far as the trip is concerned, being here a week has thrown us off schedule for sure... Tomorrow morning, we're heading up to Coram, Montana, just outside the gates of Glacier National Park.  We're going to stay there for three days... then we cut out Havre, we'll go to Great Falls, Helena, Deer Lodge, and Three Forks before hitting Yellowstone on July 1st for a week's stay. 

Weather was beautiful today, hit almost 80 degrees and sunshine!!!!

Back to trip reporting now.....

Sunday June 19th- Still waiting for the coach...

They worked on the coach al day Saturday, with both the techs coming in on overtime, but they still were having problems with the dash air conditioning. 

Current plans are to hopefully get the coach turned over to us sometime tomorrow, Monday, and then do the PDI walk through, then spend the night in the coach here on the lot, and then perhaps head up to our next planned stop, Coram Montana, which is just outside the gates for Glacier National park. 

We appreciate the fact that Bretz is making totally sure all systems are working and we'll have as good a coach as possible before we pull off the lot. 

Also, on Friday, I came down with a terrible head cold, and have been silently suffering with that issue.  Bad stuffy nose, bad headache, bad sore throat.  Hopefully its a short term virus... 

We're working hard to keep Brandon from being to bored! 

Update tomorrow... 

Thursday June 16th Coach work, and local Missoula stuff

Got up early, and by 8 we were working with the Bretz team to finish the details of the purchase of the new motorhome..  money transfer, new plates, insurance, blah blah blah, and they took the coach back into the shop for a headlight to taillight pre delivery service and check.  Very thorough, and very impressive. 

We decided to make a McDonalds run and get Brandon a suitable feed, and coffee for me, then Brandon and I headed downtown to see about a pin and ball from the Missoula Osprey, which we got at the team store, since their season doesn't start for 7 days.  We tried to get on the campus of the University of Montana to get to the bookstore, but there was huge construction going on, so we passed. 

We then headed over to the Missoula Smoke Jumper school, which is where the Corps of Smoke Jumpers train.  Very impressive group- they do dangerous work.  We watched a couple of videos, saw some displays of what thier life is like, but didn't take the  45 minute tour.  Got a pin.

Past noon when we got back, did lunch in the Nova, then we went to Wal Mart for provisions.. 

They worked on the coach all day, and proclaimed it in very good shape, with all systems working.  We are of course excited to spend a try out night in it hopefully tomorrow night...  They are going to exchange the satelitte dishes tomorrow at 8, and if all the paperwork is finished, we may be able to start moving our stuff over in the late afternoon, then optimally, we would spend tomorrow night in the coach here at the dealership to make sure everything checks out, then we could be on the road Saturday, or we could spend Sunday night also as insurance, then leave Monday, which is what we will probably wind up doing.  Its about 130 miles up to Glacier, and I called our campground up there to change our reservations, and they say no worries as to when we get there.  We also adjusted the rest of the Montana trip, and we are due next in Yellowstone on July 1st for a week. 

We also worked today on adjusting the August portion of the trip, since we picked up 5 days were were planning to spend at the Gulfstream factory, and now will go on over to Michigan. 

It was cold and rainy today, don't think the temps ever got above the mid 50's.  Supposed to be rainy for the next couple of days. 

Wednesday, June 15th- To Missoula, Montana, and oh yeah, a new motorhome.

We got up early, and were on the road by 8, heading about 150 miles or so to our target destination, Missoula Montana. 

For most of the trip, we traveled alongside beautiful riversides, with rapids galore, and wonderful scenery....

Brandon spied a pair of young deer alongside the road, and was able to get a snap of them alongside the road, they looked a little scrawny....

Just before the end of our journey, we headed up through Lolo Pass, which was at 5400 feet.  There was a beautiful visitor center, and Brandon wanted to have his picture taken in the 3 feet of snow that were still hanging around on June 15th!  The temperature outside was 44 degrees!

He was not dressed properly!!!

From there, we headed to our original objective, Wal Mart, but it was totally under construction, so we decided to head over to Bretz RV, to see if they might have a coach we might be interested in.... 

And yes, they did!   We decided to purchase a Monaco Dynasty, 40 foot, quad slide.  We are very happy with the purchase, and will be on site for the next three or four days while they PDI the coach and switch out our sat antenna. 
Here's some shots:

It has all the features we had on our wish list, opposing front slides, non urea engine, loads of storage inside and out, has a 425 Cat engine, 8 airbags, and lots of other features, and was attractively priced. 

They will start a 2 day pre delivery service tomorrow, and they said they hope to have the coach to us by Monday.  We're hoping for Friday afternoon, but Monday is fine. 

We'll have to make a few adjustments to the travel schedule for the rest of Montana, but it will all work out.  From Missoula, we're heading to Glacier National Park, then make a big loop of several sites back down to Yellowstone by the 4th of July. 

Tomorrow, we're going to do some local Missoula stuff, there is a smoke jumper school and museum, the Montana University Grizzlies are here, and the Missoula Osprey minor league team is here also. 

Monday June 13th- A fun day of lots of sites

We slept in a little today, and by 10 or so, Brandon and I were off for our adventure. 

We did a first for both of us - we crossed over the border to the State of Washington. 

Granted, it wasn't much, in that we crossed the bridge from Lewiston Idaho to Clarksville, Washington, and almost immediately turned around, but it counts!
Washington was for some reason the last of the lower 48 states for me.  Took me 65 years to do it, but it's done! 

From there, we headed about 25 miles up the road to Moscow, Idaho, the home of the University of Idaho.  Beautiful campus, and they have a neat indoor football stadium...  Got a pin there also.

On the way back, we stopped at the Lewiston overlook, which is a huge mountain that overlooks the valley above the two towns of Lewiston and Clarkston.  This is the meeting place of two rivers in the area, Clearwater and the Snake River.

The views were just awesome-  sadly, it was a little cloudy today... 
At the top of the overlook I spied a shrine, apparently for a young man, and it was, of all the shrines I've seen across the US, the most impressive final resting place....

On the way back, we stopped at the latest National Park, the Nez Perce National Historic Site.  This area was the orginal home of the Nez Perce, and they befriended Lewis and Clark when they came through in 1804-  later, the incoming settlers and the American Government kept taking away their lands- and they have been left with but a small footprint of the original 17 million acres they originally had as a homestead. 

The scenery around was just awesome today....

Tomorrow, we plan to visit some local towns.