Update and Feeling Very, Very Frustrated!

So I left you in Casper, WY and not doing a float on the North Platte.  The temps are hanging in the high 90's, even into the 100's!  We were there for 3 days.  We found what looked to be a neat meat market in town, Brattis Meat Market, and went to see what they had.  We managed to help keep the economy running:-)

And the several items we have had so far were delicious.  We also got some grocery shopping done, and happened to notice the truck needed to have an oil change so took care of that as well.  

Then we went north to Buffalo, WY to a KOA that we had stayed at before for a couple nights.  Still horribly hot, but we took a nice drive out through Crazy Woman Canyon and circled back to Buffalo.

A very interesting, narrow, winding road

Had to negotiate around a few natives on the way back.

Then after our 2 nights there we needed one more stop to get to our week long destination on the Missouri River near Cascade, MT at Prewett Creek RV Park.  We decided to try Billings KOA, the very first KOA in America by the way, and all they had left was one site, and water and electric only.  Since it was 50 amp we took it.  The heat was even worse in Billings, over 100df!  And man, was it packed!  We were in the cheap seats, and that was okay, but we did walk around and they have some really nice sites, albeit for over $100/night.

They were completely full by 7pm.  So a quick one night and then off 250 miles to Prewett Creek up through the middle of nowhere.  It was a beautiful morning with great views, so we were feeling really good, right up until the alternator quit again!!!!  That's right the warranty replacement alternator for the other "new" alternator that quit after 1000 miles, with only 6000 miles on it.  Unbelievable!  And it is Saturday, and we're in the middle of nowhere, and where we are heading is also in the middle of nowhere, and we are going to be in limbo most likely until at least Monday.  But with the new Blue Sea ML-ARC I was able to combine the battery banks and let the generator power everything, that is until the generator starts surging, not all the time mind you, just often enough to stop our hearts, because if it quit, we would be done.  But it kept running to get us into our site at Prewett Creek.  We replaced the fuel filter hoping that was the problem and ran it for 15 minutes or so and it seemed fine, but until we run it for a long time we won't know for sure, another impetus to get an alternator.

Since we had no phone service for most of the trip we couldn't do any research on alternator shops, etc.  But when we got situated, there was a shop in Great Falls, 40 miles away that said it was still open, so I called.  Got a nice guy on the phone that told me he didn't rebuild our kind of alternator, a Leece Neville because he couldn't get any parts.  Okay, so we tried to calm down and realize there just wasn't a lot we could do until Monday, so that gave me time to do more research on maybe replacing it with a different brand of alternator.  No, I didn't even contact the guy that sold us the two bad alternators, even if he would warranty it again we had lost any confidence in him that remained.  Never again, another place on my "dead to me" list.

So I pounded the forums looking for ideas, parts, replacement experiences, any thing that could help us out, and to try to get some insight into what was happening.  Of course anytime you go to social media for info you have to try to glean the useful info and toss the other.  But after a time it seemed that several folks with Monaco built coaches had good success replacing the Leece Neville with an American built Delco Remy 28si alternator.  It is a more modern and more efficient alternator and was supposedly a direct bolt in exchange with the LN.  Okay so now we have somewhat of a plan, and luckily we were going to be here for a week.  And as it turns out with the incredibly hot and unusual weather the fishing on the Missouri is under "Hoot Owl" restrictions which say you can't fish from 2pm until midnight, and it has curtailed most of the fishing, that combined with the smoke made us decide to not bother with fishing while here, which turns out to be a good thing since we have other things to accomplish:-)

A company in California was recommended and was the source many of the folks that had switched to a Delco used.  I called the shop in Great Falls first to see if they could get a Delco and was told it would take 6-8 weeks!  So we waited for the California place to open up and gave them a call and they told us 10-12 weeks, why, but of course, because of Covid.  We called an alternator shop in Billings to see if they had one, no but they could probably get one in 2-4 weeks, but they had a rebuilt LN like ours.  Remember Billings is 250 miles away.  That gave us a fall back position that we really didn't want to do.  Nothing in Helena, so we started looking in Missoula where we would be, if we could get there, in a week or so for 2 weeks.  Found a shop there and discussed the problem and he said call him back in 5 minutes and he'd see if he could get the Delco.  We waited and called and he said he could get one immediately, now immediately means it would have to be shipped in, and they normally come in 2 days, but sometimes they would upgrade it to overnight as a favor.  We confirmed it was the right part number, pad mount 200 amp, etc, the price was acceptable, so we ordered it.  Now Missoula is "only" 150 miles away:-)  In about 30 minutes he called back and said they agreed to overnight it, he had a tracking number and it was supposed to be in the next day before noon.  Wowser!

So Jan and I formulated a plan, we would remove the bad alternator, drive down to Missoula, have lunch at a great pizza place we like, go to Costco and the grocery store, and then stop and pick up the new alternator, and drive back.  Sounds good right?  On the way down I get a call from the shop and he says the tracking says now it will be here before 4:30 pm.  Ouch, okay, we can work with that and besides we are already more than halfway there.  Enjoy our lunch, fight the crowds at Costco, grocery shop, and mosey over to the alternator shop at around 2pm, no sign of it, but the tracking still says by 430.  Okay, we run a few more errands, have coffee, and chill out, and stop back at 3:30pm, still no alternator.  I then notice the sign in the door says they close at 4pm, what if it doesn't come by closing, no problem he will stay open.  Great shop by the way, Auto Electric Service, Larry is the owner.  He couldn't be nicer and feels responsible for Fedex's mess up.  Do I need to go on, does the alternator come, NO it does not.  And the tracking says delayed with no update delivery info!  So back we go to Prewett Creek.

We spend the next day on pins and needles as we watch the tracking first say it is in Great Falls???  Then it shows in Missoula, and finally it says out for delivery, Larry says he will call the instant it arrives.  So he calls at 3:30 and I missed his call, when I look at my phone there is a voice mail, which says call me as soon as possible?!?!?!?  Oh no what could be wrong?  I call and he says the dimensions of the pad mount are about 3/4" shorter than your LN.  Oh NO.  He said the LN was 5" on center, and the Delco was 4 1/4" on center.  He asked if I had the correct part number, I said it was the number the California company gave me as a direct replacement for the LN.  He says he will give his supplier a call, and I say I will do some research as well.  First I went out to the engine compartment to check it and what do I find much to our delight, another set of holes!  I measure and they seem to be 4 1/4" on center.  We never saw them before even though we had removed the alternator 3 times by now.  They just never registered.

You can just see the extra hole in this picture

I call the shop and tell Larry what we found and now seem to be back on track.  So the next thing to do is to see if I can get the bolts in these other holes that have corroded and rusted a bit over the years.  I spray them well with penetrating oil and work the bolt in and out but I am not really gaining on it, and terrified if I break the bolt off, we will really be screwed.  Our neighbors, Kevin and Penny who we had been talking to back and forth with, had offered to help, and offered any tools they had that I might need, very nice of them.  Well it seemed I would need to get a tap and die kit to clean out the threads, so I asked Kevin on a whim if he had a kit, he said no, but he did have a thread cleaning kit.  Wow, just what we need, and something I had never heard of before now, and sure enough it was exactly what the doctor ordered, it made short work of the threads so I could easily turn the bolt in and out with my hand.  More progress!

Jan and I are both big believers that things always happen for a reason.  Our plan was to get the new alternator, and have them evaluate what was wrong with the old one and see if it was worth rebuilding.  So when we went down the first time, I had them remove the pulley, and keep the old  alternator for evaluation.  So if the alternator had come in that day, we would have looked at it and decided it wouldn't fit and sent it back.  Interesting, huh?  Also as Larry and I were talking about what things could cause alternator failure, he mentioned a possible weak battery putting too much strain on it, and how old were my batteries?  I told him I had just replaced my chassis batteries this winter, but my 4 house batteries were 7 years old.  He made a face:-)  Could one of them be bad, and I'd be surprised that they could last this long?!?  So that made me think some more, bad thing, and I thought of the times I had wondered why it was taking so long to charge them back up after boon docking and why I wasn't getting as much out of them that I thought I should.  Now I will admit part of the reluctance to replace them is cost, they are AGM size 4D batteries and they cost dearly, more than $550 each.  But I knew I was kidding myself to think they could go much longer, so a battery shopping I went, and Jan brought up a very good point that there is no sales tax in Oregon so maybe better to buy them there.  Online I found a few places, and after inquiry, we were back to 10-12 weeks delivery and over $700 each.  Wow.  So after a couple more calls and finally to Empire Battery in Eugene where we were going to be.  He had them in stock, at a better price that I had been finding, and he would deliver them to the coach where we were having some cabinet work being done, that way he could help me lift them, 135# each, and he could take the cores back.  Another project complete, well sorta.

So yesterday Jan and I went back to Missoula, another 300+ miles round trip, picked up the new  alternator, confirmed the mounting, and installed it, and ran the engine for about 10 minutes and all seems good.  

Big size and weight difference, Delco on top

Working on adding pulley and checking connections for compatibility

It fits!

Engine running, all is well (fingers crossed)

The real test will be when we drive it a substantial amount of miles to see.  But right now, good news finally.

2 days ago another fire started only a few miles from us, the Harris fire, already over 26,400 acres and only 13% contained.  It was started by lightening, and when the wind is right the smoke is unreal, you can hardly breathe, luckily since we are in a canyon, most of it goes over and around us.  They have set up yet another fire base in Cascade about 5 miles up the road.  

Right from our site

And to give you an idea of how many fires there are in our area.

Fires out here a fact of life, like hurricanes in Florida and the Outer Banks, tornadoes in the Midwest, blizzards in New England, rain and drizzle in the Pacific Northwest, on and on.  We have been coming out west for many, many years and yes this year is bad, but doesn't seem particularly bad or any worse than other years, who knows?  

So tomorrow we give our new alternator its first test, we are driving about 250 miles to West Glacier, keep your fingers crossed for us.

Making Our Way North

Since we had raced the rain into our campground in Buena Vista, and lost, we had bypassed getting fuel at the station just south, so on our way out we went to get another load of the highest priced fuel we've encountered so far on our trip, $3.699.  We had fueled up there previously when we were southbound with Karen and Tom.  After we left Florida in May, fuel was firmly in the $2.50 range, but has been rising steadily ever since.  More than a dollar a gallon in less than 2 months!  I wonder why? :-)

We drove up to Winding River RV Resort in Grand Lake, and it wasn't until about 2 miles away that we could see any sign of fire damage.  But when we did it was astonishing to see how large and devastating it must have been.  The East Troublesome  and Cameron Peak fires consumed more than 30,000 acres.  Many, many burnt down buildings and houses, lots of construction replacing their losses.  The campground lost one big building housing a set of bathrooms, club house, and laundry, but the new replacement was almost complete.

This is at the rear of the campground, you can see how close the fire came
and some of the continuing clean up work

We had never seen the aspens bend over before

Winding River is kind of an enigma, it is a very rough, "back to nature" kind of place, there is no grass, weed, or thistle trimming, and even tree stumps aren't removed.  You have to wade through weeds up to your knees hoping to avoid all the thistles to get hooked up in your site.  And then the site, you can kind of discern it by the muddy dirt and gravel ruts that define the basic area of your site.  They call themselves a resort, but it is a big stretch, they do have horses for riding, and have equestrian campsites so you can bring your own horses, but that is the extent of their amenities.  And for all of this bliss, it cost us $84.50/night!!!

Our site

We had originally booked a week there, what were we thinking?  But managed with a lot of effort to reduce it to 3 nights only.  With the campgrounds so amazingly full it is very difficult to book and especially change any reservations.  

Jan wanted to go up into the park again, we were here 2 years ago to see some of the stuff she missed.  Yes, I avoid RMNP, it is too high and steep for a chicken like me, just the roads scare me to death.  So off she went early in the morning to beat the crowds.  RMNP, like many other national parks, has instituted a reservation system restricting the number of people entering and allowing them to meter the inflows.  If you go in early you avoid all that.

No sign of fire up top

A couple residents of the park

Some more residents

The mushroom rocks, pretty apropos I would say

Lots of smoke in the air

This road is one the big reasons I don't go

A very happy camper!

So with only one more day and rain moving in and out we drove down to Granby for a decent lunch.  It's funny, as you know we have been doing this for a long, long time, over 25 years, and this year we have experienced more rain than all the other years combined it seems, odd. 

So in our quest to reduce our time at Winding River, we booked one night a whole 16 miles down the road at a huge new resort, and this time I mean a resort, River Run.  Over 200 RV sites, lots of rental cabins, rental golf carts, kayaks, boats, etc, pools, bounce areas, stores, restaurant and bar and grill, and on.  It was busy, full, absolutely bustling, and only $107.05 for one night:-(  And that was for a standard site with a small concrete patio.

So after chilling there for the evening, we moved north to a tiny little campground in the tiny town of Cowdrey, CO.  What a difference, it has 11 sites, full hook up although only 30 amp.  No amenities, but nice views near the North Platte River, a famous trout river, one that we had fished in WY a few years ago.  We reserved 2 nights to fill up the time, and it was actually a peaceful enjoyable experience for $40/night:-)  We thought we might fish while we were there, but it turns out there is exactly one access point in Colorado, and the next is 6 miles into Wyoming, and all private land in between.  So no fishing for us.

Our site at Sentinel RV park

We passed through another tiny town on the way to Cowdrey, Walden, CO, a metropolis compared to Cowdrey.  Looking on TripAdvisor they listed a restaurant, River Rock Cafe in a small older hotel, rustic with good food, looked like something we should try, and we were glad we did.  It was a friendly, bustling establishment particularly for being in the middle of nowhere in a town with a population of 608.  But it was very good!  You knew I had to get some food pictures in:-)

Rustic, friendly, and comfortable

Luscious homemade chicken soup

Jan's delicious french dip with rings

My awesome chicken fried steak with homemade mashed potatoes
Probably the most tender and tasty one I have ever had!

What a find!  Then we took a ride on a big loop up to Summit Lake near Buffalo Pass, 10,295' which is on the back way into Steamboat Springs.  It was a pretty drive in which we came upon quite an unusual sight.

Yes, FOUR bull moose all together!!

It almost made pretty little Summit Lake anticlimactic.

We got back from our ride and Jan made the most scrumptious fried green tomatoes.  This is not something we have often, but she had found great tomatoes, both red and green in Buena Vista, and decided to make it our dinner, delish!

So now we are in Casper, WY, and had planned to take a float fishing trip on the North Platte, but the weather is not cooperating, the highs are in the high 90's, 98, 99.  To stand in a boat all day long with the heat and sun pouring down was not something either of us wanted to do, and even the fish get stressed with temps like this.  We'll make up for it later, we have our fingers crossed for a float on the Mighty Mo in a week or so.

Northward, Sort Of

We said good bye to Karen and Tom as they returned to Taos.  We only had one more day so we took a ride around and enjoyed the last bit in Creede, in fact we saw a huge bull moose just up the road, but he was too quick to get a picture.  There was quite a crowd of people pulled off the road and I guess he decided he had had enough:-)  As we took our walk through the campground, we saw 3 newcomers to the area.

They are literally 2 days old in this picture

After a quiet evening we had big plans for the day of departure, we had been in contact with the campground in South Fork, 28 miles down the road to see if we could check in early.  We were planning to get to South Fork, park, plug in, and then take off for Durango immediately so Jan could make her hair cut appointment.  We were staying at Peacock Meadows, so I called them first thing and they said they had no one leave yet so we were out of luck, although we could come in at 11am, the normal checkout time and they would see what they could do, but after I hung up, they called back and said come ahead, a site just opened up!  Off we went our 28 miles and arrived at 1015am, plugged in, set up, and off to Durango we went.  It was a whirlwind, Jan got her hair done, we got lunch, did several errands, went grocery shopping in Pagosa Springs on the way back.  230 miles, left at 1030am, returned at 540pm, but don't feel too bad for us, it is a spectacular drive from South Fork over Wolf Creek Pass into Pagosa Springs, then on to Durango, and back.

We had a nice site in South Fork, and even better as we watched a crew wash and wax a 5th just down from us and it looked really good.  I inquired as to price, it was very reasonable, so we got our atrociously dirty motorhome washed and waxed the same day!

Jan in front of our gleaming coach!

We only had one more day, so we went over to Big Meadows reservoir to take one of our favorite hikes around the lake.

This is a very popular fishing lake, look closely you can see many trout

Had a great time with beautiful weather, then stopped at a weird, funky food truck for lunch on the way back, it was okay, no pictures, 30 min wait, over $30 for two sandwiches, won't go back to Rachel's.  Then when the showers moved in, got a shot of a double rainbow from the campground.

So that was our last day in South Fork, on to Buena Vista in the morning, about 120 miles.  The day started out gorgeous, then we started to see showers here and there, and finally about 30 miles away from our destination, it started spitting on the windshield, then started raining hard for all of 15 minutes, ruining our wash job after only 30 hours!  Thanks Murphy.

We pulled into our site at Mt Princeton RV Park, and Jan went out and cleaned up the coach with our magical Wash/Wax, and I took the filthy truck over to the coin car wash, so within an hour or so, we had both vehicles looking good again.  We only planned on 3 nights here as well.

When we were here a few years ago, we found a great place to go shooting.  It is perfectly legal to shoot on public lands, BLM, National Forests, etc.  We hadn't been shooting in too long so we were looking forward to getting out and getting ourselves back up to speed, and we had a new shotgun that we bought over a year ago that we hadn't ever shot!  It is a nicely sheltered spot with a big hill as a backdrop.  We went out and shot for an hour and a half until we both felt comfortable and current again.  And the shotgun was awesome.  After we went out for lunch at Eddyline on the way back.  They have excellent wood fired pizza, and in this case awesome home brewed root beer.

Our two halves leftover for lunch the next day
Veggie, and BBQ chicken, both yummy!

We got back, sat down and cleaned the guns, and took a nap:-)

So one more day and we wanted to go up to Cottonwood Pass, 12,126', but the smoke had been moving in and made the views not as spectacular, so with the miracle of saved pictures, here are a few from an earlier time.

Looking back towards Taylor Reservoir to the west,
that road is now completely paved

And the road coming from Buena Vista, the way we came this time,
and yes, there is still snow up there

So tomorrow we move farther northward to Grand Lake, CO, near the western entrance to RMNP.  There had been a very large fire in that area since we were there before, and the campground, Winding River was impacted by it.  We are anxious to see what the actual damage has been and what the surrounding area looks like.  We'll let you know.