Cody Wyoming to Gillette and Rapid City SD+ repairs

This posting accidentally got ahead of the next one!  If you want to stay in order with our trip, please go have a beverage or a nap and come check back later! Or read on!

While the highways for the most part have been really good, the speed on them is usually faster than we like to go.  Quite often we opt for a smaller highway, and have taken many scenic routes.  This day was no exception.  

We headed south from Cody to take a scenic byway into Worland, Buffalo and our destination for the night in Gillette.

The first 25 miles just outside of Cody were awful.  Incredibly bumpy and the cracks and repairs were just far enough apart to feel like spaced out washboards.  The scenic byway was better, but still in poor shape.

Rejoining the main highway towards Buffalo, eight miles away, we pulled into a busy filling station,  and both of us got out of the truck.  Hearing a beeping noise, I went to investigate.  Upon getting closer to the door, I realized two things, the rig was ‘tilted’ and it was our smoke alarm going off inside!!

The trailer was full of smoke!  OMG! The tilting portion was because both of the brackets holding up the forward spring had both broken.  This allowed the housing of the trailer to ride on the top of the tires, which wore through the liner and into the wood flooring causing the smoke!  I never saw flames, but I’m sure we would have if the station had been further away! We’re pretty sure the extra bumpy road contributed to this failure.

 

See the right hand piece hanging down?

We were able to pull over into a large area with a cement pad to assess and begin repairs.  The lady at the counter gave me the name of a mechanic. He was called and said that since this was a Sunday, he would be happy to see us on Monday.  So, we got out our jacks, we have several, and got things lifted up and secured.  The tires came off about the same time as a small pick-up pulled in beside us.  The mechanic and his son got out, looked at the part, hmmm’d a bit, and said they thought they had a ‘couple of those’ parts at the shop.  Off they went while Tom did a fantastic job of getting the old parts taken apart.  We carry a full complement of tools and were able to cut off the old bolts and clean up the damaged area with a multi tool.

About 40 minutes later the mechanic returned with the two parts.     $20.00 dollars later, two trip s to the local Ace Hardware for new bolts, and another hour or so and we had the new parts installed, the spare tire on -the original was gouged, but not punctured- and the tools put away.  

We were back on the road in just over four hours.  Our original destination was Gillette, Wyoming. 

Having stopped at several Flying J service centers for fuel on our travels, we had noticed the good facilities that they have.  They also allow free overnight stays.  We had planned to try one, and by 4pm we were tucked into a row of big rigs!

Many of the big rigs let their engines idle; many run refrigerator units or AC’s.  We just pretended that it sounded like the surf at the beach.  That worked really well until about 5am, when many started pulling out.  We purchased breakfast sandwiches and coffee/teas and also got on the road.

At some point in the trip, especially after the ‘incidents’ we’ve had, one begins to wonder if we should just take the next exit……

But then the road seems to be good, all systems are functioning, and we’re doing a max speed of 58mph.  Everything looked good on our morning walk around.  All tires inflated and good to go.

The scenery is still beautiful, but occasionally we see things that just make you say hmmm, 

or why?  Like this airplane on a pole.

We crossed into South Dakota about 8 in the morning and pulled into the Visitor center 2 miles later.  This is what we found.

So, once again the rig was jacked up and we put the gouged tire back on and recommendation of a tire shop 12 miles away, we headed back onto the highway at 40mph – the minimum allowed.  

The Goodyear tire shop in Spearfish provided us with two new tires, and some exchanging/rearranging of all of them.   A couple hundred dollars later, we were again on our way.

The bad, brand new spare.... never driven on, just old.

  

While we don’t have television, we do watch lots of movies and in the past several years a couple of mini-series.  Deadwood is one of our favorites.  Since the town was conveniently on the way, we choose to drive through and check it out. We’d heard it was nothing by lots of casinos, and more importantly, not very RV friendly.

 We did a slow, drive through town and true to what we heard, we didn’t find a large enough parking spot or one that would allow us space to maneuver around.  Our trip through Deadwood, was just that – through it.  We’ll have to come back.

The whole purpose behind South Dakota as a destination, was because our license plates are from here. They don’t require emission tests, and the fees are quite reasonable,  and while living in Mexico, this was a big bonus to not have to make a trip north every two years.  We had decided to match our drivers licenses as well.  

Well, to make this long post not too much longer, we decided to keep our licenses and just get the heck out of there.  We’d paid for a night at a really crummy place, and weren’t interested in staying longer just to get the licenses.  Besides the people were unorganized, and quite rude.  We did take the afternoon to really look at the rig and install some repairs.  

Once again, the tires came off!  Poor Tom, 3 days of 3 tire changes and now we’re under the slide trying to make the flooring water tight.  

 

The newly installed wood replacement.  Also covered with a tarp and secured.

We completed a repair, that we hope will make it to Tucson, our winter destination.  We have glued, screwed and stapled wood and tarp material over the damaged area.  At least enough to keep any water from getting up in there if we get rained on along the way. So far, we’ve only had a bit of rain and that’s all been at night.

We are heading out tomorrow, towards Cheyenne Wyoming then places further south. While this blog is longer than normal, I wanted all the ‘crummy stuff’ to be wrapped up in one. This completes our repair sagas.  Now back to the fun stuff!

Another place we may have to come back to check out!!