It's time to hit the road again with Speedy, our 19' Roadtrek campervan. This time we're heading north to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Our northern route, mostly avoiding big highways, will take us through the Adirondacks to Ontario, then over Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, then back into the US at Saulte Ste. Marie. From there it's out along US Route 2 all the way to Glacier.
It seemed to take us days and days to shop and pack everything into the van. Finally we headed off at about 8:30 on a sunny Sunday morning. After driving the length of Massachusetts and on into New York state, we felt we were off with a bang, which then turned into a squirt--literally.
We were on NY Route 28, driving through the beautiful Adirondack State Park. Ellen had been driving for a couple of hours and pulled into a trailhead parking lot to switch drivers. Our plan was to have a long driving day and get close to Canada on our first day. I hopped into the drivers seat, turned on the engine, stepped on the brake to put the van in drive. The brake pedal went straight to the floor.
This was surprising since Ellen had just brought Speedy to a stop with no problems. I looked under the hood and the brake fluid seemed below full but not real low. A check under the van, however, showed an expanding pool of brake fluid next to the left front wheel. We were going nowhere. It was now about 3:00 on Sunday afternoon.
It was not a very lucky start to our trip, but a very lucky stop. After all, the line could have failed while we were moving, and at a very bad time. Needless to say, there was no cell phone service, particularly T-Mobile service where we were stopped.
The store at Blue Mountain Lake was less than three miles up the road, and I was able to beg a ride from another car to the store, where they lent me the use of their phone (no T-Mobile service in Blue Mountain Lake, either).
I called Coach-Net, the RV road service plan, and they tried to arrange a tow. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to tow us directly to a Dodge dealer if it was not open--and being Sunday, it was not open. They couldn't find an available campground, so they were going to set up a tow to the Walmart in Ticonderoga, where we could park overnight, then another tow to the Dodge dealer in Warrensburg, just north of Lake George. All of this was, of course, in the opposite direction to our travels. Even worse, it was about 75 miles to Ticonderoga, then about 50 south to Warrensburg. Our current location was only 45 miles from Warrensburg. To make it harder, they were having a hard time finding a nearby tow truck late on a Sunday afternoon.
The manager of the store said there would be no problem staying in the trailhead parking lot, as folks do it all the time to hike to the backcountry campsites along the trail. So, after about two hours at the store, Coach-Net agreed that we would stay where we were and they would arrange a tow directly to the dealer in the morning.
I begged another ride from someone who had stopped for gas and returned Speedy and Ellen. After a nice dinner, we very slowly moved the van to a larger parking area a little way up the road using a combination of putting the van from drive to neutral and using the hand brake. We came to a stop at a roadside rest area across from Lake Durant and listened to the wild calls of the loons on the lake as the sun set.
We have our fingers crossed that all will be back on track tomorrow.
Photos
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