August 29 – September 20, 2020
Nugget RV Park
1037 West Old Highway 10
Saint Regis, MT 59866
On Route to Western Montana
Before leaving Grandview RV Park, I had changed the setup of our load-distributing hitch. The last time we weighed everything, the front of the truck was still lighter than without the trailer, so I raised the brackets on the trailer by one hole. There was a CAT scale on the other side of Hardin where we could check our load distribution before getting on the highway again. As it turned out, the new setup was perfect.
We drove on I-90 all day long and all the way from Hardin to St. Regis. It took us much longer than we had thought. The speed limit is 80mph and we were traveling much slower than that. We enjoyed getting into the mountains and crossing the Continental Divide. Arrived at the park around 19:30.
September 2, 2020
We went shopping in Missoula, which is about an hour away. While we did not find the bicycle parts we were looking for, we did get groceries and bought fabric for our new curtains in the RV! We spent a lot time and money at Jo-Ann’s Fabric and we were very happy with our selection.
It got dark while driving back to St. Regis. And then we hit the deer. We saw it jumping in from the right, but it was too late to avoid it or to slow down significantly. The left front side of our truck got beaten up pretty badly. Not sure the deer survived.
We pulled over, called 911, called AAA for towing, etc. We were only 900m from our exit and the RV park was just to the right of us, within walking distance. Still, the truck didn’t seem drive-able, so we opted for the towing to the (only) Body Shop in town. The towing company was also in town, so we didn’t have to wait for too, too long. We packed the most important things, watched the tow truck driver (he was not a man of many words) load our truck, and started walking towards the RV park. There was one more hurdle to cross. The highway is fenced off – to keep the deer out, I guess! We could not climb over this barbed-wire fence, but found a spot where we could crawl underneath.
It’s a strange feeling to be at an RV park with a travel trailer and without a tow vehicle. We gathered some thoughts about what to do in the morning. I sent an email to my insurance and gave my boss an update. It must have been after midnight by the time we went to bed. We were sad, but also knew it could have been worse.
September 3, 2020
Slept a little longer, until 6am, but it still was a short night. My boss had arranged for my morning meeting to be rescheduled. I already had a response from the insurance broker’s office. I called Safety insurance and spoke with Mike. He assigned a case number and gave me the contact information of the adjuster, Courtney Mellen.
We remembered a few things from the truck that we wanted to bring home, like my camera, the pump for the bicycles, and some other bicycle parts. Bicycles are our sole way of transportation now, after all. After breakfast, around 9am, we decided to just walk over to the body shop, see our truck, talk to the people over there, and take some things home.
To our surprise (or maybe we weren’t that surprised), St. Regis Auto Body is a pretty crappy place. Fortunately, our truck was there (though unlocked!). But the office was closed. Business hours 9-5 with lunch break from 1-2 and nobody was to be found. This place did not even look like a legitimate, running business.
So we called their number and someone answered! Unfortunately, it was not the owner of St. Regis Auto Body but someone else in town, around the corner, running some other kind of repair shop. He complained that he gets calls frequently for this shop and said he had no idea how to reach the guy who is running that business. He also mentioned that he got a call from my insurance about our truck, but could not help them. I knew we would have to call the insurance again. We started getting worried a bit. The next call was to the towing company. The office lady connected me with the tow truck driver. He told me that the owner of St. Regis Auto Body has the key to our truck. According to him, the owner magically showed up during the night when he dropped off our truck and he gave him the key. He could not tell me how to reach this guy who now had our key. We locked the truck (with our second key) and walked back to the park with our heavy bags. Worrying a little more.
I had a meeting with a client that went very well. Then I called the towing company again, pressing them to help me getting in touch with St. Regis Auto Body or getting me my key back. They became very unfriendly during the call and essentially told me that this is my problem. They had done exactly what AAA told them to do and there was nothing else they could do for me. Now I regretted that I told AAA about the body shop in town.
In the meantime, the insurance company tried to get hold of me because they failed getting in touch with St. Regis Auto Body. I called them back. To my surprise, it was not Courtney Mellen, which I was told was assigned to our case, but Helen from another company in Rhode Island. Unbeknownst to me, Marianne from the insurance office in Walpole had reached out to Helen, asking her to take on our case. In the morning, Marianne had told me to call Safety directly, which I did. Then she must have changed her mind and decided to take next steps herself. She did send me an email, which I only saw as I was on the phone with Helen. Helen gave me the name and contact information for Steve McComb, our appraiser. I called him next. Very nice guy. He seems to know what he is talking about. I explained our situation and asked him to make the appointment with me directly. I told him that we might try getting the truck to the RV park. Steve lives 1.5 hours away from St. Regis. He said he will try to come by tomorrow, on Friday. He also told me that Missoula is our best bet to get the truck repaired well and fast. He gave me the names of 3 shops he can recommend.
I kept an eye on the position of our truck in the Ford App on my phone. Just to make sure the truck would not disappear. That’s how worried I became. We decided to walk back to the body shop and somehow get the truck out of there, whether we can get our key back or not. Just as we arrived, someone pulled up to the other side of the building. It turns out it was Jeremey, the owner of St. Regis Auto Body. We was a pretty friendly guy, told us about his business, how he ran it with his parents, and that they recently separated from this other guy who now runs another repair business and took the phone number with him. The most important thing to us was that we got our key back and Jeremy didn’t really care what we wanted to do next. He gave us his business card, scribbled a cell phone number on it he wasn’t really sure about (“just got it new…”). “Call me when you need help” he said as we left.
Back at our truck I freed up the front wheel as much as I could. Tried to bend back one piece with not much success, but pulled some broken pieces of plastic out. Good enough to slowly drive to the campground. We were relieved that we had our truck and key back.
Now we needed to tell the RV park people that we had a problem and needed help. Amber and her husband Jake were most helpful in trying to find a good solution for us. It was difficult, because of the upcoming holiday weekend. They discussed several options with others from park management (their parents?) and gave us site 84. Full hookups, 50A service, and clear until Friday next week. They had to move some friends around to make it happen. We moved our trailer within the next hour or so.
This new site is at the far end of the park. Closer to the highway and noisier than our old site. JJ was worried. Over time, we got to appreciate the upsides of our new location. We have more privacy, more space, nicer grass, and the noise isn’t really an issue. We were happy that we have a place to stay for the next week. We enjoyed a nice evening and even got to play a round of Rommee at the picnic table.
September 4, 2020
It was Friday. The last work day before the holiday weekend. A good day for office work I could catch up from the hours lost the day before and going into the weekend with not too many things left to do.
Steve, the appraiser came by just after 5pm. He and his wife were on the way to Spokane to a wedding that he would have liked to avoid going to because some in the wedding party are infected by the coronavirus. St. Regis wasn’t even a detour for them so at least he was glad to get some business done on route to Spokane. Steve is a very nice guy and very knowledgeable. He is a certified Ford technician and does a lot investigations for them on warranty cases. He knows our engine very well and had some tips on how to avoid things from breaking that usually break. He was very happy for me to call him up later, asking for more tips.
September 11, 2020
We both had a busy and successful work week. This morning Clay and Jake helped us move our trailer to another site where we can now stay through the next weekends. People here are extremely helpful. Sometimes you don’t even know how you can thank them for their help.
We got an update on the truck. Additional repairs are needed and the body shop already got approval from the insurance. The last parts should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. It is highly likely that we will have our truck back by next weekend!!! Mike from the body shop will even help us with the pickup. He offered to come to St. Regis and give us a ride to Missoula when our truck is ready. Missoula is over 70 miles away!!! Can you imagine that? We are very lucky.
September 12, 2020
It was Saturday. We slept in and had a very relaxing morning. Ate a hearty brunch, before taking our bicycles on the road. Destination was Superior, where the next decent grocery store was located. We had been there before, with the truck on the highway. This time we were going to experience the backroad. It followed the river and the train tracks for the most part, but also veered off into the mountains. It looked decent on the map. Soon after leaving St. Regis, the asphalt was pointing uphill. And then the asphalt was replaced by gravel, still pointing uphill. The type of gravel that is fun in a truck or on a motorcycle, but torture on a road bike with 25mm tires. Even downhill we had to be careful and go slowly. We did not carry a spare tube! Tubes and tires were still on the back of the truck.
When we arrived in Superior we weren’t into buying too many groceries anymore, knowing that we have to carry everything back. So we ended up eating most of what we bought. Still counts as grocery shopping, though, right? I checked the hardware store for bicycle tubes. They had some, but only for mountain bikes. Who rides a road bike in Montana anyway? After filling up our water bottles we went home.
What was envisioned as a leisurely ride along train tracks, turned out to be almost too much for the day. The fact that neither bike had a flat tire is still a big mystery to me.
September 18, 2020
All week long, we were anxiously awaiting confirmation that we can pick up our truck. On Friday, the wait was over. The body shop even sent a driver to pick us up from St. Regis, which is over 70 miles away from Missoula. Can you believe that?
Our truck was like new. Even washed inside and out. The people at Mountain State Collision Repair were super-friendly and helpful. We were sooooo happy to have our truck back!
September 19, 2020
Our mail has been waiting for us at an RV park in Republic, WA. We were scheduled to be there last week. With the weather getting cooler now, we decided to not continue further West, but to head South instead. So we drove out to Republic and back in one day, just to pick up our mail.
JJ received her new bicycle helmet and we got our mail from Arlington. The package with the surge protector, however, was sent back to the sender. Even though JJ told them to hold a package in my name (despite our reservation being in her name), something got lost in translation. It was a huge disappointment and ruined my day. On the road for 6 weeks now and still without a working surge protector. What else can go wrong?
