It is time to make the cross country trip from my winter home to my summer home in Idaho. This time, I have several complicating factors. First, the whiff, as you know, has moved us to Florida over the last few months which has added an extra day to the trip. Additionally, she has retired and decided to join me in Idaho for the summer. Therefore, she and her two cats are joining the cross country trip requiring the transport of lots of baggage so to speak. My leisurely week long plus voyage has turned into a put the head down and get there as fast as you can adventure. As you will see, the irony of the Tulsa Trailer is a bit hard to believe.
After a fairly long day touching 4 states, we arrive at our first camp spot. Aux Arc Campground along the Arkansas River. We were dodging thunderstorms for the most part and other than the tornado warning over night, we managed to do so.
The Arkansas River at this point is a working river….. I was not aware of that.
All seemed to be going swimmingly well until late in the evening I did my nightly inspection walk around the van. What is this dripping from the engine? Oil? Just before leaving Pensacola, I took my van in to a dealership of which I will not name and had the regular maintenance of oil change etc completed to insure it was ready for this 2400 mile expedition. I popped the hood and found a mess! I also found a tube from the air intake rattling around the engine compartment. It was obviously not reinstalled after the air filter change. My thoughts, could this be something simple like some sort of oil blow back return???????
We left our camp spot in Arkansas and a ways down the road I stopped and checked the oil leak…. It was time to find the closest dealership to have this checked out. I already knew what the problem was but with the complicated engine set ups, I was unable to locate the oil filter, much less tighten it. Indeed it was the case, the oil filter was not installed properly. Luckily, the dealership in TULSA was able to quickly get us in and fix the problem. If you ever find yourself in Tulsa in need of a new car or service on your Mercedes, go see Max there. These guys are amazing!!!!! 3 hours and $900 later the oil filter was tight, air filter was replaced, and the engine compartment was cleanish.
Back on the road we go! Now arriving at our goal destination of St. Francis, Kansas….. three hours later than planned.
St Francis has a nice little city park for camping along the way. And what is this small concrete enclosure?
Good to know……gulp!
Another long day including 40 mph head winds in the Laramie area and we arrive at the Y Knot Winery in Glens Ferry, Idaho. One small note about the head wind section. It was about 5 hours of pedal to the metal drafting semi trucks.
Finally we made it home! It was only about 3.5 hours from Glenns Ferry to McCall but it turns out there was a serious snow storm from Banks to Cascade that included white knuckled puckered driving for a good hour of that. So good to be home, I Love Idaho!!!
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