Our second weekend of travel had us driving through Wyoming. We had a spot reserved in Nebraska for Monday through Saturday so Bradley could work in one place throughout the week and not have to work and drive in the same day.
Wyoming looking pretty out of a truck window
Of course our truck, Denver, wanted to make sure we had an exciting drive! After a very stormy and windy night in Rock Springs, WY our rear fuel tank again gave up the ghost. At least this time we weren't at the top of a mountain, and knew what was happening when she started to sputter out. After trying to troubleshoot a couple quick fixes (that did not fix) we decided to just limp her to our Nebraska spot and find a shop there to figure out what was wrong. We only made it Rawlins, WY though before our next challenge popped up, in the form of wind gusts strong enough to close off the freeway to RVs.
We played it safe, stayed in Rawlins, and had another very windy and sleepless night. At least we had hookups and got some laundry done! We also discovered that the most stable situation in our camper is with the truck hooked up, nose into the wind, slide out slid in. Since this also makes our living space zilch, and the bedroom very stable that's where we spent our evening. I have to say though, spending the afternoon laying around in bed with pizza, dogs, and video games certainly isn't the worst thing in the world!
Despite the loss of a tank we made good time to Gothenburg, NE the next day once the roads were open. Our spot in the park was lovely and shaded and just a short walk away from a field of cows, which is always a plus for me!
Such cuties!
On Tuesday Denver went back into the shop. Thankfully the previous work done in Idaho was still covered under warranty so it didn't cost us this time around. The continual stress and ongoing issues with the truck was starting to wear on us though. Denver is a 1995 ford F250, and while she has served us well (and was paid off!) we started to have doubts about if she was the right truck for the job.
A little Denver appreciation, carrying our truck camper Annie last fall.
Hills were always a bit of a struggle for her, since we were asking her to pull around 10,000 pounds. We were starting to worry that she might give up completely and leave us stranded - or worse - in a dangerous situation. So after a lot of debate we decided to let her go before we wore her down completely and upgrade to a diesel. Though our new truck doesn't have the same character, she does have a lot better reliability, better gas mileage, and the ultimate luxury of heated and air conditioned seats.
Is this love?
We also have the option now to fold up the back seats and put the dogs on the floor, which feels a lot safer. Neville has a really bad habit of jumping onto the floor from the seat, which on top of being bad for his delicate back, is also frustrating since he couldn't manage to jump back up onto the seat once he got himself down there.
The dogs in Denver, it's a hard life.
Of course by "put the dogs on the floor" I really mean "build an incredibly comfortable blanket nest". This gives them separate space if they want it, but plenty of room to cuddle as well. They seem perfectly happy on travel days and settle down quickly once we're on the road. Having the dogs on the floor also means Neville can no longer play his favorite trick of rolling down the window in hopes of a treat being given out every time we go through a drive through, something I'm sure he's mad about, but is a bit of a relief to us!
Spoiled? Us??
With a new truck we were itching to get on the road again, and actually ended up leaving Nebraska a day earlier then planned to head up to Michigan. We wanted to get to the part of the trip we had been looking forward to since the beginning and staying another night in Nebraska just felt a little silly. So on the road we go, with a truck that's reliable and a couple of very long drive days as we head to the top of the country.