June 19, 2013

Decided to get a earlier start today and see how Flyer runs. We are about an hour from Yellowstone and the road is supposed to be fairly mellow.

Flyer is hesitating some but doing ok.

We traveled along 89 in Montana, a beautiful route. The mountains rose on each side of us and the Yellowstone River wove back and forth. (sorry for the buggy windshield pics)

We arrived at Yellowstone with little problem and could see the road ahead wasn’t as mellow for us as others. Flyer is warm now and the hesitation is more.

We traveled for about 2 miles up, yes, up. A slow, meandering road that twists and turns in a steady incline. We past into Wyoming.

Then we decided Flyer had enough and turned around to go back to a cute little town right before Yellowstone; Gardiner, Montana. Yes, Montana. We just cannot get out of this place!

Found a local shop to take a look at Flyer. Maybe a spark plug issue but with no parts store in the area parts wouldn’t arrive until 1pm tomorrow. nope we won’t wait for that.

We traveled back (did I tell you how much I dislike backtracking, ever!) to Livingston, MT. While we traveled the 60 miles I called a parts store and found all the parts we’ll need and a local mechanic who will work on it today.

We arrive back in Livingston at 1pm. A full 24 hrs before the parts would have even arrived at Gardiner. The parts store had our box of parts picked and ready and we made good time over to the mechanic.

Have I told you how much I LOVE map quest and GPS!?!

We made a quick lunch and then called a taxi to take us the few miles over to the municipal park. A little time spent at the local playground is good for the kids to get out some energy while Flyer gets spark plugs, wires, thermostat; the works!

We planned to go to the pool for a dip but a brief thunderstorm sent us to the concrete bathrooms to wait out the storm instead.

We walked around a bit and found a quaint little farmers market nestled into the base of the mountainside. We tasted some Montana specialties before heading back to get Flyer.

Flyer was ready when we got there, just in time for a rain storm. No wipers still so we pulled over to clean up a bit and make dinner before heading on.

We drove for a few more hours and the rain was on and off. The wipers also were on and off. I can’t wait to get the new motor for that tomorrow!

The weather got cold, <30, and snow started to fall. We found an offtrack RV parking lot to spend the night.