Day Twenty-four of the big move west

Friday started out great. I ran first thing and it felt good. We had decided to go down and spend a few days in Grand Teton National Park. We had noticed that our batteries were low, so we knew dry camping was going to be a problem. There is a full-hookup RV Park in the park, and so we made plans to call them and get a spot, or at least recharge for an hour or two and then go to a dry site.

We decided to drive a different route to get south from the one we had taken yesterday so we could see a few more things. We stopped at Mud Geyser and saw that bubble up. There were several geysers in that park, so we took the trail around and checked them out. This is Mud Geyser.

This is Dragon's Mouth, part of the Mud Volcano.

We continued down to West Thumb and Grant Village. We filled up on diesel and had a nice lunch. The service was lousy and it took FOREVER to get our food, but it was pretty good once we got it. Off to the Tetons!

But it was not to be.

One of the RV's tires shredded a few feet after the turn onto the road. We pulled off as soon as we could so we could assess the situation. We got the jack out of the truck and started to put the spare on.

It was low, but we used the compressor we had to fill it most of the way. Then we headed back to the service station in Grant Village and filled it up. While there, we found out the RV park in the Tetons was full. That sounds like it didn't take as much as it did. We were changing the tire for a good hour or more.

We decided to press on to Jackson, WY, just south of the park, and camp there for the night. We wanted to get another tire. All of our tires are the same age and we're afraid that something might happen. The drive through Grand Teton National Park was stunning.

We wish we had been able to stay, but it just wasn't going to happen. The piece of tread that came off the tire hit the coach and did some damage. Thankfully it isn't structural damage, and it is probably a simple fix with the right materials. Our concern is moisture getting in there if we have to drive in rain anytime soon. We thought if we could get to Salt Lake City soon, we'd have a good chance of fixing it quickly.

We have put a temporary fix on for now, and we'll get a spare tire on the road tomorrow. The tire place was closing when we called them. We are staying at The Virginian RV Park and we are thoroughly underwhelmed. This place is unbelievably expensive and we aren't getting squat. The free wifi is not working. Under other circumstances we would have considered staying, as the town seems kind of neat and worth exploring. Instead, we'll pull up stakes tomorrow and continue on. At least we got to do some laundry tonight.

Mileage for the day = 160
Total mileage = 2661