It seems Ruby doesn't want to go to Alaska

When we last posted, we were stuck in Bozeman, Montana. That Road Block saga ended amiably - we spent a lovely sunny afternoon in a nice little mountain town, the front right axle was fixed, and got on our way within a few hours.

45 minutes down the road, we received a phone call from the mechanic. He hesitantly asked, "So, how are things running. Makin' good progress?" Small talk? We wondered what he was up to. He got to the point quickly: the dipstick for the transmission fluid was sitting on his mechanic's workbench (instead of in our car, as it should be). He assured us we could drive safely without the dipstick - fortunate, since we were already 70 miles west of Bozeman - but told us we'd want to get it back in as soon as possible.

Flashbacks of our first attempt to leave Madison popped into our heads. Turning around wasn't an option - we were supposed to have already been setting into our campsite at Glacier National Park by that time! The mechanic began calling around to various waypoints ahead of us to get us a replacement dipstick as soon as possible. Butte, Montana became our new destination.

We pulled into another Subaru dealership just before closing. The service manager ran out into the lot, popped open the hood of a new Subaru WRX and began pillaging its parts on our behalf. He soon had us on our way. The moral of the story: be wary of purchasing a new Subaru in Montana as we may have its parts.

We still had enough daylight after Butte to make it to Flathead Lake just south of Glacier Nat'l Park.



Wetlands south of Flathead lake, MT.

All the mechanical issues weren't really Ruby's (the car's) fault; however, she has made another effort at knocking us off course. Once over the border into Canada, as we were leaving Waterton Lakes National Park on the morning of Aug. 21, Rich (unsuccessfully) attempted to kill a mosquito against the inside of the windshield.

As cracks shot out in 3 directions from where he hit the glass, all both of us could say was, "Are you kidding me?" The cracks were small at first, but they're creeping further outward daily. Next thing we know we'll have to buy motorcycle goggles.