Day 5 - Truck sputter in North Dakota

Travel   From: Willow River SP, Wisconsin   To: Valley City, North Dakota   Distance: 331 mi (532 km)   Travel time w/brks: 6 hr 18   Distance since start: 1,884 mi (3,029 km)

Sunday 6/25/2006

Getting up at 3:15am this morning was not hard, since we had gained one hour since yesterday. We got all our things ready and started rolling out of the campground by 3:50am. As we rolled out, we saw numerous deers wandering beside the road in the grass. That was a nice reminder about taking it easy on the road ahead, especially in twilight. Next big challenge is to go through St Paul and Minneapolis. Turns out this was a breeze as well, despite all the road construction. Pretty much nobody is up at 4:30am on a Sunday..

It rained on and off. For some reason, it seems like we're in a pattern of morning temperatures below 60F (16C). We continued through Minnesota and gunned for a rest area just over into North Dakota. We had to stop along the way to add some more fuel. We used a Pilot truck stop in Minnesota not far from the ND border. Once we had filled up, we headed back out on I-94 west again. While at the truck stop, I bought an assortment pack of glass fuses and we soon had the new Cobra 450W inverter up and running for the laptop. It worked great, except that the cigarette plug seemed to want to creep out. I really have to get it wired to our battery when I get time.

Rolling down the flat I-94 Interstate in Minnesota (Vikingland)

Then surprise #1 hit us. After about 50 miles or so from the truck stop, the "check engine" light came on... I was wondering if it had anything to do with the fuel I just purchased? Another possibility is that there have been latent sludge in the tank that got sucked up now that we've been running the tank much drier than we normally do at home. All other information on the dash looked just fine, perhaps a tad higher fuel consumption (just shy of 12 mpg instead of 13+ mpg). I decided to continue after talking with Chevrolet support. It did not take long until we noticed more problems. At 8:02am the truck suddenly disengaged the cruise control as if someone had tapped the break pedal. It slowed down by itself while I pulled over to the side. Nothing was visible wrong with it. Engine was still running. I tried to pull back out on I-94, but the truck hesitated when I accelerated. I pulled over again and shut off the engine for a minute. I then fired back up and tried again. The check engine light did not go away but the truck seemed fine. We decided to continue. About one hour later, same thing. We cycled and went back out again. This was no longer a fluke. Something is not right. There are times when the normal diesel marbling sound fades into the background, which is quite unusual. Meanwhile, it seems like the exhaust temperature is slightly higher and the turbo boost a few psi higher as well.

Cruzin: What are the chances that I take a picture of the dash minutes before "Check Engine" light comes on?

Arghh!! This really sucks 3X... and, of course, there is NO additional information

It got to the point where I was concerned that we were not going to make it to Bismarck, so I just pulled off at the next exit where it seemed like there was something of a city. It was actually quite a set of white knuckles to drive through long road constructions with no breakdown lane, knowing that the truck might give up any minute. What is so ironic about this is that I bought the diesel because I was not quite comfortable with the reliability of the Suburban as I was planning for the Alaska trip. We're now facing more down-time with the new truck, in a single instance, than what we have experienced in all the 10+ years we've own the Suburban!

It turns out, by chance, we picked Valley City of North Dakota. Pretty much everything was closed except for a "Brothers III" gas station. I talked with them and learned there was a GM dealer in town that knows how to work on diesels. But they do not open until Monday morning. I asked them if there was anything to do in that city and the station attendant told me that once I was inside the gas station it was pretty much all there was to see in town on a Sunday. I also noticed that there was a town campground, on Main street, just next door. After I was done milking them for tips, I drove over and parked there. They have full hookup for $15! The weather is great, but absolutely no cell phone coverage. I tried to inform the two next campgrounds (KOA in Bismarck and KOA in Bozeman) about not being able to make it as planned. I talked it over with the kids and they wanted to try and make up for lost time, if we can get the truck taken care of. Only problem is that even under ideal conditions, this will be very difficult to do never mind factoring in the time it'll take to get the truck taken care of (all of this assumes the dealership can do it right away in the morning and that it'll be an easy thing). There are over 900 miles up to Browning, Montana, and doing that in 1 1/2 day is going to be tough. Right now I moved our reservation with each one of the KOAs up by one day, possibly cutting one day out of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Camping in downtown Valley City, North Dakota

Isabella chats with Megan and Ross back in Merrimack over IM (squatting someone's WiFi on Main St)

I also bought a cheap $5 phone-card so that I could call Lilli at home. I had almost completed dialing the number for Lilli, at the phone booth by the gas station, when Erik came running, claiming he'd found an unsecured wireless network with three bars where we were parked on Main Street. Sure enough. It worked just great. We were able to setup Skype and subsequently have a video conference with Lilli! The kids also used the opportunity to get on-line with AOL Instant Messenger and chat with their friends back in Merrimack. We are now in a sort of holding pattern, waiting for the day to pass so that I can go to the GM dealer in the morning.

How do you kill time? Bake a big brownie cake!!

Mmmm... its rough when you have to suffer through camping like this

By the afternoon the temperature rose to the mid 70s (24C) and the sky was blue. I called Bruce and Alma Delaronde, back in Rhode Island. They had just gotten back from the Scusset beach rally, which mainly had been a rain-out, but fun. Bruce had left for Virginia not long before I called. Isabella got a chance to hook up with Eva, who told Isabella about a new boy in the New England Unit named Ben. That sounds interesting. Perhaps we'll get a chance to meet them in the fall, after we return? I tried to call Bruce a number of times but was not able to get through to his cell-phone; perhaps I wrote down the wrong number? I also tried the hotel where Bruce was expected to check in, but at 10:30pm EDT (22:30) Bruce had not yet checked in, so I decided to give it a rest.

Erik prepared dinner (beans and hot dogs). We got the WinTV software installed on the other laptop as well. Not sure if it was its lack of an USB 2.0 port of if it was just poor reception here in the city, but the TV signal quality was marginal. The kids watched King of the hill and Simpson. Me and Erik walked over to the gas station and its convenience store to buy some bread. It was closed. Meanwhile, the liquor store accross the street was still open. We suspect this town has its priorities straight.. I went to bed early, to keep his bio rythm on a 3am wakeup cycle, while the kids stayed up a bit longer. Isabella cleaned the trailer.

Campground   Name: Main Street, Valley City, ND   Our hookups: 30 Amp, Water and Sewer   WiFi: Yes (squatting "ACTIONTEC")   GSM service: NO   TV Channels: A few (air)   Cost: $15/night   Reservation mode: Drop in

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