Another Minor Setback...

We left Grams yesterday (Saturday) and headed out. We got into Wisconsin and the brakes got a little spongy so we decided that we would stop at the Jellystone Campground. It was a little on the pricey side, but it was a nice place and TONS of activities for families. The brake booster and reservoir is located under the drivers side floorboard. It took some work to get the wooden floor/trap door open so I could check the brake fluid. When I finally got it off, I found I needed brake fluid. We got on the road this morning and it was as good as new. Got to western Wisconsin and there was a viberation coming from the rear. I pulled off thinking it was a tire either going flat or one that was flat. Pulled into a BP gas station in Woodville, WI.

After pulling the hubcap, I noticed I sheared 2 lugs at the brake drum and the grease cap for the wheel berings was off and the axle grease (which is supposed to have a consistancy close to pertolium jelly) had heated up to the point of liquefying and it had leaked out all over the ground. After talking to the owner of the BP, Steve, he called an emergency tire place and put us up in his motel that is just behind the station where I am writing from right now. The tire guy will be here in the morning with the correct size lugs for the wheels and will swap out the brand new tire on the bad rim to the spare rim. I believe the lug nuts were not the correct ones and were the initial cause of the problem. The lug holes were oblong or oval in shape which caused more play in that wheel and eventually causing the 2 lugs to fail and shear. Hopefully this will be taken care of about 7 hours from now and we can make the last leg of our journey to Grand Forks, ND! We have about 5 and a half hours to go and if all goes well, we should be able to make it there tomorrow!

Internet here is extremely slow and it will take forever to load pictures into this post, so I will upload some more when we get better internet.

On another note, we did finally get some Wisconsin Cheese and summer sausage while waiting for the tire guy to get here. It was very good!

I also think the dogs will be happy when we get to the campground. Duke is finally starting to get used to campgrounds while Wini is taking over in the barking department. Never ending cycle!