We will just call it the <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" /> trip from hell <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" /> . It all started Sat. Jan 24, I had planned on leaving town around 8AM, didn't get out of town until 8PM. Of course it had just started to snow like hell and made the roads very messy and slippery. We originally started out with the Bus pulling my car trailer with the '02 Rodeo on it, and my '93 Trooper pulling the '94 trail Rodeo. Got 5 miles out of Mtn Home and realized that the roads were just to bad for the Trooper to pull the Trail Rodeo and took it back to the house. That left the Bus pulling the '02 Rodeo and Vic following behind in the Trooper.
We then proceeded to head toward NC in the snow storm (30-40 mph winds) at about 30 mph for the first 300 miles. Ended up having to take a detour to Pocatello ID since they had shut down I-84 due to a large number of vehicles off in the ditch. I-86 also had quite a few cars and semi's off the road. When we were close to Ogden UT the roads started to improve a bit, but due to the nasty weather and bitter cold we encountered in Idaho the windshield wipers were pretty much trashed. After replacing the wipers on the Trooper and modifing some to fit the Bus were continued on our merry way.
Got to Rock Springs WY and decided to catch a few ZZZ's, pulled the bus into the lot and parked the Trooper behind it with the parking lights on. After about an hours sleep, we were awoke by the violent movement and noise of a Stevens Van Lines Trailer sliding down the drivers side of the Trooper, not exactly the way I prefer to be awakend after a nap. After 3 hours of filling out reports and swapping insurance info we attempted to try and get the left side doors to close correctly. I pulled the bus around to use the headlights to help light the work area and set the E-brake (Bus has Air Brakes). After repairing the doors so they would shut, I tried to release the E-Brack on the Bus. Unfortunately it was froze open (might have had something to do with the -0 temps and the 30mph winds). After pondering what to do short of building a fire under the bus to thaw things out, Vic suggested poring hot water over the valve to try and thaw it out. Well it worked and the air system started to build pressure again.
On the road again, heading toward Denver. Decided to stop outside of Denver to wait for the rush hour traffic to thin out before proceeding. After a short nap, went to start up the bus and realized I had left the lights on, yep, dead battery. After jump starting the bus, we were on the road again. Got through Denver with no problems and was approaching Strassburg CO and Vic nootived sparks coming from the car trailer. Seems we managed to completely destroy a wheel bearing. I decided to contact Corbin to borrow the use of his car trailer for the week. About 2 hours later Corbin showed up with Aaron and a car trailer in tow. (FYI- the temp on the bank sign said the temp was 1 degree) After swapping the Rodeo onto Corbin's trailer and some slight modifacation to the wiring harness on the trailer (thanks Corbin and Aaron)we were on the road again.
We were heading through Kansas and happened to see Keith E. waiving at us from a van outside of Salina Ks. We were about 20 miles outside of Topeka KS at MM336 and the bus belched a cloud of white smoke that enveloped the east bound side of I-70 and the bus came to a stop along side of the interstate. After looking at the motor in the bus we discovered a stream of something that looked like a chocolate smoothee coming from the motor. Knowing that this couldn't be a good sign, I proceeded to call my emergency road service for which had become active the day the bus suffered the fatal Heart Attack. After waiting 2 more hours for a semi wrecker to arrive from Topeka KS the bus was on it way again, this time to a storage lot (thanks Good Sam Club for the tow).
After taking care of the bus, we were on our way again. I was driving the Rodeo and Vic was driving the Trooper. Outside of St Louis Mo, we were behind a pickup pulling a flatbed trailer and the trailer kicked up a rock that cracked the Rodeo windshield and then proceeded to bounce of and hit the Trooper windshield and crack it also.
Once we got accross the Mississippi River the trip was pretty uneventful. Took 4 days to get halfway accross the country with the bus and 1 day to get for KS to NC without. after looking at some houses in NC we headed for Bristol VA to drop off the Rodeo and Misty the wonder dog off at my Mom's house. We then proceeded to head toward Topeka KS to pick up Corbins trailer, just so happens that it was snowing heavily there (10-12 inches). No real problems after that, just had to replace the wiring connector on Corbin's trailer since it had fallen down and pretty much disappeared from rubbing on the road. After dinner with Corbin, Deanna, and Jeff, and swapping out trailers again we headed out again. We stopped in Rock Springs WY again to see if we could find another Stevens Van Lines truck to finish off the Trooper with but was unsuccessful, decided to have a bite to eat and chat with the nice pretty waitress that helped us out the first time through. After eating it decided to start to snow again and we hit the road trying to get back to MTN Home before it got to bad. We arrived back in Mtn Home at 2PM all safe and sound.
The second leg of the journey is starting on the 16th, hopefully it will just be a really boring drive from ID to NC
