Friday, September 18, 2009

a little scare

Today we traveled 437 kilometers (apx. 260 miles) up mountains into Montana. It got pretty hot in the afternoon and about 10 miles out of Butte, our destination for the night, Mohita started sputtering and choking. For those of you who have followed our earlier blogs, you'll know that we've had extensive fuel problems that we thought we had solved. So it was with heavy hearts that we limped into Butte only to have her die at the side of the road. Oh my God--not again!

We called a tow truck but by the time the driver came 40 minutes later the motorhome started right up and seemed to run fine. He suggested that it was a vapour lock from the heat of the day and going up all those hills. This is an old vehicle without fuel injection so the gas heats up and can cause this problem. Whew! Are we ever glad that's all it was.



For the rest of our trip we'll make sure not to let this old girl get overheated. Tonight we're camped very close to the centre of Butte at a KOA campground beside a little walking trail along a river. It was so lovely to take the dogs for a long walk as the sun set and see the ducks and the willows and aspens. We are so blessed to be able to travel and see this beautiful part of the world.

3 comments:

  1. hi joanna - poor old camper!!! be nice!!!! ha!! i always find it distressing when machinery has a hard time of life. it's part of the flow of expectation that itll keep on truckin'. when it suddenyl doesn't it, then out the window go all those expectations. i'm glad you made it into butte safe and sound. have a sweet day. steven

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  2. Vapor lock sounds dire - I'm glad it's something manageable.
    Lovely photo - I can imagine the peaceful evening walk with the dogs.

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  3. Yes Steven and Stephanie--it's so stressful when machinery fails. I'm researching ways to prevent vapour lock.

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