Day Eight--Yellowstone to Shelby, Montana

We woke this morning to snow on the ground.  Although the picture doesn't show very much, I took this before the heaviest snow began to fall.    I remembered (duh) that we had automatic coverage for the trailer for a year after purchase from a firm called "Coach-Net."  So I called them to ask for help with the hitch.  I figured that if we could just get the hitch lifted, we could attach it to the pickup and then just drive the rest of the way without unhitching again.  Perhaps in Wasilla, we would have time to solve the problem.  To shorten the story, they arranged for someone from the nearby auto repair shop in the visitor's center to come over with a hydraulic jack and raise the trailer.  The park service contracts with a company which runs the hotels, restaurants, gift shops, etc., and also with a different contractor who operates service stations and, surprisingly, seasonal auto repair shops at the primary visitors' centers around the park.  The Fishing Bridge auto repair shop was less than a mile away.  And the cost of the service was completely covered by Coach-Net.  Whew!

We hitched the trailer, and set out for Shelby, Montana.  But what we had not factored into the time planning was just how long it would take to get out of the park.  There were major road repairs going on in the northern part of the park (actually a major widening of the highway) and we were reduced to one lane and major waits for "our turn."  It took two hours to go about 50 miles. And we then got sleet and hail, in addition to the snow which kept coming until we got away from our section of the park.   But finally we exited the park, entering Montana (a first for me) and drove the rest of the way with no incidents.  It rained off and on all day, and as we approached Shelby, it began raining steadily.  Shelby is the last town on Interstate 15 heading north toward Canada, except for the little settlement of Sweet Grass, where the border crossing is. We had reservations at the Shelby RV Park, and after we got our site assignment, I faced the prospect of setting up the trailer in the rain.  The sites were gravel, and looked solid, but when I parked, I discovered that I was stuck completely, even when I shifted to 4-wheel drive low.  What next?  A tow-truck will be necessary, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning.