A Challenging Travel Day 2

We didn't get very far today, only to mid-Ohio after a couple of challenges. The day started foggy after a reasonably quiet night at the Lamar Flying-J, but we were surprised by the refrigerator. It doesn't stay very cold when we are on the highway. The propane has trouble staying lit and the DC option is what we use and it is pretty weak when the weather is warm. So, when we stop, we put it back on propane and that usually cools it back down overnight.

We were shocked to find the refrigerator at 61º and the freezer at 45º after running all night. This was rather dispiriting since we have never had problems with the freezer before and had a freezer full of food. After buying a cheap cooler for the freezer items and two bags of ice, We decided to head back home and try to fix the fridge. After about 20 miles, we reconsidered at the first rest area. First we tried calling all of the nearby Roadtrek and Dometic dealers with no luck as all said they would have to order parts. As we were doing this, the fridge was recovering and the freezer was back down to 15º. We decided to forge on and turned west again but we didn't get very far.

About ten miles outside of Clearfield, PA, traffic came to a stop. I'd noticed one of the traffic radio signs flashing a few miles before and tuned to the broadcast; there had been a crash on I-80 West (our direction) involving two tractor-trailers and both burned. The highway was closed for a ten-mile stretch. The radio indicated that traffic was being detoured at exit 120, routed through Clearfield, then back onto the highway at exit 111. We were sitting still at about mile 125.

After creeping along for about 45 minutes, we got to exit 123 and decided to take it as it had an alternate route to Clearfield. Not many others were taking the exit, but it turned out to be too many. Less than a half mile down the road, the alternate route was backed to a stop. After hemming and hawing a bit, we decided to turn around and try the other direction. Looking at Google maps, it looked like there were some small back roads that went through the countryside on the other side of I-80 and nobody else seemed to be attempting that route. This was a route for Speedy.

Although there were about five miles of gravel roads, out of about ten miles total, we managed to pop out on the other side of Clearfield and wondered where the traffic was. We think that it was all being backed up in the town, probably at traffic lights as they were coming by in small groups of cars. Soon we were back on the highway. We probably saved at least an hour of waiting.

Both the indecision of the morning and the traffic jam cost a lot of time and we were still concerned about the refrigerator. We decided to make it a relatively early day and found a Corps of Engineers campground southeast of Akron, Ohio, Mill River, with electric hook-ups (to try the fridge on AC) and showers. This is our stop for the night. After a dinner of burgers, smashed spuds and local tomato salad (got to eat up those perishables), a bit of Olympics watching and this edition of the Speedy Journal. It's time to call it a day. The refrigerator is at 49º and the freezer at 15º—things are looking up.