Laramie

People really look at you strange when you're pushing a stroller carrying not a baby, but a gas can.

Let me back up.

We have had a great couple of days travelling cross country. After the night in Iowa, we made it to a state park right past Kearney, Nebraska and had another relaxing night and morning in a pretty location. We continued west yesterday and managed to make it to right past Cheyenne, Wyoming to a state park called Curt Dowdy. It was a beautiful place (photos above) and we were the ONLY ones camping there. In the first picture, you can just make out our RV near the center of the pic. And it was only $12 to camp! We saw some people fishing, but that was it. It was quiet, chilly at night, and the stars were amazing.

We gained quite a bit of altitude to get to the spot (it was at near 8000 feet) and the truck was struggling. I actually drove for several hours yesterday (not just interstate!) and as we got close to the park, I had to keep the pedal to the floor to keep our speed up. The battery light was also flickering. And this morning, it wouldn't start. Joe worked on it for awhile (mind you---no cell phone reception or wireless, and literally NO ONE at the park), Rowan and I sat in the RV and prayed, and finally it started in a cloud of white smoke. So we drove about 20 miles west to Laramie, Wyoming, found a mechanic, parked the RV at Walmart, then Joe delivered the truck and ran the 3.5 miles back to Walmart to wait with us and see what happens.

This is a bit frustrating because we did the right thing and took the truck in to a mechanic in Grand Rapids before we left---we knew this would be a long, hard trip and wanted to make she she was good to go. But I guess they can't catch everything. The mechanic said partly we're dealing with an altitude issue, but he also thinks some glow plugs (?) are out, and maybe the alternator. We definitely want to get those issues resolved before tackling the mountains....which we can see in a lovely view from the Walmart parking lot (did you know that you can park an RV overnight at any Walmart?). It also isn't a veggie oil issue. We ran the truck on both diesel and veggie oil yesterday to see if we could figure anything out, and if anything, the truck had better power on veggie oil.

So I had to walk from Walmart down a few miles to a place with better wireless connection---and we also needed to get a gallon of gas for the generator tonight. That's why I'm pushing a stroller with a gas can in it, and getting lots of strange looks. Hey, it beats carrying the gas that far.

In an effort to remain positive, here are the things I am thankful for:

1. We needed a break from driving. Rowan especially. She was super cranky this morning, and it was good to just hunker down with her and read, do puzzles, and take it easy. She's a great traveler in the car, but it's still been a lot of driving time.

2. Our home is on wheels! So even though we're at the Walmart parking lot, we have everything we need with us, it's comfortable, it's familiar, and we'll even sleep in our own beds.

3. The weather is perfect. We won't need air conditioning tonight, and if we need the heater, we have plenty of propane! We also filled up on water and emptied all the gross stuff this morning.

4. It's really beautiful out here. Why do so few people live in Wyoming?

5. We have the garmin. We call her Gerty. She's our GPS. We got her to make it easier to find veggie oil (wherever you are, you can plug in "restaurants" or even "asian" and it will tell you exactly where the closest ones are, give you the phone number, then tell you exactly how to get there). We've used her for that, definitely. But we also used her to find the Walmart Supercenter, the mechanic, the wireless connection, our elevation, and on and on. It is really easy and convenient, and has saved us lots of hassle.

If you want to check out a few more pics that were added to the Trip to CA album, click here

And here's one last pic of me and Rowan this morning, eating our cereal on the steps of the RV. Nice way to wake up, huh?