Day 11 update - Broken Belt Blues

Now, back in April, we did bring our car in and got some things taken care of (actually ended up getting two new alternators because the first one didn’t like our computer system, so we got a brand new factory-specific one).  We got the AC freshened up and some other little upgrades in preparation for our trip.  Then, we had trouble on day one, got a diagnosis of basically “nothing” is wrong and had all the fluids replaced after lots of testing.  The problem didn’t seem to really go away, and eventually we started leaking radiator fluid, so we used some leak stop and got some fluids and then had the heater core bypassed in Yellowstone (our Google search in Ohio indicated it was a bad heater core and we should bypass it since we don’t use heat in our vehicle anyway as it’s our summer tow vehicle).  

We thought we were all set with our two visits to a mechanic and we felt so much less stress heading out on our next leg from Yellowstone to Glacier today.  We were jsut over 2 hours from the campground and expecting to arrive at about 7:15pm when we heard a funny noise from the front of the car.  We pulled over and decided to try to get to a gas station, but then it died just before we got there and Ryan safely pulled us over right in front of it instead.  We were in Arlee Montana, which apparently has a population of 641.  We upgraded to Premier AAA, so we knew we could get towed to Kalispell if needed, but it was just after 5pm and we really wanted to get to Glacier tonight with our camper.  We called around and asked some locals for recommendations.  While the AAA call took an hour (first it directed me to an online thing, but after 15 minutes, I realized I really needed a person, and then that took 45 minutes) and then 2 more to actually get picked up, we were fortunate to receive compassion and kindness by some small town heroes.  

We asked locals for ideas on mechanics and they were eager to help.  One garage even called another garage and then a guy drove to a town 40 minutes away to get the belt we needed and offered to stay late to get us fixed up.  When we updated him that AAA’s estimate of an hour was no longer going to happen, he still said he’d meet us and he was true to his word.  After we were towed, he made quick work of replacing the belt and fixing a couple of wires it had broken loose as it rampaged inside the engine.  One of the other guy’s who worked at the shop also stayed late (SO late) and those two men were true heroes to our family.  Our alternative would’ve been to get the camper and car towed to Kalispell, over an hour and a half away with one of us, then Uber to the airport, rent a van, drive back to pick everyone up, find a place to stay for the night, and who knows when we’d get the car fixed (when we started calling, estimates were a week out).  Instead, we are running 5 hours behind schedule, but they had us fixed up in about half an hour (the other 4.5 hours is due to with unhooking the camper for the tow, needing to hook up again later, the 3 hours due to AAA, and the time before we called AAA as we started to explore our options) and we get to sleep at Glacier tonight.    

Another extremely fortunate piece of the story (always look for the good!) is to have landed right in front of Jerry’s house.  A native Californian who came to Montana for his honeymoon in ‘63 and he and his bride moved here in ‘65, Jerry introduced himself as I was outside the gas station and told me he lived in the house we were parked near and that we were welcome to come hang out in his yard and use his porch and picnic table.  He told us to knock if we needed anything. Asking for help is hard and I hadn’t really planned on knocking on his door, but when we realized AAA wouldn’t be able to transport us (and uber isn’t a think in a town like Arlee), we knocked to ask if he might be able to transport us (with compensation - though he did not accept any) up to the next town where our other heroes were willing to stay late to fix up our vehicle.  He was very willing and shared some of his story with us, including that his wife had passed away a year ago and, like my dad and I, he was pretty lost without her.  We let the kids get out to eat at his picnic table and run around his yard. 

Now, I would’ve much preferred to not have any car trouble, to have enjoyed the gorgeous views driving up to the park, to have not forced my kids into a 14 hour travel day, and to be asleep right now rather than still enroute at almost midnight, but the great thing about adversity is that it often brings out the best in people.  Just like the hike the other day brought out the best in one of my son’s as another struggled with negativity, our tough situation showed us how compassionate people can be.  On trips, challenges always seem to put us into contact with locals in ways that we would not encounter otherwise (though kids help with that and I’d prefer to meet someone at a playground than due to being broken down in front of their home… but learning other people’s stories and accepting help from people who you likely wouldn’t interact with otherwise helps us grow).

While I am so grateful that we are safe and on an incredible trip, I am sincerely hoping and praying that this is the last of our car troubles.  Three trips to the mechanic is enough for one trip!  I feel as though we have had enough experiences with the various types of garages across the country and do not need any further data points.