On Our Way Home

August 18

We left Glacier at 6 am heading east through Montana and most of North Dakota. After 904 miles and over 16 hours, we broke our previous driving record and pulled into a Walmart Supercenter in Fargo, ND. It was the quietest Walmart stay we have ever had.

August 19

After about 9 hours of driving through Minnesota and Wisconsin, we all heard a loud noise under the car as William applied the brakes at a stop light. Pulling into the gas station, the brake pedal made a hissing sound, like air escaping, every time it was depressed, but seemed to work fine otherwise. Worried it might become serious, we had to once again try to find a mechanic. Of course, it happened at 5pm when all the local shops closed. We drove 10 more miles south to the larger city of Janesville, WI where a tire and brake place was open until 8 pm. We had to unhitch the camper before they could look at the truck. After about an hour, the technicians said they couldn’t find anything wrong. So, we continued on, having lost a good chunk of the time we gained the previous day. William was on alert in case the brake situation got worse.
We decided we could make it back home to Arlington, VA if we pushed on through Illinois and on to Brownsburg, IN. After 863 miles we pulled into the Walmart parking lot.

August 20

We continued on through Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and into Northern Virginia. Of course, nearing the Washington, D.C. I-495 beltway right around evening rush hour, we had many miles of stop and go traffic. The insane traffic made us wish we were still on one of the empty roads out west. After 604 miles we arrived home.

In total we drove 10,661 miles!