2019 just isn’t my year for visiting national parks. I have a loose goal to visit all of them in the Lower 48 while traveling in the motorhome. I recently updated the wall in the bathroom with some of my favorites so far.

I started the year off with a first-time visit to Joshua Tree while wintering in Palm Springs, and it did not disappoint.

I had camping reservations in March for Yosemite, but they were canceled due to weather; the snow hadn’t melted yet (I knew it was a gamble to make March reservations).

My next big first-time visit was scheduled for July, in Yellowstone. Over a year ago, I made reservations in West Yellowstone. I would be en route from Portland, Oregon, to Wisconsin. I was so excited about Yellowstone, I was going to spend my birthday alone, driving through Idaho to get there in time. My friend Annmarie, who has visited the park before, planned to meet me and show me around. It is so rare and lovely for me to be a tourist when someone else is doing the heavy lifting, and I was really looking forward to it.

On July 5, I packed up the rig in Portland to begin the four-day journey to Yellowstone. I started the engine, and even in neutral there was an immediate, loud, high-pitched squealing noise emanating from the rear. I glanced in the side mirrors and saw puffs of smoke, so I immediately shut the engine down.

I managed to find a local mobile RV technician who was willing to come out on the day after Independence Day. We started the engine again, and the screeching was worse. It increased with revving the engine. Copious amounts of smoke now billowed from the rear. The fan belt then disintegrated. The tech crawled under the coach; the AC compressor was also really hot and discolored.

Luckily a Cummins was only six miles away, but they could not fit me in on the Friday after July 4, and they close on the weekends. I had no choice but to extend my stay at the Jantzen Beach RV park on Hayden Island in Portland.

I pleaded my case at the RV office. My fatal error was telling the clerk that I could drive the RV short distances. Without a fan belt, the engine would overheat rapidly, but if there was another site nearby, I could drive it for a very brief period. The clerk curtly replied that all sites were reserved, and someone was arriving to take my spot in a few hours.

I urged her to get creative and think outside the box. I was willing to dry camp on any little piece of real estate she could bestow upon me. She went to the manager’s office and emerged more resolute than before – nothing was available.

I shuddered to think of a tow truck trying to hook up a Nellie in that tiny RV park with very tight clearances. I also wasn’t sure if AAA RV would cover two tows – one to a camping spot for the weekend, and another on Monday to Cummins. I briefly considered stealth camping on the street outside the RV park with some rather decrepit and desperate looking rigs (it’s a real problem in the Portland area), but things looked too dicey for comfort.

I phoned my friend Susie, who lives on Hayden Island, and she came to my rescue. Two miles away, on the opposite end of the island, I could park Nellie at the yacht club parking lot.

It took over two hours to move Nellie those two miles. Even though I wasn’t even towing the car, the engine was already about to overheat when I exited the RV park. I parked on the street, waiting an hour. While the engine cooled, I caught an Uber to pick up the car and leave it at the yacht club.

The second leg got me to the gates of the yacht club. An hour later, I parked in the lot for the weekend.

The RV park telephoned to say that a spot came available for one night. Too little, too late.

One positive that arose from this is I was not on the road in Idaho on my birthday. Instead, Jamie and I went to see the movie matinee “Yesterday,“ and she and David treated me to dinner at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants just down the hill from their house in Portland.

On Monday I was up at 5:00 a.m to make the call to AAA RV. The tow truck arrived at 8:30 a.m. The tow truck driver was exceptionally well qualified, professional, and methodical.

I spent the next two nights at Cummins Northwest on Swan Island in Portland, where I was treated very well.

I showered in the women’s locker room, and the dogs befriended everyone while we hung out in the drivers’ lounge.

I just so happened to have a spare fan belt, but the compressor was not in stock. The first compressor did not fit. While we waited for the second compressor, I had both the engine and the generator serviced; might as well make the most of the time.

The second compressor arrived on Wednesday morning, it was installed, and I was finally on my way that afternoon.

Anxious to make miles to pick up my itinerary where it left off after Yellowstone, I beat feet from Portland, Oregon to Spokane Washington, six hours away. Although the weather was clear and sunny, the rear camera was getting dirtier and dirtier. I shrugged it off, assuming debris was falling down from the roof, or the road was just exceptionally filthy.

I pulled into the Northern Quest Casino in Spokane at about 9:00 p.m. When I went back to turn off Toad for the evening, I was fit to be tied. Oil covered the back of Nellie and Toad!

It’s a very good thing there is no one to speak to directly at Cummins in Portland at night. I was livid. Enraged. While I had heard of RVs having oil spewing problems, never in four years had it happened with Nellie. That the engine was serviced the day before could not be coincidental. Darkness was descending and I was boondocking at the casino; I had no way to clean the back of the rig and was concerned that my blog logo would be ruined by the oil. I went to bed and slept fitfully.

Cummins in Spokane was five miles from the casino. I awoke early, checking for pools of oil under the rig, and there was none. Starting the engine, the oil pressure was holding steady. I decided it was safe enough to drive to Cummins.

I mentally girded my loins for the anticipated encounter in Spokane. I knew Cummins warrantees its work, and I had great suspicions that the service performed in Portland was the culprit for the problem. However, it was possible that Portland’s failures would not constitute an emergency on Spokane’s part. It was also possible that Spokane might pin the problem on something wholly else in solidarity with Portland, then charge me to fix it. And where, and how, the hell was I going to wash the car?

My fears and concerns were manifested in the form of the front desk clerk, who was already stressed at 7:01 a.m. (They open at 7:00.) She shook her head and fretted our loud as soon as I began presenting the problem, stating she wasn’t sure if they could fit me in the schedule. I gently replied the problem was due to Cummins in Portland the day before, I just started a 1,700 mile trip, I had oil covering my car and the back of my rig, and I needed to speak to someone in management about it. She went back to speak to the foreman, and someone emerged IMMEDIATELY.

Spokane charged me nothing.

I cannot say enough about the staff at Cummins Spokane. They immediately took Toad back for steam cleaning as soon as I unhooked it. Noticing that my car headlights were cloudy, they cleaned them at no charge. Then, it was Nellie’s turn. They steam cleaned the back of the rig and the tow equipment and checked the oil levels, which were thankfully fine.

The answer was so simple and so aggravating; the dipstick had not been properly secured after the tune-up.

Never trust a dip shit with a dip stick.

The detour in Spokane took a little over two hours, and I was back on the road. Toad’s doors are now slightly oil stained because the paint job was already on its last legs. I can’t get too worked up about it, because it is a camping car, and I drag it behind a motorhome thousands of miles every year. Nevertheless, the regional manager in Spokane offered a complete inside and out detail the next time I pass through. What a great bunch of guys.

Practicing my thankfulness, I am thankful that:

1. The fan belt exploded while I was still safely in a parking spot.

3. The mobile tech (isn’t his work trailer hilarious?)

4. Susie!

5. Spending my birthday with Jamie and David

6. AAA RV

7. An excellent tow truck driver

8. Room to boondock at Cummins Portland

9. The staff at Cummins Portland (well, everyone but the unknown Dipshit)

10. The staff at Cummins Spokane

11. A simple solution that did not involve blowback, oil pans, slobber tubes (yes, that’s a thing – look it up if you don’t believe me), or overfilling.