Sept 18 - Elk and Bison and Bears. And tow trucks. Oh my!
We got up around 8:30 this morning, which for us is early. Usually it seems to be 9:30 or 10am by the time we get moving. We packed up the rig for another day of driving, and were on the road by 9:40. The plan was to drive around the northern loop of the Yellowstone figure eight, then leave the park at the northeast exit and drive through Wyoming and possibly up to Montana before stopping for the night. It's good to have a plan, but too bad plans don't always work out. 
We were trying to decide whether to go the long way around the northern loop, to see more of the park, or the short way, to get going faster. The only possible disadvantage to the short way is that it's a higher mountain pass, which means more strain on the truck. We stopped and asked a ranger for advise, and were warned of recent bear sightings over the pass, but it wasn't steep at all. He joked that we could take the bear warning either as a warning or an enticement, depending on our point of view. To me it was an enticement 
So we drove up the pass in search of bears. We saw lots of elk and bison and stopped a few times for pictures and virtual caches. Then, on the other side of the pass, we came around the corner and there were cars stopped everywhere and people walking around with cameras in hand. There was even a ranger attempting to direct traffic. And sure enough, there were bears!
Along the side of the road there was about a 15 foot embankment, at the top of which it leveled out and sloped slightly into a dense forest. At the top of the embankment, up near the trees, was several black bears, munching on shrubbery. I inched along through traffic as Angel snapped pictures. The bears crept slowly downhill as they munched. We moved along a little farther, and so did the bears. As one of them approached the edge of the embankment and looked like he was going to go down it to the road, the ranger started yelling at everyone to get back in their cars. He was largely ignored.
At this point I had pretty much broken past all the parked cars and other traffic, and Angel had snapped enough pictures, that I just pressed on the accelerator and we moved on. That was fun!
We drove on. When we reached the turnoff leading to the northeast exit of the park, there was a sign saying the road was closed. Bummer. Now we'll have to continue on to the northwest exit and take a slightly longer route. It was just after this point that the day took a decidedly bad turn.
We were climbing a slight hill, when the engine started cutting out. This had happened once before, and that time it was determined that the truck was getting low on oil. Since the truck does burn a quart every 2,500 miles, I figured that was the problem again. I stopped and checked and it was indeed low. I added a quart and we continued on. We got a couple more miles then when climbing another hill, it started cutting out again. Really, really bad this time.
We had to inch along at about 5 mph, with traffic piling up behind us, for almost a mile before there was a place to pull over. Now what? I checked the fluid levels again and all was fine. I tried starting the truck but this time it would barely even idle. Time to call for help 
After waiting over an hour and a half, a tow truck finally showed up. Fortunately it was a big one that was capable of pulling both our truck and trailer. The driver said that he's really not supposed to tow both, even though his rig is capable, but there is only one other truck on duty today and he's busy in the south end of the park. He hooks up and off we go.
Just outside the park to the northwest is the town of Gardiner. The nearest town with a service station. We get towed there. We get the trailer situated on a side street in front of an abandoned business and the truck is deposited in the parking lot of "The Tire Iron." It's almost 6pm by now and the place is closed. We have dinner and crash for the night.