Breakdown

Joe bought a Military Trailer in Colorado around Boulder The truck we drove was his Military vehicle that runs on two batteries and two alternators and the average speed is around 55.

Day 1 Friday- Started our trip and the alternator belt on the truck broke. Drove past Evanston, through thick fog for miles only seeing 20 ft ahead. Past the fog I took over driving. Noticed the smell of sulfur when stopped at Little America for Diesel. Thought nothing of it continued driving. Stopped again and found out that one of the batteries exploded meaning that one of the alternators was bad so we disconnected the bad battery and hurried to Rawlins. Got to Rawlins at exactly 11:50 ten minutes until we would have lost our reservation at the motel. Day 2 Saturday- Found out that the truck wouldn’t start. Discovered that both alternators and both batteries are needed or else none of the batteries will charge. The jumpstart pack we brought with us was so cold that it could not help start the truck. Got the maintenance man from the hotel to drive us to Checker down the road for two batteries and additional parts. Left around 11:30 and drove to Boulder knowing that nothing was charging the batteries so once they were dead the truck would stop. Found out that the guy Joe bought the item from lived on the top of the mountains above Boulder and by that time the canyon was dark and we could not use the headlights for fear they would drain the batteries quickly. We used the running lights after it was dark and only used the headlights to read the street signs. We finally found the house and had to wait for the guy to return home. The trailer we had come to pick up was buried behind a snow drift next to their garage. Joe and the guy worked for several hours trying to get the trailer free. The guy told us about a motel just outside Nederland, about 10 miles back across the mountain peaks. He said that we could put the truck on his charger until the next day and he would drive us to the motel. We stayed in the last room that was ready. The main source of heat was the old furnace. For dinner we ate the Subway sandwich left over from lunch.
Day 3-Sunday- The motel had a small café attached that all the locals would frequent since it was the only diner in town. We had a nice but expensive breakfast while we waited for the guy to come back the next morning. The guy picked us up and by 11 o clock they had hooked up the Military trailer and loaded the accessories in the truck. We drove as quickly as we could back down the mountain towards Boulder. Since the canyon road had 10% grades we got a lot of practice downshifting to keep the truck from being pushed by the 5,000 lb trailer. After filling up we drove straight through Cheyenne and stopped in Laramie. Each morning we would start the truck once and leave it running all day long until we arrived at the motel. We knew leaving Laramie in the afternoon would cut it close if we wanted to arrive in Rawlins before we had to use the headlights. We drove as fast as we could through severe winds and managed to get within 5 miles of Rawlins before we felt no other choice but to turn on the running lights. By the time we reached the exit we had to turn on the headlights. We felt lucky to reach the motel safely so we didn’t venture out for dinner. Luckily we had eaten at McDonalds for lunch in Laramie.
Day 4- Monday- Woke up in Rawlins and found out that the roads behind us were closed, good thing we didn't stop in Laramie. If we had stayed in Laramie we would still be waiting for I-80 to open going west to Rawlins. It had snowed the night before and we were worried that we would have to us the windshield wipers which are also electric. About 30 miles west of Rawlins the roads became less icy and it was not snowing anymore. We used the wipers occasionally and ran the heater just enough to defrost the truck and warm up. Before leaving Rawlins we stopped and bought another battery and hooked it up to the main battery from inside the cab where it road on the seat between us all the way back. We had gotten some CDs before we left, but for 750 miles now we haven’t dared turn on the CD player. Got home at 4:00 and found out that the cats had knocked a small garbage can over, shredded papers in the bath tub, and opened a bag of beef jerky to eat.