Saturday August 23 through August 27 2025
We don’t know who to call concerning our RV. Its a Class A diesel pusher motorhome. It has air brakes and air bags (air springs) that act as leaf springs in the suspension. They are there because the ride they give is softer, more comfortable and more forgiving than steel leaf springs. I called the RV Park in which we are to be staying and asked if they have a name of an RV mechanic and they did!
This part of the USA is beautiful!
The Mellow Moose RV Park got some descent reviews. Some say the owner Matt layed out and built the park himself and I think he did. It’s laid out a little wonkie but for the most part its nice. It is located south of town off of Highway 52, down a dirt road about a quarter mile. The most popular negative was the proximity of the trains. We found them not to be an issue but we are used to the train traffic that came by the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. However, the locomotives horns are really loud!
The road to Mellow Moose is not easy to find and if not for the dirt road slowing us down to a crawl we would have blown right by the entrance to the park. Jil’s phone mapping system found it but my Garmin didn’t. Another snafoo by JIl’s smarty pants made me distrust her phone and I should have trusted it this time.
The road we went on looked just like this one
My Garmin hardly ever misfires but misfire it did. It sent us into farmland on dirt roads, past farmhouses and through fields of corn. We went really slow to keep the dust down but it still flew 20 feet in the air. The Garmin wanted us to turn on to a nonexistent road…… Oh boy! Jil’s smarty pants phone got us back on track. I think we did 4+ miles of country dirt roads before we got back to pavement and on to the Mellow Moose RV Park and Campground. Both rigs are filthy.
We got Gary’s name off of a bulletin board at the RV Park. Gary owns a supply company in another town but lives in Minot. He is a certified diesel mechanic and he is willing to come to the RV park and diagnose our air system problem on Saturday. He shows up an hour late- me thinks that’s strike one. We get the rig up in the air so he can diagnose the problem. Its not what I thought, an air valve, its the air spring we replaced two years ago. Air springs are part of the suspension system.
It wasn’t the original style bag but it is the newest of the four on the rig.. Well, it turned out it didn’t fit correctly as it rubbed on the chassis wearing a hole in the rubber bag. Rats! The bags are not easy to come by, the valve I thought was the culprit is a dime a dozen. Gary feels that since there is so much oil work accompanied by truck service shops going on in the region that he can find the air spring and get us on the road no later than Monday.
Well, not so fast there Cowboy. Air springs for this motorhome are not the same as those for a semi truck. After searching Monday, first using the air spring part number printed on the bag, then the make, model, and year of the RV, he gets a hit on the VIN (vehicle identification) number. The replacement springs are not within North Dakota so it’s two days for delivery. If we are fortunate the air springs will arrive in time for Gary to install them on Wednesday evening. Fingers crossed. Update- air spring delivery delayed in transit- they are coming from Illinois…….. We can’t leave until Thursday at the earliest.
So other than Minot being a big city (48,377 souls) with a lot of resources our main reason for visiting is an old friend now lives here.
Scandinavian Heritage Park- lots of Scandinavian Folks Here
Our previous church deacon and his wife moved back to Minot from Reno last January to be with family. Unfortunately and tragically his wife died four days after their arrival. We contacted him several months ago and asked if he could stand our company. So he and we were looking forward to a good chin wag.
Sunday we met Deacon Bob Dangel, his daugther and two grand boys at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church. We enjoyed Mass and the priest’s homily. Bob has been aged out as a Deacon. He introduces us to the young priest, and out of respect for Bob the priest addresses him as Deacon.
After Mass we met Bob and his family at Charlie’s restaurant for breakfast in Historic Downtown Minot. He has a lovely, loving family. On Monday we met Bob once again, this time at Badlands Restaurant for dinner. Although the food was long gone the conversation had just started. We had a wonderful time visiting with our deacon and with his family. Godspeed Deacon Bob.
We’ve been taking care of some chores while here- picking up a replacement electrical cable that is an umbilical cord between RV and Subaru when towing, a couple of prescriptions, some groceries. We are ready to go anytime our RV is made healthy. Meanwhile I have to cancel campground reservations because we won’t be able to travel to those locations to fulfill our reservations. And that’s the reason I don’t like to make reservations months in advance- ya never know what’s going to happen to mess up those plans.
So Thursday is a no-go. The good news is the air springs have been delivered and Gary will install them this evening. Tomorrow, Friday, we should be good to go. Finally!
Travel With Jil and Mike 