How a day begins and how it Ends

Boondocking can sometimes be a challenge trying to find a spot to set up camp at the last minute before it gets dark as posted earlier this month.

Our day begins waking up at our new overnight spot that was not a challenge to find the day before.

This spot called “Ocean Lake” was found just east of Grand Teton National Park. We just drove five miles down a dirt road to the end of a peninsula on a lake and found a beautiful area. This place could have easily handled 15 big rigs with spacing to give everyone plenty of privacy and we had it all to ourselves.

Once we found this spot so close to a National Park we thought it should be no problem finding a spot on the west side of Yellowstone so our journey through two of our countries great National Park’s begins.

I was very excited about seeing the Grand Tetons once again because the last time I saw them I was a little child and had a memory of such majestic beauty. I kept telling Teresa how beautiful the area is and her excitement grew as well.

Even though it was a bit hazy due to wildfires in the northwest of the country, these mountains contained every bit of Gods beauty that I remembered as a child.

Continuing on now up and around every next corner was more glorious views and just an awesome drive.

Driving a 40’ RV towing a Jeep on narrow winding roads makes one nervous but the nervousness disappears the farther you drive and the more beauty you see.

This drive from the southeast entrance of the Grand Tetons up to the northwest exit from Yellowstone winds all through the mountains and across The Great Divide three different times. After we passed The Great Divide for a second time we decided that when we come to the third time we should stop and take a photo op.

Well before we arrived at the third and final crossing our RV decided it was time for a break. Four different lights came on in rapid succession one right after the other. 1st the diesel particulate filter lamp (DPL) followed by the check engine light followed by the high exhaust system temperature lamp and finally the stop engine warning.

Now we were climbing a steep grade around winding curves with nowhere to stop except the middle of the road. So what do you do? Keep driving as the engine is slowing you down to a crawl. Fortunately just ahead about a half mile was a pull off (or so the sign said) but it seemed like a hundred miles and my heart was beating faster with every foot we continued to move up the road. Finally I saw the pull out but there were cars everywhere. No choice we’re pulling in. One little spot was available and guess what? It was a handicap spot with just enough room to to park the RV half in the middle of the exit driveway with the jeep sitting partially at the outermost edge of the handicap spot leaving enough room for an actual handicap vehicle to wedge themselves in although they would need to back out of the spot to leave.

Ok so we have blocked the exit from the pull off and now there was only the entrance from the opposite direction that is now being used as an exit. Not knowing what to do we decided to just shut it off and hope allowing everything to cool down for an hour would solve all our problems. So that’s what we did.

Sorry to all those traveling east that couldn’t pull in to what we later realized was our 3rd and final crossing of The Great Divide. I am sure we would not have the photo op we planned earlier except our rig decided we must take this otherwise missed opportunity. Under normal circumstances we never would have pulled off as there was really no “proper room” for an RV towing a Jeep under any normal circumstances.

OK, so now an hour has gone by, I have talked to a forest services ranger (offered to radio down to the valley if needed, after informing me the rest of the drive was all down hill which is a bit ominous) so we decide to start the engine and see what’s up. Great news no lights and we head down the road. All is going well for about five miles and then the DPL light comes on again. This time we can coast down hill until we came to a good pull out to stop once again.

By now we have figured out that letting the engine cool was not the way too solve the problem so now it’s time to get out the manual for this beast. After reading what all the lights are we determined we had to do a “High Energy Regeneration” on the exhaust system.

Thank God for Teresa as she had the patience enough to keep reading and walk me step through step how to do this, which included getting under the front dashboard and finding a particular wire connection and disconnecting it for precisely 4 seconds and plugging it back in while the engine is running but only after you have released the emergency air breaks and reengaged first. OK sounds confusing (and is at first) until you actually do it. The manual says as soon as you do this the engine RPM will accelerate and the regeneration process will end once the RPM drops back to normal (20 to 60 minutes).

We now have waited 60 minutes, and the RPM has not dropped back down yet and we are getting later in the day and starting to worry about finding a spot to park for the night. Teresa calmly explains how to stop the regeneration process so I do that but the light stays on. We decide, hey, the engines running so let’s just start driving and hopefully all will be OK. After getting above 15 MPH the light went out and never came back on so I guess the regeneration process worked to solve our problem.

It’s now 5 pm and we still have a two hour drive ahead to our planned camp spot. When we finally arrived more trouble no space for us on the Yellowstone River so we head down the road both of us getting more frustrated at each other by the minute. It’s now time to stop and step away from each other for a few minutes and I find a rest stop and figure we will just stay there but it says no camping. I explain in my usual manner we are not camping here for the night we are parking here resting for a few hours. Of course Teresa doesn’t see it this way (more frustrations) and we head down the road to a gas station 12 miles away that has (according to Google Satalite images) a huge parking area.

To our frustration once again, the place was hopping with cars and people everywhere. We thought there must be a festival or something going on but definitely no place to stop and park.

Teresa says “let’s just get gas and we’ll drive all night if need be”. So I pull into the gas station, get parked at a pump in time to start trying to figure out how we are going to exit the gas station.

As I am filling up the tank and still trying to decide an exit strategy, Nicole (some strange lady as I was thinking at the time) walks up and says “hey we’re having a party and Dwight Yoakum is getting ready to play across the street you should come join us”. After a little nervous laugh, I look around and say that sounds good but, there is nowhere to park and I’m not sure I can even get out of here. Now Nicole says “awe shit just leave it right where it is” (at the pump) and the tells me she knows the owner of the gas station and she’ll go get him then walks away.

I’m now thinking, “Right” and look up at Teresa’s face seeing her frustration still, I say “did you hear that?”. She says “yeah, right, sure, whatever…”. But a few minutes later Nicole is back with the owner saying, “just leave it here until after the concert and then when the parking lot is clear you can pull away from the pump and stay the night”.

WOW WOW WOW….,

Little did we know not having space at our first planned camping spot would lead to new friends and memories never to be forgotten. We met Nicole and her husband Wally their son Conner, “Crazy” Kelli (a really nice lady) and her husband Jeff and many more of all their friends whose names I don’t remember. Teresa even has a connection with Wally as he is from Wells NV where he knows several of the same people Teresa went through high school with in Battle Mountain.

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At the beginning of the day, little did we know that we would land at the best after party in Emigrant Montana after a Dwight Yoakum concert which we closed down at around midnight.

The next morning this is what we woke up too. After sitting and enjoying the morning sun, the owner walked up and greeted us and again told us we could stay as many nights as we wanted.

Thank You Emigrant Montana we will never forget your warm and friendly hospitality. We can’t hardly wait to return again. God Bless You All…