Winnipeg Road Trip, Day 3: Lisa Has the Power

Just after sunrise this morning, Lisa and I went down to the Astro to assess the situation. Remember that last night, Lisa's improvised test kit showed that there was full power in the battery itself, but none of it was making to even the least of the minivan's systems.

We both investigated the various leads that run from the battery, wiggling them a bit to see if anything was loose. I did find a loose vacuum connection near the battery, but that had no immediate bearing on the issue. But after wiggling wires, I went in and tried one of the small lights in the cab. It worked! But the car would still not start, so we were not out of the woods.

( Terminal Problems )

Lisa disconnected the battery so that she could test the terminal block connection. This was much more difficult than it should have been, because while we have lots of tools on board, none of them were the right size socket or box wrench for the battery terminal posts. Lisa hates having to use an adjustable crescent wrench on these.

Suspiciously, there was a fair bit of corrosion built up on the positive battery terminal. Lisa cleaned the white powder off as best she could. She then pulled the power lead off of the terminal block, inspected it, and put the battery back in. We then tested the connection on that power lead and it worked! She reconnected the lead to the terminal block, and we checked one of the interior lights. It worked. Now the acid test. She turned the key and Astro started immediately!

( Lisa Gives Blood )

Lisa's theory is that the corrosion on the positive battery terminal was preventing a good connection between the battery and the terminal block. This was why we could get a good test when connecting a test line to the positive battery post, but not to the terminal block. Cleaning the side post and the battery cable allowed the connection to work again.

Lisa put away the tools, we went back to the room and cleaned up, and Lisa cooked us scrambled eggs and bagels. Might as well use the full kitchen that we had today only!

So what was looking like what might require us to rent a car (~$2000) to finish the trip while we left the minivan with a Chevrolet dealership for the remainder of the trip appears to come down to us buying around $50 worth of parts and tools for safety's sake.

After we finish breakfast, we're checking out, going to buy tools and parts, and restart our trip, only a few hours behind. Fingers crossed that we have time to see a few things in Yellowstone National Park today.

Winnipeg Road Trip, Day 3: Our Afternoon at Yellowstone

Today was a relatively short day by distance traveled, but took a long time nonetheless. It seemed to be a crime to have a travel route going near Yellowstone National Park without visiting it, so here was our actual route for today.

( On the Road to Yellowstone )

I'd purchased a $35 park admission pass in advance, and thus breezed through the park entrance.

You can't go fast in Yellowstone Park, not that you'd want to do so, what with so much to see. The maximum speed on park roads is 45 mph, and often lower. We headed east to Madison, then south to Old Faithful.

( Park Pictures )

Exiting the park on the north end, we continued on US-89 (US highway numbers are suspended within the park) for a little over 50 miles to tonight's stop at Livingston MT. There are no IHG hotels in Livingston, and all of the hotel prices were eye-watering. We had to move distinctly downscale and are spending tonight in a Super 8, which is better than a Motel 6, but not a huge amount better.

( IHG Has Been Spoiling Us )

Were we satisfied with our less than five hours at Yellowstone Park? No, not entirely; however, we got at least a few nice views, and we'd love to come back some day. And I'm sure that if we'd skipped this chance, we'd be wondering what we'd missed. Lisa says she's seen enough to have an appreciation for what the park is like. Approaching the park overland is the typically semi-arid lands like much of the Western USA with which we are familiar. The park itself is an oasis or garden or wonderland of lushness, with spectacular geothermal activity thrown in for good measure.

Although we have a longer drive planned for tomorrow, it's mostly on I-90 and should be relatively fast, and with luck, we will not have any more vehicle malfunctions with which to contend. So we've set the alarm for several hours later than yesterday and we'll get as much sleep as we can.