Saturday, June 2, 2012 Driving Minnesota to Montana (A Test Of Patience!)

We agreed to leave the Minnesota campground at 5:00am and buy fuel about 20 miles up the road. While cleaning the Durango's windows at the gas station inside of South Dakota, I smelled antifreeze. Maybe another vehicle had sprayed coolant on our car while on the interstate, but I better look under the hood. I was sick to find the entire engine was sprayed with antifreeze and the radiator was making a gurgling noise. Although I exhibited calm, inside I was thinking...Oh that is just Great! We sat there long enough for things to cool and wipe down some of the mess. It appeared to be coming from the overflow on the fill reservoir of the radiator. After some deliberation, we pushed on and decided to stop up the road and check it out. Hopefully, it was just a fluke and all would be well. The temperature gauge did not rise much but we stopped a short way up the road and found more antifreeze all over. I bought a gallon of new coolant and added a little. We went another short distance until coolant started to spray on the hood and windshield. We stopped at a rest area and I phoned a friend...yeah Amy! She looked on the internet and found a Dodge Dealer up the road about 30 miles in Mitchell, SD. Upon calling the dealer, they said the day was booked. After a little more talking, Curt at Iverson's Dodge agreed to take a look at it about 1PM. So much for the early head start on a day we hoped to make close to 800 miles to Billings, Montana. ...not looking good. 

We crept along to Mitchell, SD, and Curt said some time had just openned up and he would look at the Durango. So, after unhooking the camper and taking off the bikes, he took it into the shop. About 3 hours later, the diagnosis was a faulty radiator cap. $76 later, we had a new radiator cap and assurance that would solve the problem. We were back in business, but now we wondered if we could keep the camping reservations in Billings, MT.  After a "team" meeting, we agreed to skip seeing Mt. Rushmore, and make a run for Billings. Even then, we took time to visit the Corn Palace in Mitchell and Wall Drug in Wall, SD.  We rolled into the campground at about 1:15 am on Sunday Morning, which was 20 hours after we had left Minnesota the previous morning. We were whipped!

Yeah! Our Heros at Iverson's

Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD

Wall Drug Store. It had lots of stuff and yes we found the 5 cent cup of coffee that they advertise along the interstate.

Although the rainbow is God's promise to never flood the earth again, we were kind of wondering if he was going back on his word for a while with the heavy downpour we had to drive through. It was a white knuckle drive to add to the stressful day! But ultimately, God provided in so many ways and we arrived at Billings, MT safely!