Today we hit the road early to get to the I-State Truck Center in Missoula, MT as early as possible to get a diagnosis of our check engine light. If all goes well we can get back on the road to Glacier National Park!
After talking to their service advisors, their techs start arriving around 8am, and it is first come first served so we wanted to be close to first in line.
We got on the road to Missoula around 6:30, with about 2 hours of driving. I90 from Butte to Missoula was mostly flat driving, which was nice since we didn’t quite know what was wrong with the bus yet. In all we got to the truck center a little after 8:30 and we were second in line.
We also happened to hit 9.9MPG on this leg of the journey! This was partly due to the flat terrain, and partly due to taking the trip at a slower speed to avoid putting any extra effort on the bus until we knew what was wrong.
Once we got the bus checked in for service, we disconnected the Jeep, loaded up the pups and headed off to explore Missoula.
Missoula, MT
Our first stop, the dog park! Since dogs aren’t allowed on most trails within Grand Teton (or Glacier), the pups had been spending a lot of the days in the RV by themselves so we wanted to spoil them a bit.
The dogs got to spend a good while off leash, chasing balls and playing with other dogs before we loaded back up to check out Claras park along the river. This was a pretty little park along side of downtown with a path along the river. Here we saw our first (and only) instance of surfing in Montana.
After the park we ventured out to Bass Pro Shop for some shopping, before heading back towards downtown to find some lunch.
For lunch we found an open patio seat at Iron Horse Bar & Grill. I got the french dip, and Cat got the BLT. Both were absolutely delicious. Since we each only ate half of our lunches, we decided to share a Huckleberry Crisp for dessert, and it was fabulous. Highly recommend Iron Horse if you ever find yourself stranded in Missoula while your RV is being repaired.
While eating lunch, we got a call back from I-State Truck Center with the diagnosis. Turns out it was a cracked boost hose. A detour, $500 diagnostic fee, for a $40 plastic hose replacement. The service center got it all patched up, did a test drive to confirm, and had the RV ready for us once we got back from lunch.
Outside of the cost, the only downside was their test drive dropped the average MPG from 9.9, to 9.5.
Onward Ho!
We were able to get the Jeep hitched back up the RV quickly and after a brief fuel stop at the Love’s truck stop, we got back on the road for a short and very scenic route to our destination, Moose Creek RV Resort and Bed & Breakfast. Our route took us up along Flathead Lake which was another beautiful drive. This area is apparently known for its Cherries as we passed dozens of cherry orchards.
From Kalispell it was a short easy drive up towards West Glacier, and we arrived at our campground around 4:30PM – setup camp, grabbed some firewood, and ate our lunch leftovers by the fire.
So while the day took an unexpected turn with our stop in Missoula, it was well worth the detour to explore the town, and we still made it before dark!
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 260
Fuel Used: 27.7
Day Average MPG: 9.4mpg
Check Engine Lights: 0
Trip Total Miles: 973
Trip Average MPG: 8.3
Trip Total Fuel Used: 117g
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