“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal,

you do not change your decision to get there.”

~ Zig Ziglar

While not a lovely landscape to be shared, the photo above is the explanation for why the air conditioning in the CRV stopped working about an hour after leaving Honeyville, destination Yellowstone. First a gentle whining sound that could have been part of the playlist I was listening to, then louder with halts in the cool air coming from through the car’s vents… then no air flow at all.

It was 10 am, 3 hours from Yellowstone and already 80 degrees.

A pull-off interstate 15 to see 1) if there was phone service and 2) how far a Honda dealership might be.

Gratitude for phone service. After a couple of calls, a dealership in Pocatello, Idaho (an hour north) had a service slot open. With car windows open, we continued on, taking the opportunity to remember what auto travel was like before air-conditioning: warm air blowing in relentlessly, better than being stifled, somehow adding a sense of freedom and connectedness to the road….

An accident on the interstate just at the exit added more delay, but soon Shanti was unhitched in the Honda parking lot and the CRV was in the service bay. Mice activity (from who knows when- they had long ago moved out) had clogged the air filter and blower (see above photo). Both were replaced while we waited patiently:

Such kind souls at Pocatello Honda. One of the service techs even re-hitched Shanti. Soon we were on the road to Yellowstone, trusting that even though it was the busiest weekend of the year, in the most popular of National Parks, we would find a place to camp.

First we drove into town, then back out, after many phone calls, west to a KOA that had a site available, 6 miles from the park entrance. Every other campground was filled. A visit to Yellowstone National Park on the July 4th weekend was indeed possible.