We left Earlham, Iowa on July 17, 2009 around 10:30 am after many delays. The plan was to leave earlier that morning or even a week earlier, but there is always more to getting ready to leave then you think.
We took I80 west to Stuart, Iowa to get the propane tank filled. It is how the refrigerator cools while we are on the road. We didn't know at that point what a headache (literally!) that was going to be.
We headed up toward Lake Panora and stopped by the lake for lunch. Dale got out of the motorhome to check on something and noticed that the propane tank was leaking. A gentleman from the marina sent us on down to a Conoco station which dealt with propane. He determined that the tank was overfilled! Not good. So he spent the better part of a 1/2 hour running off the propane and bringing down the level into the safety zone. Stunk pretty bad! By this time I had a bad headache, probably from the odor.
On we went on our merry way. Up highway 71 north into Minnesota. The wind was really gusting and so the refrigerator pilot light kept blowing out. We must have relit that thing half a dozen times. We camped that night in a Walmart parking lot in Willmar, MN. (You have to call ahead and make sure that they allow it.) We had to make 3 Walmart runs in the first 24 hours of the trip. We kind of figure things out on the road. Anyway, camping in their parking lot helped with the last minute shopping. We headed back up highway 71 the next morning, July 18th. The crops looked great in IA with the corn mostly tasseled out. Southern MN also looked good and we tend to forget how much farming there is there. As we got further North the corn was short and we saw a lot of beans, but not many potato fields or beet fields.
It was cool weather and very cloudy both days. In fact it was almost cold. We didn't turn the furnace on, but used blankets Fri. night. From 71 we turned west onto 200 and headed for the North Dakota border. At one point we heard a loud "POP" but nothing in the camper seemed to be out of order, we just thought we had run over something in the road. Our plan was to stop in Mayville and visit a quilt shop I had wanted to see. Didn't realize that it was an internet only site and probably run out of someones home. Never did find the place, however we did find more trouble. Stopped at Dairy Queen and when we got out the smell of propane was really bad and we discovered the cap had blown off the fill valve for the propane tank. Also, now the brake light had come on.
So we headed back down to the Cenex and the girl working there put us in touch with someone in Portland 2 miles away who was already home (by now it was 6:30 pm or so.) who would meet us down at the Cenex there. This guy determined that the valve wasn't closing properly, simple fix with the tap of a screw driver. (Probably a direct result of the tank being overfilled.) Gave us a new cap and advised us if we continue to have a problem we could have the valve replaced without replacing the tank. He also helped us check the brake fluid level and that was way down so we put brake fluid in and got back on the road. Finally made it to Cooperstown, ND and my sister's around 8:30 pm.
The drive into North Dakota was very pretty as the cloud cover was starting to lift and the sun was shinning. Finally feeling more like summer than earlier.
Much of this coming week will be spent visiting relatives in ND. At some point we need to have the brakes looked at.
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