We’ve said it over and over again, building a nomadic lifestyle does not get you out of “bad stuff” happening.
It still happens.
Life on the road is still “life”, and it is not all beautiful sunsets and 50Gbps LTE. Sometimes the unicorns fart rainbows, and sometimes they just plain fart.
At the end of the last post I left you hanging mentioning how we saved $100 in fuel on the next segment of our adventure.
In case you haven’t been following along in realtime on Facebook, the secret to saving fuel while driving a GM 4106 across Montana at 75Mph (backwards!) is… to let a tow truck do all the work.
Here is the story…
We had just gone through the “Wavingest Town in the West” – Broadus, MT – where I was able to send a picture of my dad and I crossing into Montana to my family. We noticed a little RV Park in the town’s center, and we thought “this seems like a cute town with good cell signal” and seriously contemplated stopping for the night.
We knew our next camping option would not be for quite a while, and it would probably not have cellular coverage… (have you noticed the blatant foreshadowing yet?)
But it was still early in the day, we hadn’t made that many miles yet, and we decided to press on.
So westward we went leaving that glorious cell tower behind in the rearview camera. Twenty miles we traveled through beautiful eastern Montana prairie before we encounter the first chain-up area we’ve seen in a really long time. Of course it’s summer, so no chains required – but that means a mountain pass.
It’s a relatively minor pass however. Nothing of concern – Zephry has handled plenty of steeper and longer inclines without problem.
Zephyr starts climbing the pass, when the RPMs start to slip, Chris manually shifts her into 2nd to keep them up. All is fine, but I do note that the transmission sounds slightly different – a little more ‘airy’ perhaps. Not enough to mention it to Chris, it could just be the way the air is hitting the bus.
We crest the incline, and the temperature has barely budged above normal. Chris pats the dashboard and congratulates Zephyr on another hill well climbed. It’s flat at the top of Camp Pass for a bit – and I jokingly note, ‘Camp Pass.. we could camp here!’.
And as soon as Zephyr regains her oomph, Chris shifts her back into 3rd. There’s a bit more of a lurch in the shifting than normal, but Chris says everything looks fine and isn’t concerned.
But I wouldn’t write about ‘normal’…
As we start the downhill, which isn’t even as extreme as the slight incline we just climbed, rather than slowly going down, the engine temperature instead starts to spike up. That’s very unusual on a slight downhill, and Chris goes into alert. In all the bus training we’ve gone through, the tips on temperature regulation had to do with handling an INCLINE, or a downhill when using extensive engine braking. The temps aren’t supposed to increase when going down a slight hill.. that’s supposed to be the easy on the engine stuff. We didn’t even have the Jake engaged!
Within a minute, even though we were essentially coasting, the engine temp was up to 205 and was rising fast. Chris started slowing down, braking to pull off onto the shoulder.
The temperature kept rising and as Chris was nearly on the shoulder (which was thankfully wide at this particular point) he put the engine into neutral to take all load off of it. Regardless, the overheat light came on and the engine automatically shut off.
We had enough momentum left to get safely parked well off the road.
As we stopped we heard liquids gushing from the back of the bus, and rushed to find boiling coolant was gushing to the ground underneath the engine bay. Well, there goes most hopes of us not having done damage to the engine.
After the coolant quit gushing out all over the road, we had the not-so-bright idea to check the coolant in the reservoir to see if anything was left. Chris put his heavy work gloves on to open the coolant fill chamber, opened the inspection hatch, and out came a geyser of coolant that sprayed across the entire highway. Thankfully, Chris was positioned so only his gloves and arm got hit with coolant… and even more thankfully, it was actually not hot (?!?!) and didn’t scald him. It was just the steam from the rest of the cooling system that was pushing it out.
It was actually quite the spectacle to witness.
Ok. So now we had a very hot engine bay, a bus on the side of the road… and despite checking our phones several times in hopes of new towers having been installed since our May ‘Coverage?’ update – no cellular signal.
Unhitching the Mini and driving back into town is of course an option, so we’re not completely stranded. But it sure would be nice to manifest some connectivity out here and get a call into our roadside emergency service – Coach-Net.
But first things first, if we may be stranded here for awhile, it’s best to start going into ultra conservation mode with our house battery systems – so we shut everything non essential down (just leaving the vent fan going to keep cool, and the fridge).
Despite being in the Custer National Forest, we had spotted two houses right nearby. One of them has a sign over the driveway saying ‘Lemonade Run’, and there’s an RV parked there. Friendly signs? We approach the driveway in hopes of finding the front door, to discover this is only the garage. The house is actually much further down the drive and up on a hill. We start to factor in if it’s worth risking trespasing on someone’s property out in the middle of nowhere like this to walk up and knock on the door of a potentially empty house.
We stand in the driveway for a few moments to contemplate our options. And then we spot two 4×4 ATVs turning onto Hyw 212 and heading our way. They stop right by us, and ask how they can help. *whew*
Turns out these are our new neighbors coming back from an expedition. She goes up to the house and returns with a cell phone.
What?? You have *VERIZON* cell signal out here?? How’d we miss that??
Oh, right.. our app ‘Coverage?‘ focuses on data coverage.. not voice. And there are still old voice only towers around in the rural areas that our fancy (and useless in this matter) data only devices don’t have an antenna for.
You can probably guess what the next major upgrade to Coverage will be, and that these nomads will be adding some pre-paid voice only phones from the major carriers to our connectivity arsenal for potential future emergency use…
So Chris gets a call into Coach-Net to start our ticket, and as we’re safely off the road and in the middle of nowhere – they say it’ll probably be the morning before they can get a wrecker to us. We inform them that we have no phone coverage of our own where the bus is parked, we give them our neighbor’s number as as stand-by, but tell them we’ll drive into Broadus where we know we have coverage to check in later with them.
Their diesel tech assigned to our case tells us he needs to go off and do some research to find us the right shop to take an old 2-stroke bus to, and to locate the right wrecking equipment.
We’re actually thankful they’re not rushing someone out, as we also need time to figure things out – and want a say in the matter of where we go and how we get there.
We know that rushing and panic are not our friends, and we keep calm and collected. Besides, we’re at Camp Pass, a good place to camp, right? Our neighbors let us know that the driveway we happened to stop next to is not used by anyone, and if we can get the bus up on there we’d be a heck of a lot safer and more level.
By this time, our IR Thermometer indicates the engine has cooled down to a reasonable 140 degrees. We have a few gallons of distilled water onboard for topping off the coolant and start refilling the reservoir. Nothing is dripping out anywhere, so we’re pretty sure this wasn’t as simple as a coolant hose bursting that caused the overheat.
Zephyr drinks in the 4 gallons of distilled water, and is still thirsty. So I start filling water jugs from the faucet, and we end up putting 12 gallons in until the reservoir looks full again. Originally the bus took 24 gallons of coolant, but it’s hard to say what it needs today as some bus heating systems connected into the coolant system had been removed when it was converted.
We pull our Coolfire extinguisher out of the bay – just in case. We unhitch the Mini to reduce any extra loads.
We take a deep breath, cross our fingers and do a rear engine start. She starts up easily, the smoke is its normal white – so we have some hope.
Chris hops in the drivers seat and I guide him half way up unto the driveway, and even this small move is a struggle for our poor Zephyr girl – she has barely any power. And the smoke has a little bit of black in it when the pedal is pushed. But we’re well off the road now, and more level. We feel good about staying here overnight, and have more information to relay to our bus community when we can get online to help us figure out what went wrong.
As it’s nearly 8pm at this point, we decide it’s best to head into town – as Broadus is likely to roll up the sidewalks early. We make the 25 mile drive back, replaying the events over and over trying to figure it all out.
We enter Broadus and have our first internet signal since this all happened, and get a quick message out on our Facebook page to let everyone know we’re ok – but have a potentially big problem on our hands. We then find a little cafe open, and decide some dinner would do us good as we post the saga to the bus forums to start soliciting ideas.
The cafe closes up, so we head further into town to complete our online time. We decide to top the gas tank off on the Mini, to be more prepared for needing to make multiple trips into town. Clifford, a bus forum hero who we affectionately call ‘bus yoda’ says the symptoms sound bad. We potentially have a cracked head, or at the very least blew a seal gasket due to the overheating.
But what caused the overheating in the first place?
Theories abound online – it could be anything ranging from a thermostat getting stuck, a water pump failing, or even something related to the transmission. But regardless, this won’t be something we can fix on the side of the road, and we’ll need to find a good shop to get the bus to for some potential major repairs.
The forum folks put us in touch with a bus nut in Billings, MT to help us locate our options. We call one shop in Miles City to at least leave a message, who remarkably answer their phone at 10pm. They tell us they’re swamped right now, but might at the very least be able to offer us space to park and equipment to rent, and a little coaching. While we’re resourceful, we’re not sure we’re up to the task of doing this work ourselves (but what a learning experience that would be!).
A particular shop in Billings, Interstate Power, keeps coming up from multiple sources as a potential.. so we start putting out feelers.
We get another call into Coach-Net to check in, there’s no new news. We set up a call for 9am the next morning to compare notes and start sorting this out with the diesel tech. We decide it’s time to head back into the land of no-internet, to give Kiki some company and get some sleep.
It’s been a long day.
Saturday in Broadus
We set the alarm for an early morning wake-up, and try to catch some snoozes after a very intense day. Our minds are over-active continuing to replay the events. We’re sleeping at an incline, and the bus shakes as occasional big rigs speed down Highway 212 several feet from us. But we manage to each get a few hours in.
We wake up before our alarms go off, ready to tackle what we know will be another long day ahead of us.
We hop in the Mini and head back into bandwidth. We’re greeted with more advice that had arrived overnight, and waiting voicemails from our diesel tech at Coach-Net. We check in again with the shop in Miles City, and they give us several great ideas, but still can’t offer a lot of their time. And then we call iState Power – who tells us they can fit us in their schedule on Monday, and we can stay onsite in our bus. We continue asking around for first hand accounts about the company, and decide we’d like to be taken to Billings, MT – liking the idea of having more resources around in a bigger city.
We call in to Coach-Net, and are told they’ve located a shop in Sheridan, WY that they want to take us to. We tell them we’ve already contacted a shop in Billings, and they tell us we’d have to pay the extra mileage to get there. We point out that it’s actually 10 miles closer to our shop of choice, and they instantly approved it for us.
Now, to make sure we get the right kind of wrecker service…
Because we have an automatic transmission, it’s not recommend we get towed behind something. It can be done, but would require the drive axle being disconnected – and there’s just so much more potential for damage being done if this is not done right. All our bus folks told us to insist on a Landol, ‘low boy’ or ‘drop deck’ style flat bed trailer. Coach-net said they’d do their best – but we’re out in the boonies, and would have to take what they can find.
We winced at the thought of our Zephyr being swung around on a tow hook going over 140 miles of mountain passes, and decided when we got back to the bus we’d pack up everything essential (ie. the computers and backups) and an overnight pack – just in case.
We got the call from Coach-Net that they had contacted a wrecker service, and with enough poking and prodding we got the name of the company out of them so we could make direct contact. Between the desire for a flatbed option and the lack of cellular signal, we wanted to leave little to second hand communication. We knew the neighbors near where we broke down were out of town for the weekend, and thus would be unable to get a message to us if the wrecker or Coach-Net tried to call.
At noon, Hanser’s Towing & Recovery service called to say a team from Billings had been dispatched to come get us – and to expect them in 3-3.5 hours. They assured us they knew what they were doing when it came to equipment, and that they knew we would not be reachable by cell phone once we left Broadus to go back to the bus.
That left us plenty of time to hang out in Broadus, grab some lunch, continue to research, soak up internet, watch the junior rodeo in the park we stumbled upon, and explore the little town.
It’s a very friendly town, and seems quite proud of being the “Wavingest”.
As we were getting ready to head back to the bus, our phone would not quit ringing. Every call was from a fellow bus nut offering support, advice, and just letting us know we’re not alone. It was so incredibly invigorating, and reminds us why owning a bus comes with an entire new family.
Winched and Saved
Around 1:30 we decided to head back to the bus. If they were running early, we didn’t want to miss them. And we also wanted to fiddle with the engine a little more and do some further diagnosis that was recommended on the bus boards. We also made sure we had everything packed into the Mini that would make the 3 hour drive into Billings comfortable, and prepared ‘just in case’ this turned into a wild and crazy tow.
Precisely at 3pm, exactly on schedule – a huge truck with a flatbed pulled up across the road. Hooray!! The message of our special need for a flat bed made it through the game of telephone. This gave us an instant sense of relief, and our fears of Zephyr swinging all over a curvy mountain road put to rest.
And then our wrecking crew.. Chas and Mike walked across the street the greet us. Their smiles lit us up, and their sheer confidence and professional attitude put us instantly at ease. This wasn’t some little tow shop that Coach-Net contracted, they called in honest to goodness professionals.
They asked us to go over what transpired, and were shocked that they hadn’t been called in the night before – as they’re a 24/7 operation. We told them not to worry, we didn’t push Coach-Net to handle this as an urgent situation and we appreciated the time to get our ducks in a row.
Their first idea was to pull their truck into Lemonade Run’s driveway across the street, and then simply drive Zephyr up. We told them they’re welcome to see if she had enough power left to attempt that – but we didn’t think that’d work, and nor did we want to risk her running out of power while in the middle of the street. So we fired up the engine, they gave it a good listen, throttled her up – and agreed. They also told us that just by the sound, we had at least one cylinder out.
Ok.. Chas quickly, calmly and confidently moved on to Plan B without hesitation – we were winching her out of her spot, up the slight incline of the forest service road we parked on and up to the flat spot where they could park the flatbed trailer.
Watching these two guys coordinate the various angles and moves they’d have to make to get Zephyr on the trailer was like watching artists carefully craft a palette of colors. They made no less than 5 different angle adjustments to get her precisely maneuvered, and it was all fascinating to be part of. Chris steered the bus, Chas operated the winch and directed everything, and Mike constantly hooked, blocked and spotted.
I took pictures. Kiki napped.
Team effort.
It was 24 hrs since we stopped at this spot, and now we were on our way to civilization. It was slow going, but they got it done exactly right.
And they did it with extreme professionalism and a fun always smiling attitude. Once they got Zephyr secured on the flatbed, the let us know it was time to grab Kiki and move her to the Mini (we didn’t want her out in the sun during all this.)
We followed them back the 140 miles to iState Power in Billings, and they got us placed exactly where we were advised to park to get a power cord run.
We could not be more impressed with the service provided by Chas and Mike. Chas says ‘My job is to make your day better’ – and boy did he. This is a true artist – someone doing exactly what he wants to be doing, and doing it with joy in his heart.
Thank you Chas and Mike for being our heros and making our day better!
And thank you Coach-Net for coming through for us – that $130 annual fee is chump change in comparison the what this tow cost (easily over a grand), not to mention having someone to call to help coordinate this all.
Billings
So, we’re now in Billings. A shop tech has already greeted us and gotten the general story of what happened. On Monday morning, they’ll start digging deeper as to what caused this and how much damage has been done.
However, we already know – this is very likely a pretty major repair. We’ll update when we know more.
But in the end, it’ll all just be a bump in the road on our journey. We’re safe, we’re home and we’ll move on.
Want endless happiness? That comes from within, and how you approach everything life throws at you.
We know without a doubt there’s a reason we were placed in this predicament.
Maybe it saved us from a more serious calamity down the road.
Maybe my Dad wanted to spend some time in Billings.
Maybe there’s an experience waiting for us here.
Maybe too many people were getting the idea that bus ownership was cheap & easy and we needed to be an example.
… or maybe, just maybe, it was time to flex some serious serendipity muscles beyond just scoring scenic campsites.
Always Positive (keep chanting it, Cherie, keep chanting it.)
Glad to see you got the bus running…Sad that GM discontinued the old V71 series in 1995 but they can never rid the world of these classic buses!
Hey, CHerie, Chris, love your bus..! Great blog!
I took on a transit, however it didn’t take long to discover I was out of my element. My girlfriend lost interest in the RV life style and so I bailed after 50% of the conversion. Later she bailed. I’ve often thought maybe I should have just kept the bus. I full time in a trailer but I’ve been thinking bus for a long while. The idea of purchasing a ready built bus, albeit older, makes so much sense I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve not even considered it. That is not until today and upon seeing your site!
Much thanks for your extensive efforts in posting. With no relationships on the horizon I will thoroughly read it, watch your videos and soon begin to do my own due diligence.
So clean you can eat off the engine….. Funny Stuff!
Doing a conversion from scratch is a BIG undertaking, and the people who succeed in that are the ones who are just as much interested in the conversion process as they are in the final outcome, if not more so. It takes a lot of time and dedication.
If you can find somebody else’s already converted bus that has had a lot of love invested in it, that is often a much better (and certainly quicker) project than tackling it yourself.
Good luck, and see you out there!
– Chris
I came across your bus site this morning and spent my entire lunch hour reading it. I entered the stick and tin RV business in the 80’s. I became fascinated by buses ever since helping a coworker raise an Eagle roof. I took on a transit, however it didn’t take long to discover I was out of my element. My girlfriend lost interest in the RV life style and so I bailed after 50% of the conversion. Later she bailed. I’ve often thought maybe I should have just kept the bus. I full time in a trailer but I’ve been thinking bus for a long while. The idea of purchasing a ready built bus, albeit older, makes so much sense I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve not even considered it. That is not until today and upon seeing your site!
Much thanks for your extensive efforts in posting. With no relationships on the horizon I will thoroughly read it, watch your videos and soon begin to do my own due diligence.
So clean you can eat off the engine….. Funny Stuff!
I have enjoyed reading your blog. May I use your term regarding “NST” in my blog?
Of course… love seeing the concept of NST spread 🙂
Cherie,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your ‘bump in the road’ story. We all have them in our lives and you are so fortunate to be so resourceful and have such a wonderful partner as Chris to share this with. I am sure that with your upbeat attitude, intelligence and grit, everything will work out, and you will continue on your merry journey! Love, Aunt Joyce
Oh my oh my, so the ugly part of RV’ing and yet sometimes the most exciting. We have had more than our fair share of break downs and tow truck calls in the last 2 months but nothing that wasn’t fixable within a day. We will be sending lots of good mechanical vibes your way!
Best writing EVAH, Cherie! I know you guys will transcend the aggravations, and master all the lessons this challenge will bring. As to Kiki’s napping, never forget that it is SUPERVISIORY napping, which is napping of a much higher order.
Thinks of you both!
Elliott
The Le’Sharo trained us well to roll with the punches 🙂
I have always said that you two are amazing and this just affirms it. Your attitude and ability to roll with that which life throws at you is wonderful and inspiring. I have no helpful comments to offer on bus engines since I have just gotten my first diesel engine of my life and still barely know how to start it and drive it, much less diagnose it (although a previous owner very helpfully provided me with a “VIP Sensitor” to tell me whether all sorts of things are going well or not [even I can read green lights and red lights!]). But I do want to affirm the positive influence of positive attitude on positive movement. (That’s a lot of positives, I know, but hang on to that throughout it all.) And I also appreciate that you anticipated just such a kind of issue and prepared for it. Congratulations on your keen foresight. Thanks, too, for your candid presentation of the issues and your reactions. That’s why you are good writers … and good role models for the rest of us rvers.
*sniff sniff* You say the sweetest things, Forrest! Thank you!
Can’t wait until we meet up with you and Mary again… happy travels in your new DP!
Sorry to hear but you definitely have the right attitude. Good luck and hope you’re back on the road soon. We haven’t made the jump yet to full-time rving/location-independent working because we couldn’t afford an incident like this while we still own a house.
For sure.. it’s hard to maintain two houses at once!
So sorry for your bump in the road, but Coach-Net sounds like a lifesaver for sure. We are looking at it to cover the “new to us” diesel motorhome we have acquired.
Could you tell me if you just have tow coverage or do you have more extensive coverage with them? It is encouraging to see the care you have already gotten from them to get Zephyr to a safe harbor.
All the best to you both as you work your way through her healing!
We have their highest level of plan – premium/platinum (whatever they’re calling it today).
OK thanks–we’ll check it out!
I lost a very expensive transmission in a very old and rusty Mercedes years ago outside of Billings. Ended up scrapping it and buying a Dodge Dart “Swinger” to complete my trip. That thing lasted for years.
It’s a beautiful place to break down.
We’re looking forward to getting the research & logistics shuffling past us.. and getting out motoring around to explore in the MINI!
Bump and serendipity … hmmmmm, sounds synonymous to me!
Looking at the “serendipity” magnet you shared, I notice a distinct “dip” then “peak” in the tagline.
I agree … there’s a reason not yet discovered!!
It’s all part of following serendipity’s beacon!
If the dumb-phones are only for emergencies, you don’t even need an active plan. 911 calls work anyway (as long as you have signal).
911 only service wouldn’t have been too helpful here for coordinating everything we needed to get things together with this.
This story is eerily familiar to what happened to us last year. We were in our Class C and no toad, 6 miles at least from the nearest dinky town someplace in West Virgina. We broke down in that C more times than you would believe. But it does all work out somehow, one way or another. I always say, If money can solve a problem, then it’s not a REAL problem! You are both safe and you have each other and friends…. so no matter what, you will be okay. Good luck and I hope you are back on the road soon.
so glad all is as well as can be and you had awesome, professional and friendly service. Sending good mojo for an easy, not-too-expensive fix!
I have no doubt your Dad is watching out for you and has some thing in mind for the wrench in this plan.
Thank you … although ‘easy’ and ‘not-to-expensive’ are probably not realistic options.
I’m glad that things are working out – despite whatever damage there is to the bus engine. Stay positive, and I’m thinking of you both!
Thanks Yair – and fabulous to hear from you! Hope you’re doing great.
Greetings from Hamilton Montana, Of all the places in America to break down Montana is one of the best. The people here will go out of their way to help people. You are blessed just remember its just a machine and can be fixed. Good luck and happy trails. Cheers, Michael
Thank you for the greetings to this beautiful state. So far our stay here has been wonderful – full of amazingly friendly people.
I love the way you two always stay positive even when things don’t go according to plan! I do think you are right that these things have a way of working out okay if you are prepared, and stay positive and calm.
I’ve never traveled by bus, but I did average 40k/yr by car for several years and sometimes stuff did go wrong. I was always amazed at how things worked out – sometimes a stranger stopping to help or offer a ride, sometimes a place to stay.
Anyway, good luck today. I hope everything goes well.
Thank you Robert! Once you’ve gone through a few bad stuff episodes and realized that ‘this too shall pass’ – it makes it easier to just jump in and get through it.
I love your attitude toward this. The last time I broke down, I don’t think I was quite as calm at first. Once I had the time to look back on it, I was thankful it happened when and where it did. Hope you’re back on the road soon.
We’ve now been through enough ‘bad stuff’ to know.. remember what it feels like to have gotten through it. So, when bad stuff happens I try my best to manifest that feeling right away. Let’s hope we can keep it up through this 🙂
When you think of all that could have happened but didn’t in your “episode,” you are extremely fortunate. Weren’t Howard and Linda of RV-Dreams.com broken down in Montana for a long time last year? His Ford truck engine had major problems.
Take care out there. Isn’t it nice to be connected to a community with so many people willing to help?
Now you have time to get acquainted with Billings, Montana.
I think it was just south of here in Gillette, WY last summer where they broke down (I saw them reminiscing about it today on Facebook.)
And yes.. the connection to community through this all has been amazing! Do wish we could instantly transport some of our engine guru friends here in person tho.
So sorry about your engine trouble! But I love your attitude – I’m also a believer in things happening for a reason. Glad you made it safe and sound to the right place.
*crossing our fingers* that we have gotten to where we need to be.
Yikes – that’s one major “bump in the road.” Good luck on your repairs and kudos to you both for staying positive and putting it all in perspective! 🙂
Thank you.. it is all about perspective.
Well, if you gotta break down somewhere, Montana is sure a nice and friendly place to do so. When our new car blew a transmission, we were towed into Great Falls and discovered a wonderful town and people who welcomed and cared for us as if we were family ( http://tabventures.blogspot.com/2007/07/its-like-deja-vu-all-over-again.html ).
Hoping this current bump in the road will one day be remembered fondly for you as well.
p.s. wonderful to hear about your “Operation Montana” mission too. Your dad is, no doubt, smiling up there!
Oh, for sure – it’ll be a memory that will be told many times. Montana is indeed gorgeous – we’re looking forward to getting the planning/logistics of the work out of the way and getting out exploring!
Always enjoy reading your blog. Hope the engine trouble somehow isn’t too bad. Be glad you weren’t in the middle of some huge interstate overpass interchange or something. Sounds like you guys handle this quite well, keep it up. I hope and pray a good mechanic gets you going.
We feel very blessed that this happened on a non busy highway.. definitely helped reduce the stress factor to be out in gorgeous nature!