Heading out of Yellowstone, I noticed a rather disturbing engine 'pinging' on steep climbs, a herky-jerky motion every once in awhile, and a vibration at certain speeds. I made it to the next big town which was Missoula. I've been worried about this van since Day 1....with its age and mileage...anxious about every little burp and fart it makes. I can't believe it hasn't blown up yet! If I had to place a bet on anything, I'm guessing the transmission will be the first to go. It shifts pretty hard from 1st to 2nd gear. Anyway, I took the first exit that looked promising from the interstate and pulled into the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel, which was adjacent to a nice-looking hotel. Starving, I decided to splurge on a restaurant meal rather than eat one.more.drab.sammie from the cooler. I found that I couldn't eat–my appetite dissolved for fear that my van was on the verge of dying and/or would cost me $500+ to fix. While I have some money set aside for mechanical or emergency vet issues, it's the kind of money I'd rather use for, say, a trip to the hot springs or a fancy dinner on the coast. On the plus side, Missoula is the perfect town for running my mounting errands. I essentially have been in the boonies since beginning the trip, and am finding I need to tweak my van-living ways a bit. Everything is basically on one road, all within a few blocks and so I managed to hit up REI, Ulta, Target, Walmart, Sports Authority and the gas station. I spent almost a week in this town reorganizing/revamping my van [I bought a cooler, a plastic console to hold my drinks, and some storage containers for clothes...donated a few books and other things I no longer needed and vacuumed it of the mounting dog hair].
As far as the pinging goes, I checked my oil and learned that the guys who messed up my brakes in Denver also forgot to change my oil. The oil stick was bone dry. Yargh. I added 3 quarts which got it to almost full. Before leaving town, I went to a transmission shop and learned that my U-joints were giving out, so I had them replaced and went ahead and had them put in a new oil filter and flush the system [I have no idea how long I was driving with low oil since I have not warning lights on the dash and naively assumed it was fine since I hadn't been on the road that long.]
After 3 quarts was added. :/
Missoula has a pretty awesome dog park right next to their campus, so we ended up staying a few days so Millie could romp in the river and sand with other 4-legged creatures and I could eat some fun food amongst students. I rather miss college life....the crappy sofas on the porch flanked with plastic red cups. It's like a drug, college towns. Learning and being lazy. What better combo?