THE BEAST IS BUSTED!!

“Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember”
-Seneca - Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD

6/15: The Beast has suffered a bum wheel – literally. It started off so innocently. Robin: “Wade, aren’t you worried about the smoking back wheels? I don’t think that’s normal. ” Wade: “Nahh, it’s fine. The brakes are just a little tired from all the mountain driving we’ve done… don’t worry.” Famous last words.

Little did we know that we were undergoing a serious rear Axle Seal Differential problem (but of course), dumping quarts of oil through the South Dakota and Wyoming mountains. If untreated, we realized that the rear wheels could grind to a halt or worse yet result in the loss of brake power (gulp). Fortunately, Andrew from Yellowstone Park Service Stations (legs shown in above photo) filled up our injured vehicle with some 80/W90 Heavy Differential Lube and we limped our way to Bozeman, Montana (~135 miles) - leaving a nice grease slick souvenir for those we left behind. We did our best to ignore the incessant well-intentioned warnings from ongoing drivers and those nature observers covering their mouths from the foul smoke. Needless to say, we’re alive and in one piece living large at the Best Western Gran Tree with our new “Beast-Lite” or “Beast-ette” (See below). The good Lord willing, M & W Repair will be able to fix the Beast tomorrow and we will be back on our trail? As always, pending WiFi accessibility, we will keep you posted…

Sweet wheels, but we have not found the shower or queen sized bed yet on the Chevy Envoy??

P.S. A belated birthday greeting from the Slomes to our good fellow friend and blog follower Denny Sullivan in Fullerton, CA!

***Guzzle-meter: $897.72 (Hey, at least I get bonus points on my credit card)