Travel is Tough

Three days gone and have done 600 miles so far. Slow to get out of the starting gate. I left Portland at 5 pm on saturday and drove past the Dalles to sleep at a full campground on the Deschutes River. It was nice and met some folks with a 1947 travel trailer that took three years to fix up; it was quite nice.
Next day was Sunday, so everything was closed. The dilemma was this; Les Schwab had told me to stop early on and get the lugnuts on the wheels and the U bolts on the axle re-tightened. Since I could not find anyone open, and I had the issue of the driver's side shackle on the trailer rubbing against the frame, I made several stops to try and rectify these problems. Ended up meeting some nice people, Mike the trucker from Toronto for one, who gave me information. Stopped in Pendleton and bought a torque wrench and proceeded to crawl under the trailer and tighten the bolts myself. With limited success I got er done, then went on my way.
Third night out was Emigrant Springs campground in the Blue Mountains. Had a cozy night with the woodstove and had a hot shower. Up at 5 am the next morning, made it to the Les in LaGrande and told them the story, they did the work and rotated the tires to help the shackle problem. I am moderately happy with the work that was done at Les Schwab in Portland. Took a long time, had to take it back, and then when I got it back for good, it was not totally right and I was concerned for the first leg of my trip.
Eastern Oregon was beautiful- canyons and cement factories and then getting into Idaho, the truck started shifting back and forth between gears at highway speeds- not a good thing. So I stopped and made some phone calls, got back on the road, it got dark and drove into a wild, wild thunderstorm. It was crazy!! Did not see many bolts, but the whole sky would light up and it seemed the action was very close. I pulled onto a side road and ate a cold dinner and crashed. Up at 6 am today and drove into Twin Falls, ID. Found a shop that could look at the truck and now I am sipping Latte at starbucks. Hard start to the trip, I hope to up the tempo and put the hammer down, because at this rate, I will get there at Halloween. More than likely that will not happen, and I will arrive on the 14th of October.
Maybe it was all the talk about breaking down before I left, maybe the lesson here is to stay positive and rock it. So that is what I will do. I will also try and blog regularly, just been in the sticks and trying to get the rig all set. Anyway, some real pretty country, just need to move faster. Hope the truck will be fixed quickly, go auto clinic!!
Videos coming soon...