Travel Stage: After Yellowstone, heading north towards Glacier National Park
Date Range: August 16 - 18, 2016
Summary: We head to Missoula for a couple nights. We discover something wrong with the truck, and luckily Big Sky Brewing Company was there to help us take in the bad news ;)
Date Range: August 16 - 18, 2016
Summary: We head to Missoula for a couple nights. We discover something wrong with the truck, and luckily Big Sky Brewing Company was there to help us take in the bad news ;)
We pulled into one of Missoula’s two Walmarts. According to what we read online, overnight parking in Missoula isn’t well accepted by the community and local businesses. We’ve come across a few towns like this, and while we can understand that as a bigger city and tourist attraction they want people to patronize their campgrounds and other accommodations it’s pretty annoying if you’re just wanting a quick overnight to restock on supplies, quickly see the town, and move on.
We chose the further out of the way Walmart that we had heard was a bit more lenient about overnight parking. When we got there we discovered that everyone else had also heard this – the parking lot was teeming with trailers and RVs, some that looked like had been there more than just one night.
We found a spot next to some fellow full-time travelers: Moons Around the World. They were really cool to talk to because before moving to full-time RV living they had traveled internationally full-time for a couple years!
Bad Truck News
We knew we needed and alignment because we saw some cupping on our front right tire and the steering was pulling us a little to the side. With such a big truck not all places could lift it to do the alignment, but we found one in Missoula. We detached from the fifth-wheel in the Tire-Rama parking lot and hung out while the job was done.
A little while later we were hit with some bad news: they couldn’t align the truck because the ball joints and inner tie rods were going bad.
For those of you who aren’t truck mechanics (like me), these are critical parts to your front end wheels and steering. We had been hearing an odd clunk and some rattling on bumpy roads, but hadn’t diagnosed the problem just yet. When we asked how much it would cost for them to fix it, the mechanic estimated it was about $1000 job.
NOT what you want to hear about your primary and only vehicle that is towing your house!
Luckily, we found a Harvest Hosts location on the north side of town that helped take the edge off of this new-found problem: Big Sky Brewing Company.
Big Sky Brewing Company
Big Sky Brewing Company is the largest brewery in Montana and has the farthest reach nationally of any brew made in Montana. After getting settled in their back parking lot (behind their HUGE stage where they host big-name concerts!) we went inside their tasting room for a drink.
We were delighted to find that not only did they have complimentary tastings of their beer, but they would give 4 4oz samples to each person! If you’re not good at math, let me help you: that equals 16 oz of free beer total per person, which equals a full pint. And not only was it free, it was really good beer!
Big Sky Brewing Company is known for their “Moose Drool” Beer, which is the #1 selling Montana-made beer in the state. This was our favorite as well, and we left the next day with a growler full, which was only $8 when we supplied our own growler.
Big Sky Brewing Company is known for their “Moose Drool” Beer, which is the #1 selling Montana-made beer in the state. This was our favorite as well, and we left the next day with a growler full, which was only $8 when we supplied our own growler.
Solving the Truck Problem
The ball joints and tie rods were going bad, but they were okay to drive on a little bit longer. We decided to try to do our work and save some $$, but we couldn’t stay in Missoula any longer. We continued down the road to Polson, MT on the way up to Glacier in hopes of having some time to research the job and get the necessary parts and tools.
Read the whole detailed story SOON about our learnings and struggles getting the truck fixed about two weeks later!
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