WYOMING (part 2) -Gillette
Don’t lose a wheel. It’s not fun.

After thousands of miles rattling on unmade icy roads (prefer not to use highways if we don’t have to) on the back left hand side wheel the bolts came loose and damaged the hub and the stud holes of the wheel. John did everything he could to stabilize the wheel so we can make it to the first bigger town.
This town was Gillette. A promising place for our problem as Gillette is a mining and trucking town where we hoped to get help. As this was a Mercedes part we needed official technical help (for Mercedes part numbers and ordering -as this is impossible for individuals) We hunted down all the truck companies dealing with parts and repair and we got a promise from one but as this was on Friday we had to wait not just till the weekend’s gone but Monday was a bank holiday so had to wait till Tuesday to hear from them on the progress. We thought we might also have to involve a family member or a friend back in England to send some parts of the parts but we weren’t sure until we heard from this company so we couldn’t start the chain-reaction just yet and it is against John’s nature. He likes to be on top of things and sort things out as soon as possible. After spending 4 full days in Gillette (parking in Hotels’ car parks) we were eager to hear from this company.

Gillette might not be the prettiest towns of all and not much to offer for entertainment but we made the most of it! Though by Sunday afternoon we ran out of things to see or do -which included a low key RV show, visiting cafes, do some shopping, watching a totally forgettable film in the cinema, visiting a coal mining site (for Johnny’s biggest disappointment the mining museum was closed) and do some walking(?) Walking isn’t very nice, really.

As we were carefully scooting around town keeping a close eye on the wheel and keep checking it in every few km’s we thought, might as well let’s move on to a more cheerful place (on a smooth and flat road) and if this company calls saying that they can help then we’ll come back. We heard Sheridan is a much prettier place.