Just a Little Bump in the Road
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road.
Unless you fail to make the turn.”
Finding out that you have an issue with your air brakes on a 7% grade at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet is not something that I'd recommend that you put on your bucket list.
Our stay in Buffalo, Wyoming was quite pleasant. A sleepy little town of 4,600, it sits about halfway between Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. After a quick stop in Deadwood, South Dakota, we felt that a couple of nights in Buffalo, Wyoming would be a perfect spot to rest and explore.
Once in Buffalo, we decided to do a little exploring.
After a day in the Jeep and on foot, we settled on a nice dinner at The Virginian restaurant in the Occidental Hotel. After 140 years of providing western hospitality, we think they’ve got it nailed. Try the bison.
The next morning, our plan was to spend a couple of days in Cody, Wyoming. We left early and decided to take the "scenic route" through Bighorn National Forest.
Shortly after we left the town of Buffalo, we recognized something wasn't right with our rig. It just didn't have that old "git up and go". We pulled over and visually inspected the rig as well as our "toad". That's slang for a vehicle that is “towed”. In our case, it's the Jeep. Everything seemed to check, so we trudged along.
Up the switchbacks we went, continually gaining elevation. Things just kept getting worse. We were barely doing 35 in a 65 mph zone and had quite the line of traffic behind us. Our emergency flashers were going, but there really wasn't much else we could do. We were on a narrow 2 lane mountain road with no place to pull off, much less turn around.
We continued to ascend until we finally reached a pull-off. We were about an hour into our journey and 9,666-foot elevation. Oh, and no hint of a cell signal.
Now on the side of the road - avoiding the glares of the dozens of drivers finally able to pass us - we walked around the rig and heard this sound we weren't used to.
Pffft. Pffft. Pffft. About every 10 seconds. Like clockwork. Hmmm, now what?
At this point we had to make a choice:
A. We could continue to crawl forward on the scenic route for another hundred miles or so.
B. We could return to Buffalo.
C. We couldn't think of a Plan C. And we had no cell service to research a Plan C.
Alrighty, then, let's head back to Buffalo. There was still that minor detail of having to turn around. On the windy mountain road. That's a story unto itself but suffice it to say that we made a U-turn on that road. That even woke Chloe up.
It was a harrowing ride back down the mountain, for sure, but we did it slowly and carefully. And we were closely monitoring the air pressure the entire way. It never dropped to a dangerously low level, but we were constantly reminded that we had a leak of some sort with the Pffft, Pffft, Pffft every 10 seconds.
About an hour later, we made it back to beautiful Buffalo, Wyoming. On a Sunday morning - and not being in a metropolis - we realized that we weren't getting our issue with the rig resolved any time soon. We pulled into the Buffalo KOA Campground, got one of their last remaining sites and settled in to ponder our next move.
Even with Wi-Fi and good internet access, our research was showing that it wasn't looking hopeful that we'd have a Freightliner mechanic at our disposal. "Let's go out and grab a bite to eat." All I wanted was a sandwich or a salad. 'Not much is going on in this town, but we did see a Subway sandwich shop down the road.
I’m not sure why, but for some reason I saw those golden arches calling my name.
We haven't eaten in a McDonalds in many years. Many, many years. But for some reason I was drawn to it. We pulled in, found the parking lot to be full, so kept going. But right next door was an O'Reilley Auto Parts store. And that's when our luck began to change.
We walked to the McDonalds next door and after ordering, eating and remembering why we haven't been there in years, we returned to the O'Reilley's lot. I felt a bit guilty for using their parking lot, so we decided to go into the store, "just to browse".
Tony and Bud - behind the counter - couldn't have been any nicer. I shared with them our adventure in the mountains. I asked them, "by any chance, you wouldn't happen to know a mobile mechanic in town that works on diesel pushers".
Bud replied with a chuckle, "Nope, but we just got our third traffic light".
After Tony informed us that we'd probably have to get towed 130 miles to Billings, Montana, he slipped me a hand-written note with the name “JC Parts & Repair” who might be able to help. But, of course, it was a Sunday afternoon, so they wouldn't be able to do anything until Monday Morning.
Feeling dejected, we decided to go for a ride and - lo and behold - we stumbled upon JC Parts & Repair. It looked like their focus was more on parts and less repair.
We ventured further into the lot and came across a warehouse type of building. Knowing they were closed, we walked to the door just to peek inside. On the door was a piece of paper that said, "If you're looking for John, call …" along with a phone number. What the heck, let's call.
Never expecting anyone to pick up on a Sunday afternoon - especially from a random 203 area code - I heard "Hi, this is John. Who's this?".
Happy to have the ear of someone who presumably knew something about mechanics, I went on to tell John the story. Based on the symptoms, he tried as best he could to help me diagnose and determine next steps. When I asked him if it were him, would he feel safe driving the 130 miles to Billings, he said "I couldn't tell you without taking a look at it". So, I threw it out there. "John, do you think there's any way I could drive by your house and have you take a look at it?".
"Well, Scott, I've got a cocktail in my hand, sitting outside overlooking the creek, having just started my 'staycation' at the Buffalo KOA."
Wait, what ?!?!
After relaying to John that we also were in the Buffalo KOA, he asked us what site number we were in and told us he'd be right over to take a look. Salt of the earth.
John - a stocky, white-haired gentlemen certainly older than me - and his wife Lisa roll up to our site and throw out a big mechanic’s hand to give me a firm handshake. We chatted about Buffalo for a bit and then he got down to work. With Lisa in the rig following his instructions, John got underneath to perform his diagnosis. After I helped him to his feet, he tells me "yep, you got a leak in one of your air lines".
Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.
“Good thing you decided to return to Buffalo. You wouldn’t have wanted to have been on the other side of Big Horn Mountain with that leak.”
“So, should we get towed to Billings?”
“Why don’t you give Pax a call. I’ve taught him everything he knows. And I’m retiring next week and he bought all my inventory.”
Lisa called Pax on his personal phone and once again we were shocked that he picked up. Lisa told him that John gave us his number, and Pax was at our RV site in the KOA in about 10 minutes.
Pax, being a lot more wiry than John, crawled underneath in search of the problem. He went back to his truck, grabbed a few tools and went back underneath. A couple of minutes later, he crawled out, told us he needed to run back to his shop for something, came back in 10 minutes and voila! No more Pfft, Pfft, Pfft!
Who knew that a craving for a Big Mac would be so fortuitous?
Oh, and during all this, I was able to replace the water pump on the rig.
We missed the side trip to Cody, Wyoming, but Lisa now has us back on track for an early arrival in Yellowstone.
It’s the journey …
