Ever since we’d left Versailles, MO, with the new turbo on the truck, we had both been very carefully monitoring the truck’s performance. Bruce had warned us that some things would be different, and said to work with it for a little while and see what we liked and what we didn’t. While we liked that we weren’t getting metal on metal scraping sounds when the turbo kicked on, we didn’t like that our fuel mileage had been cut from about 10mpg to about 7.5mpg. We also didn’t like the amount of black smoke coming from the tailpipe, which seemed tolerable at first but seemed much worse when we started driving higher speeds. Bruce had been trying to get Tom and the guy who had tuned the truck together on the phone, and Tom and David finally managed to connect as we were driving from Pierre to Bismarck.
David explained that he’d tuned the truck as optimally as possible so that we’d have enough power to get through the mountains, and that if we wanted to improve the mileage and exhaust output, we would probably have to get a smaller turbo unit. This didn’t mean that the whole 4-day multi thousand dollar work would have to be redone, just that the top part would need to be replaced. Tom immediately called Bruce to ask about our options. Bruce called back about an hour later and told Tom that his recommendation was that we try working with a more experienced tuner, who thought that the turbo unit that was installed was fine, and that with a little time and finesse he could get our truck running in a way that would make us happy. The good news here was that we didn’t have to buy any new parts, and the tuning could be done remotely using an engine tuner computer which could be sent to us. The obvious place to send it was wherever we were going in Bismarck, but we didn’t know where that was.
So, we started making phone calls to figure out where we could receive a small package. I don’t know if you’ve tried to reach a real live person on a phone recently, but we found that it’s basically impossible if you’re calling UPS, USPS, FedEx, or any other place that might be able to receive packages. The phone is answered by a bot who wants your tracking number, and if you don’t have a tracking number, you’re screwed. I finally started looking at campgrounds around Bismarck, and found a Bismarck city park with a phone number, and the phone was answered by a real live very nice person named Andrea, who immediately understood our problem and took my number so she could talk to her supervisor at General Sibley Park. She called me back about five minutes later - she really was a rock star, since I totally don’t expect callbacks anymore - and said they’d be happy to accept our package, and even gave me their address so we could call and give it to Bruce before making a reservation with them. I did that, then got on line and booked a campsite for the night, although Andrea had told me that they were wide open for that Thursday night, but they were full for the weekend. We hoped the part would be there sooner rather than later so didn’t really want to book for the whole weekend anyway, so that was fine.
David explained that he’d tuned the truck as optimally as possible so that we’d have enough power to get through the mountains, and that if we wanted to improve the mileage and exhaust output, we would probably have to get a smaller turbo unit. This didn’t mean that the whole 4-day multi thousand dollar work would have to be redone, just that the top part would need to be replaced. Tom immediately called Bruce to ask about our options. Bruce called back about an hour later and told Tom that his recommendation was that we try working with a more experienced tuner, who thought that the turbo unit that was installed was fine, and that with a little time and finesse he could get our truck running in a way that would make us happy. The good news here was that we didn’t have to buy any new parts, and the tuning could be done remotely using an engine tuner computer which could be sent to us. The obvious place to send it was wherever we were going in Bismarck, but we didn’t know where that was.
So, we started making phone calls to figure out where we could receive a small package. I don’t know if you’ve tried to reach a real live person on a phone recently, but we found that it’s basically impossible if you’re calling UPS, USPS, FedEx, or any other place that might be able to receive packages. The phone is answered by a bot who wants your tracking number, and if you don’t have a tracking number, you’re screwed. I finally started looking at campgrounds around Bismarck, and found a Bismarck city park with a phone number, and the phone was answered by a real live very nice person named Andrea, who immediately understood our problem and took my number so she could talk to her supervisor at General Sibley Park. She called me back about five minutes later - she really was a rock star, since I totally don’t expect callbacks anymore - and said they’d be happy to accept our package, and even gave me their address so we could call and give it to Bruce before making a reservation with them. I did that, then got on line and booked a campsite for the night, although Andrea had told me that they were wide open for that Thursday night, but they were full for the weekend. We hoped the part would be there sooner rather than later so didn’t really want to book for the whole weekend anyway, so that was fine.
We found the park, and when Tom went to the office Andrea had our tag all ready from my online booking. She asked if we wanted a spot for the next night if any opened up, and since we figured it was doubtful that the computer thingie would make it from Missouri to North Dakota overnight, we said yes. We had barely had time to park when she called and said they’d had a cancellation, so we booked one more night in a different spot, which wasn’t a big deal since our plan was to drive the camper into Bismarck in the morning to see the capitol.
That’s exactly what we did. The campground is only about 10 minutes from the capitol, and, like Pierre, the city of Bismarck itself is very small. The capitol is on a 100+ acre campus, and the city is a lot of not-too-fancy housing which includes a lot of multi-family buildings, which runs out to your typical suburban shopping options. While the capitol itself looks like a typical smallish high rise office building and is in no way memorable, the surrounding area was enough for us to take the dogs for a 4+ mile walk without much recrossing our tracks.
That’s exactly what we did. The campground is only about 10 minutes from the capitol, and, like Pierre, the city of Bismarck itself is very small. The capitol is on a 100+ acre campus, and the city is a lot of not-too-fancy housing which includes a lot of multi-family buildings, which runs out to your typical suburban shopping options. While the capitol itself looks like a typical smallish high rise office building and is in no way memorable, the surrounding area was enough for us to take the dogs for a 4+ mile walk without much recrossing our tracks.
I really enjoyed walking around the campus. We walked past the governor’s home, which can’t be called a mansion as it is in so many cities. The state museum takes up its fair share of space, along with all the typical memorials, but the bulk of the campus is prairie, which I found charming and interesting, while Tom thought it was a good excuse to not have to maintain a lawn. The thing we both found most educational and memorable was that they have preserved a train car from when France sent gifts to the US after WWII. The gifts were for the people, from the people of France, and weren’t anything memorable, except that they were memorable because they were from the people: embroidery, favorite perfumes, drawings from children, and everyday things that mattered to the people of France that they thought their US counterparts would appreciate post-war. It was somewhat heartbreaking in its simplicity. The other notable thing about this capitol was that we did not see any security. We saw police and security vehicles, but nobody was inside them. We have no doubt we were in view of cameras the entire time we were on the campus, but we never saw security personnel. Lots of people were walking on the paths, and the paths cover a lot of ground. It seemed to us that North Dakota feels pretty safe and secure.
We left the capitol area and went back to General Sibley Park. We parked in our new campsite, and checked a couple of times during the afternoon to see if our package had arrived. It didn’t, so we took advantage of the very nice walking trails around the park. The campground is fairly large, with over 100 campsites. However, it is spread out over more than a half mile, with multiple loops. The campsites are all on the outside of the loops, so no matter where you park, you have park in front of and behind you. At the end of the day, when the package still hadn’t arrived, we asked if they got Saturday deliveries. Martha, the manager, said they do, so we planned to move out of our campsite at checkout time and go to the day use area. We spent the next afternoon doing some more walking, and catching up on computer stuff since we both had decent cell reception. The package did not arrive on Saturday, so we talked to the office and arranged to leave on Sunday, but come back on Monday to pick it up. Everyone in the office was very sympathetic to our plight, so we made plans to head to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historical Site on Sunday, after reading about that area and the history of Sakakawea at the Capitol.
