Today, Friday, 31AUG, we arrived in Kittitas, WA, at Dan’s cousin Steve and wife Bonnie Kiesel after three days hard driving. The first day drive from Minot to Miles City, MT, was uneventful and the RV ran great. We even started to relax that evening and visited one of the hundreds of casinos that now are in ever town in Montana (ie video poker parlors). They are actually not a bad way to spend a few hours, as long as you stick to the nickel machines. Dan won enough that we were three dollars ahead for the night, and with free drinks and snacks it was definitely lagniappe as they say in Louisiana.
The second day was not so smooth. When we hit the first of the mountain passes at Livingston, MT, the RV began to overheat! By slowing way down, turning the heat on, and down shifting, we were able to keep the radiator temperature out of the red zone. But we were forced to transit the passes at 20 miles an hour or slower. We tried to find another truck service facility to check the cooling system out, but once again everyone was back logged and we were facing Labor Day weekend.
After talking to a Freightliner facility and an Allison transmission facility we decided to press on after spending the night in Deer Lodge, MT. The consensus opinion was that Cummins engines and Allison transmissions are fairly indestructible as long as you watch the temperature gauge and all other gauges and alarms are normal.
So on the third day we hit Lookout Pass, 4th of July Pass, and the infamous Columbia River Gorge all on I-90. Guess what? No problems! We hit the Gorge at the hottest part of the day (basically low 90s) and downshifted to 4th and motored up the entire way at 40mph. And to top it all off, as we were driving the US Fish and Wildlife called Corrie to discuss her criminal activity in trying to bring Canadian Walleye into the good ol' USA! Bottom line is that if her brother faxes a copy of his and his wife's Canadian fishing license to the Fish and Wildlife in Virginia, Corrie's fines will be significantly reduced!!! Turns out we are talking multiple violations here - not having Canadian license, trying to cross border, not having two filets per bag, no "skin patch" on filets, no transport permit, and the list goes on. Remember - you can get anything you want at Alice's Restuarant (except common sense)!
The second day was not so smooth. When we hit the first of the mountain passes at Livingston, MT, the RV began to overheat! By slowing way down, turning the heat on, and down shifting, we were able to keep the radiator temperature out of the red zone. But we were forced to transit the passes at 20 miles an hour or slower. We tried to find another truck service facility to check the cooling system out, but once again everyone was back logged and we were facing Labor Day weekend.
After talking to a Freightliner facility and an Allison transmission facility we decided to press on after spending the night in Deer Lodge, MT. The consensus opinion was that Cummins engines and Allison transmissions are fairly indestructible as long as you watch the temperature gauge and all other gauges and alarms are normal.
So on the third day we hit Lookout Pass, 4th of July Pass, and the infamous Columbia River Gorge all on I-90. Guess what? No problems! We hit the Gorge at the hottest part of the day (basically low 90s) and downshifted to 4th and motored up the entire way at 40mph. And to top it all off, as we were driving the US Fish and Wildlife called Corrie to discuss her criminal activity in trying to bring Canadian Walleye into the good ol' USA! Bottom line is that if her brother faxes a copy of his and his wife's Canadian fishing license to the Fish and Wildlife in Virginia, Corrie's fines will be significantly reduced!!! Turns out we are talking multiple violations here - not having Canadian license, trying to cross border, not having two filets per bag, no "skin patch" on filets, no transport permit, and the list goes on. Remember - you can get anything you want at Alice's Restuarant (except common sense)!
So we now sit at the Kiesels outside of the small town of Kittitas just in time for the world famous Kittitas County Fair and Ellensburg Rodeo.
http://www.cityofkittitas.com/
http://www.kittitascountyfair.com/
http://www.ellensburgrodeo.com/
http://www.cityofkittitas.com/
http://www.kittitascountyfair.com/
http://www.ellensburgrodeo.com/
2 comments:
Well, it seems clear that two famous rules apply:
1 The truth will not set you free
2 common sense in government is an oxymoron.
Who would have guessed??
Oh yes, as I always told my kids, no good deed goes unpunished.
Enjoy the road
Looks like it will turn out as good as possible under the circumstances. Won't rest easy until final resolution and document in hand saying fines paid. - dan
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