9/24 Ford Dealership, Burley Idaho

John Getting Needed Stuff Out 

A "check engine" warning light is never a good thing, but especially when you are hauling an RV while climbing out of the desert between Salt Lake City and the Idaho border where there are few services for many miles.  Having just filled with diesel and DEF we figure it is an fuel exhaust system issue and proceed to a campground a few hours away near Burley, Idaho.  Next morning we hope the light is off but no luck so we drive not far to the Goode Ford Dealership at 8:30 a.m.  True to it's name (which has been operating here since 1919) they take us right in and yup needs some part for the exhaust sensor and oh by the way couple of other routine maintenance issues mind as well take care of while we wait for the part and also since we saw snow on the top of a mountain heading out of Utah yesterday, how about replacing the truck tires while you are at it.  Part arrives early afternoon but upon installing it a "little" piece breaks off due to corrosion (do you live near the ocean???) which brings everything to a halt and an order for a chunk of the exhaust system (of course can't just get the little $3.00 part that broke because Ford only sells it attached to the rest of the freakin exhaust system) which will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon.  After a couple of DEEP breaths, we ask if we need to get a hotel room or can we camp out in your parking lot..... no problem they say and we can give you a car and all the coffee and fresh baked cookies you can eat.  WHAT!  Boy, we are not on the east coast for sure where you would rarely get right in for service, would not be offered a car, would not be allowed to crawl in the truck on the lift and would not have had room in parking lot to park the RV never mind set it up for camping all night, etc. etc.   True western hospitality.

Our Living Room View 

 It was pretty quiet, having the place to ourselves and we both slept like a rock as the wind rocked us to sleep.   

9/25 Believe it or not the parts got lost in the mail, so these wonderful people ripped what we needed off a truck on their sales lot so that we could get underway.  AMAZING!!!

It is VERY rare that we drive at night but didn't get on the road until 4 p.m. heading NW on I-84.  We planned to stop before sunset but there are NO SERVICES for 75 miles once you hit the Oregon boarder through the mountains up down up down and around and around.  Glad we gassed up at the boarder and gas is much cheaper in Idaho.  We are on the Oregon  Trail.  Oh my, what those people endured.  

The first sight of civilization in Oregon is Baker City.  Backing into a site at night is a challenge because we are so tall and many RV sites have trees, etc.  The first place we called suggested we continue down the road a piece to another campground that had pull through sites... more Western hospitality!  Mt. View RV is a delightful spot.  I wish we had time to explore this historic town but we have 5 more hours of driving (more like 6 with stops) ahead of us to reach the campground in Washington and meet up with Zoe and our friends, the Nelsen's from Hawaii who are also camping there.