COOPER DISCOVERER: Middle-earth by Montero...with Four Kids
- Thread starter haolepinoy
- Start date
JCMatthews
Tour Guide
That was worth reading. What a wonderful trip and write up.
Sabre
Overlanding Nurse
Those are some lucky boys! They'll remember this stuff all their lives and will most likely continue such wonderful family adventures with their own kids. I grew up in Virginia and have the fondest memories of exploring with my dad....
Too young, too many? Hell no! Thanks so much for sharing!
Too young, too many? Hell no! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
That was really neat. Thanks.
You've got my vote, Frodo.
------ Strider
You've got my vote, Frodo.
------ Strider
haolepinoy
Incomplete Idiot
The COOPER DISCOVERER Appendices
There's a reason we'd planned our Outer Banks trip for November instead of July. Many reasons in fact. And after that first night, thousands of smaller-than-tent-mesh reasons. Biting reasons. Who goes camping on Cape Lookout Island in July, ...with four kids? Well, full disclosure, somebody who really wants to win the COOPER DISCOVERER Writing Contest so he can take his wife to the Biltmore Estate this October (it's our anniversary weekend, and I love my wife). Right here Gandalf would quip, “A fool...but an honest fool he remains.”
Riddles in the Dark
For me, solving a problem sometimes requires taking everything you've gotta do, throwing it all in a mental blender for a few days, and then pouring out the resulting mixture in the form of a plan. It's kinda like modern so-called art...strangely beautiful but probably a waste of paper. Our Middle-earth adventure had now come to require something of a sequel, with the two remaining rings combined with the fact that the Blue Ridge Mountains were not on the COOPER DISCOVERER writing contest's official trip list provided by ExPo. This would mean that to be contest-worthy we'd have to find a way to fit our July vacation dates, the rings, and Cape Lookout, NC (since it was the only destination within reason of our camping abilities) together into something story-worthy. Just so happens that we were already planning to go to the Outer Banks for five days of camping, fishing, and exploring anyways. But that would be in November, when the temperature is cool, the fishing is great, and the bugs are gone. This would be July...Who goes camping on Cape Lookout Island in July...with four kids? Are we seriously considering this? Well...here we go again.
The Long Way Round
We had our best setting off yet, only one hour behind schedule…not the usual three or four that we’ve come to expect. With the Montero mostly loaded the previous evening, all we needed to do was load up the food, the clothes, and…oh, yeah, the kids. We left the driveway, bound for the interstate, and before we knew it…we were rolling back into the driveway to get a few things we’d forgotten. Happens every time. My wife and I have this exercise where we’ll start asking each other, “Did you get the such-and-such? Did you remember to blippity-blank? Hmm…toilet paper? TOILET PAPER!” How come our brains don’t turn on until we’re within sight of the exit ramp? Every. Single. Time! Haha.
Second setting off was the charm, and before long we were crossing into North Carolina, eventually stopping for a short break outside Rocky Mount. Quick observation about kids: boys are so much easier for traveling. We were enjoying a picnic under a tree outside some hotel, and said tree got to double as their public pissing post. And the trouble is they just go, no warning to the parents anymore. I turn around and there’s the twins putting on a show for all passersby. You can only imagine the expressions on the faces of people passing in their cars: shock, horror, but occasionally a thumbs up from some dad who understands. Hopefully these heathens learn some discretion before they leave for college someday.
We set our heading south and made haste for Harkers Island, hoping to get there with a little time to explore before catching our ferry in Davis, NC. Having set off behind schedule together with refueling the Montero and other pre-voyage necessities (like getting lost and almost driving onto a Marine Air Base because Google Maps has a strange sense of humor) meant we arrived with about eight and a half minutes to look around. Just enough time to get the boys their Jr. Ranger booklets, snap a picture or two, and reintroduce the savages to the way civilized people use the bathroom.
Cape Lookout National Seashore
About a half an hour up the coast was our port of departure, Davis, NC. If threre was one thing my pre-trip research made clear it was that I had to be on time for the ferry, so for once we were just that. Imagining we'd be sitting in some sort of busy queue to board, I was a little surprised to find that we'd have the ferry all to ourselves. The boys didn't seem to mind…
Who pays this much money to get himself purposely stranded on a deserted island? That's what I thought to myself as the mate waved us off the ferry. Nobody else in sight, save the two boatmen slowly making their return trip to the mainland. I couldn't hear, but I bet their hearty banter included “Strange tourists. Who goes camping on Cape Lookout in July...with four kids?” We'd learned in the mountains that having a campground all to yourself is nice, so you'd think having an whole island to yourself would be amazing, but it kinda makes you feel marooned. As we moved south along the beach we eventually ran across several other castaways, either fishing, camping, or attempting to signal overhead planes for rescue, before we found a spot to settle in for the evening. And now, with no one in sight north or south, camp set up, and dinner served, having this campground all to ourselves turned out to be magnificent.
The Freak(ing Bug)s Come Out at Night
Sun now set below the Sound, the darkness slowly descended. O, How to describe this night? You know how the light on your oven goes off when you close the door, letting the baking begin? That about sums our night up perfectly. The day had been hot enough (literally 100 degrees), yet the evening would bring us no relief. In fact, it felt worse because the tent we'd chosen for this trip, the one we'd used several times last year with no issues, decided to let us in on the fact that it was unable to provide any ventilation in summertime heat. It felt like sleeping in a dutch oven, except nobody was really sleeping much. Everybody was baking, except for our youngest. He was broiling hot.
We discovered our poor little guy running a high fever at some point early in the night. With having four kids we usually do not worry too much about such things, especially considering that he's been teething on and off recently. But being on an island with no doctors meant we'd have to keep an extra close eye on him throughout the night, and he'd have to get out of that blazing hot tent. This introduced us to the evening's next issue...the dinner guests. Daytime winds were in our favor, keeping the infamous biting bugs off of us all day. That changed at some point after sundown, and it seemed we were now on the menu...even those of us in the tent, apparently. We'd learn the following day that the noseeum gnats can fly right through your average tent screens. As young Meriadoc Brandybuck before, so we all wondered “What do they eat when they can't get hobbit?!”
The Brightside for Overcooked Leftovers
If some concerned fisherman were to have asked me why we were camping at Cape Lookout in July with four kids, I'd have told him about a crazy pipe dream to win some contest. Yet, if he were to have asked my boys why they were camping at Cape Lookout they'd have told him something very different. “To get the light seals, of course. We've got to break the fog spell.” Confusion would probably grow on the firsherman's face as he left us to our strange motivations (“Strange tourists, these. Who goes camping...”). You see, my hobbit children were of the understanding that if we were ever going to get to the summit of Sharp Top Mountain and destroy the remaining dwarven rings we had to break Saruman's magical grip on the mountain. And their daddy had told them just how to do it. There are seven seals in seven towers, and we'd be making a grand excursion by land, sand, and sea to visit all of them (this is what dumped out of the mental blender back home...modern art). And the first and most important lighthouse on the list was right here in Cape Lookout (COOPER DISCOVERER flag as proof).
The plan in a nutshell was to visit the lighthouses at Cape Lookout, Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck Beach, Cape Henry, and Old Point Comfort, acquiring the lighthouse stamps (the magical seals) as we went. Along the way we'd be camping, fishing, ferrying, and enjoying the sights as we ventured north up the barrier islands. If time allowed us we'd even attempt to earn these boys some Jr. Ranger badges at the National Park sites along the way. I assured my wife that the trip would go from harder to easier each day as we went from difficult to access beaches to those overrun with tourists. The “harder” part did not disappoint, but at least we had our first seal.
Magic aside we were happy to find that the southern visitor center had an outdoor shower and a pinch of air conditioning in the gift shop (we shopped for a while, haha). We explored the lighthouse and museum before deciding to trek north. The little guy's fever had gone down, but it was still there, so we figured it best to try to find early passage back over to the mainland if there was room on the ferry. With the dashboard compass pegged north we slowly made our way back up to the Great Island ferry station. The Montero was great in the sand and all was going fine...until the ogre decided it just wanted to take a break, shutting itself down as we were driving. Three familiar warning lights returned to the dash board, the same lights we'd seen at the beginning of our Blue Ridge Mountain adventure. Having looked into that issue before I knew that these lights meant there was a complaint in the traction control system. Then it slowly dawned on me that I may have made yet another stupid mistake...the traction control system? Wasn't I supposed to shut that off before driving on sand? What's the elven word for “oops”? Thankfully the Montero started right back up like there was nothing wrong, getting us safely to our ferry and our exit from Cape Lookout Island. The machine, despite its ownership history and petty annoyances is quite forgiving and has yet to leave us stranded. The boys are loving it more and more with each passing adventure.
Another Day, Another Change of Plans
My wife and I had been discussing what our next step would be the entire day. The heat wasn't going anywhere and we knew it'd be waiting for us at our next campsite. So would the bugs. Suddenly Ocracoke Island wasn't looking like such a good idea. In an attempt to stay on schedule, but at least get us out of the sun and get the boys a good bath I'd called ahead to see if there was any lodging available on Ocracoke. I found that there was plenty...until I mentioned that we had four kids. I don't know if it's some kind of law or something, but noboby was willing to put us up in anything short of a cabin with six individual beds. I pleaded with one lady saying that we just needed a bed and running water, that the kids were small, and that we'd been sleeping in a tent smaller than a queen sized mattress. Any room would work, but we got no sympathy. No vacancy. Suddenly Ocracoke Island wasn't looking like such an inviting place either...and we weren't so sure that we wanted to spend any of our trip's time (or money) there. I recommended to my wife, “How about we just go to Granny's?” As soon as we left the Davis ferry we were cannonballing it to Virginia Beach. Another day of adventuring, another change of plans.
If there's anybody out there doing this with kids, for God's sake do not take ANY advice from me except for the advice to be flexible. Two days at Granny's, sleeping in comfy beds, swimming in the pool, and being able to wash almost all that accursed sand off ourselves saved the trip, boosting our morale and allowing everybody to just recover. It would have been stupid to stick to our plans, making all our memories ones of misery and itchy bug bites. Where's the fun in that? And if it isn't fun, really, why do it, especially when you can just plan to do it again some other day?
And that was our plan, intending to visit the Outer Banks lighthouses all in one shot on day four, and since Cape Henry lighthouse is a stone's throw away from my mom's place in Virginia Beach we'd try to see it first. But then we discovered another problem. To get onto Fort Story Army Base (where the lighthouse is) you need to have a photo ID, which shouldn't have been a problem...except I embarrassingly discovered at the military gate that my driver's license was not in my wallet. Seriously?! I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd pulled it out and left it. Well this is just great...so much for day four's grand plan.
Two (Out of Seven) Towers
We set off from Granny's on Sunday, heading back home to the Richmond, Virginia area. Since it was on the way we stopped at Fort Monroe National Historic Site (which thankfully wasn't a military base anymore...since I didn't have my driver's license). After exploring the site we made sure to stop by the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, getting our second stamp of the largely gutted trip.
Driving home that afternoon I could have felt terrible, like a failure on many levels. But I was happy because my wife was happy, and so were my kids. They had a great time despite “the plan” going out the window and daddy screwing everything up. We laughed and talked that whole ride home about all the things that were their favorites from this trip. And getting home, after unloading and unpacking I thought to myself, “It wasn't seven, but two towers seems just right for a Middle-earth sequel.” We've got a lot to learn and improve on between now and this Fall (me especially...I'm hopeless), when we plan to finish this crazy adventure, but are looking forward to the people we meet, the places we go, and the memories we make along the way. Godspeed everyone.
The Epilogue: The Two (of Seven) Towers
Cape Lookout, North Carolina
July 13-17, 2016
Cape Lookout, North Carolina
July 13-17, 2016
There's a reason we'd planned our Outer Banks trip for November instead of July. Many reasons in fact. And after that first night, thousands of smaller-than-tent-mesh reasons. Biting reasons. Who goes camping on Cape Lookout Island in July, ...with four kids? Well, full disclosure, somebody who really wants to win the COOPER DISCOVERER Writing Contest so he can take his wife to the Biltmore Estate this October (it's our anniversary weekend, and I love my wife). Right here Gandalf would quip, “A fool...but an honest fool he remains.”
Riddles in the Dark
For me, solving a problem sometimes requires taking everything you've gotta do, throwing it all in a mental blender for a few days, and then pouring out the resulting mixture in the form of a plan. It's kinda like modern so-called art...strangely beautiful but probably a waste of paper. Our Middle-earth adventure had now come to require something of a sequel, with the two remaining rings combined with the fact that the Blue Ridge Mountains were not on the COOPER DISCOVERER writing contest's official trip list provided by ExPo. This would mean that to be contest-worthy we'd have to find a way to fit our July vacation dates, the rings, and Cape Lookout, NC (since it was the only destination within reason of our camping abilities) together into something story-worthy. Just so happens that we were already planning to go to the Outer Banks for five days of camping, fishing, and exploring anyways. But that would be in November, when the temperature is cool, the fishing is great, and the bugs are gone. This would be July...Who goes camping on Cape Lookout Island in July...with four kids? Are we seriously considering this? Well...here we go again.
The Long Way Round
We had our best setting off yet, only one hour behind schedule…not the usual three or four that we’ve come to expect. With the Montero mostly loaded the previous evening, all we needed to do was load up the food, the clothes, and…oh, yeah, the kids. We left the driveway, bound for the interstate, and before we knew it…we were rolling back into the driveway to get a few things we’d forgotten. Happens every time. My wife and I have this exercise where we’ll start asking each other, “Did you get the such-and-such? Did you remember to blippity-blank? Hmm…toilet paper? TOILET PAPER!” How come our brains don’t turn on until we’re within sight of the exit ramp? Every. Single. Time! Haha.
Second setting off was the charm, and before long we were crossing into North Carolina, eventually stopping for a short break outside Rocky Mount. Quick observation about kids: boys are so much easier for traveling. We were enjoying a picnic under a tree outside some hotel, and said tree got to double as their public pissing post. And the trouble is they just go, no warning to the parents anymore. I turn around and there’s the twins putting on a show for all passersby. You can only imagine the expressions on the faces of people passing in their cars: shock, horror, but occasionally a thumbs up from some dad who understands. Hopefully these heathens learn some discretion before they leave for college someday.
We set our heading south and made haste for Harkers Island, hoping to get there with a little time to explore before catching our ferry in Davis, NC. Having set off behind schedule together with refueling the Montero and other pre-voyage necessities (like getting lost and almost driving onto a Marine Air Base because Google Maps has a strange sense of humor) meant we arrived with about eight and a half minutes to look around. Just enough time to get the boys their Jr. Ranger booklets, snap a picture or two, and reintroduce the savages to the way civilized people use the bathroom.
Cape Lookout National Seashore
About a half an hour up the coast was our port of departure, Davis, NC. If threre was one thing my pre-trip research made clear it was that I had to be on time for the ferry, so for once we were just that. Imagining we'd be sitting in some sort of busy queue to board, I was a little surprised to find that we'd have the ferry all to ourselves. The boys didn't seem to mind…
Who pays this much money to get himself purposely stranded on a deserted island? That's what I thought to myself as the mate waved us off the ferry. Nobody else in sight, save the two boatmen slowly making their return trip to the mainland. I couldn't hear, but I bet their hearty banter included “Strange tourists. Who goes camping on Cape Lookout in July...with four kids?” We'd learned in the mountains that having a campground all to yourself is nice, so you'd think having an whole island to yourself would be amazing, but it kinda makes you feel marooned. As we moved south along the beach we eventually ran across several other castaways, either fishing, camping, or attempting to signal overhead planes for rescue, before we found a spot to settle in for the evening. And now, with no one in sight north or south, camp set up, and dinner served, having this campground all to ourselves turned out to be magnificent.
The Freak(ing Bug)s Come Out at Night
Sun now set below the Sound, the darkness slowly descended. O, How to describe this night? You know how the light on your oven goes off when you close the door, letting the baking begin? That about sums our night up perfectly. The day had been hot enough (literally 100 degrees), yet the evening would bring us no relief. In fact, it felt worse because the tent we'd chosen for this trip, the one we'd used several times last year with no issues, decided to let us in on the fact that it was unable to provide any ventilation in summertime heat. It felt like sleeping in a dutch oven, except nobody was really sleeping much. Everybody was baking, except for our youngest. He was broiling hot.
We discovered our poor little guy running a high fever at some point early in the night. With having four kids we usually do not worry too much about such things, especially considering that he's been teething on and off recently. But being on an island with no doctors meant we'd have to keep an extra close eye on him throughout the night, and he'd have to get out of that blazing hot tent. This introduced us to the evening's next issue...the dinner guests. Daytime winds were in our favor, keeping the infamous biting bugs off of us all day. That changed at some point after sundown, and it seemed we were now on the menu...even those of us in the tent, apparently. We'd learn the following day that the noseeum gnats can fly right through your average tent screens. As young Meriadoc Brandybuck before, so we all wondered “What do they eat when they can't get hobbit?!”
The Brightside for Overcooked Leftovers
If some concerned fisherman were to have asked me why we were camping at Cape Lookout in July with four kids, I'd have told him about a crazy pipe dream to win some contest. Yet, if he were to have asked my boys why they were camping at Cape Lookout they'd have told him something very different. “To get the light seals, of course. We've got to break the fog spell.” Confusion would probably grow on the firsherman's face as he left us to our strange motivations (“Strange tourists, these. Who goes camping...”). You see, my hobbit children were of the understanding that if we were ever going to get to the summit of Sharp Top Mountain and destroy the remaining dwarven rings we had to break Saruman's magical grip on the mountain. And their daddy had told them just how to do it. There are seven seals in seven towers, and we'd be making a grand excursion by land, sand, and sea to visit all of them (this is what dumped out of the mental blender back home...modern art). And the first and most important lighthouse on the list was right here in Cape Lookout (COOPER DISCOVERER flag as proof).
The plan in a nutshell was to visit the lighthouses at Cape Lookout, Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck Beach, Cape Henry, and Old Point Comfort, acquiring the lighthouse stamps (the magical seals) as we went. Along the way we'd be camping, fishing, ferrying, and enjoying the sights as we ventured north up the barrier islands. If time allowed us we'd even attempt to earn these boys some Jr. Ranger badges at the National Park sites along the way. I assured my wife that the trip would go from harder to easier each day as we went from difficult to access beaches to those overrun with tourists. The “harder” part did not disappoint, but at least we had our first seal.
Magic aside we were happy to find that the southern visitor center had an outdoor shower and a pinch of air conditioning in the gift shop (we shopped for a while, haha). We explored the lighthouse and museum before deciding to trek north. The little guy's fever had gone down, but it was still there, so we figured it best to try to find early passage back over to the mainland if there was room on the ferry. With the dashboard compass pegged north we slowly made our way back up to the Great Island ferry station. The Montero was great in the sand and all was going fine...until the ogre decided it just wanted to take a break, shutting itself down as we were driving. Three familiar warning lights returned to the dash board, the same lights we'd seen at the beginning of our Blue Ridge Mountain adventure. Having looked into that issue before I knew that these lights meant there was a complaint in the traction control system. Then it slowly dawned on me that I may have made yet another stupid mistake...the traction control system? Wasn't I supposed to shut that off before driving on sand? What's the elven word for “oops”? Thankfully the Montero started right back up like there was nothing wrong, getting us safely to our ferry and our exit from Cape Lookout Island. The machine, despite its ownership history and petty annoyances is quite forgiving and has yet to leave us stranded. The boys are loving it more and more with each passing adventure.
Another Day, Another Change of Plans
My wife and I had been discussing what our next step would be the entire day. The heat wasn't going anywhere and we knew it'd be waiting for us at our next campsite. So would the bugs. Suddenly Ocracoke Island wasn't looking like such a good idea. In an attempt to stay on schedule, but at least get us out of the sun and get the boys a good bath I'd called ahead to see if there was any lodging available on Ocracoke. I found that there was plenty...until I mentioned that we had four kids. I don't know if it's some kind of law or something, but noboby was willing to put us up in anything short of a cabin with six individual beds. I pleaded with one lady saying that we just needed a bed and running water, that the kids were small, and that we'd been sleeping in a tent smaller than a queen sized mattress. Any room would work, but we got no sympathy. No vacancy. Suddenly Ocracoke Island wasn't looking like such an inviting place either...and we weren't so sure that we wanted to spend any of our trip's time (or money) there. I recommended to my wife, “How about we just go to Granny's?” As soon as we left the Davis ferry we were cannonballing it to Virginia Beach. Another day of adventuring, another change of plans.
And that was our plan, intending to visit the Outer Banks lighthouses all in one shot on day four, and since Cape Henry lighthouse is a stone's throw away from my mom's place in Virginia Beach we'd try to see it first. But then we discovered another problem. To get onto Fort Story Army Base (where the lighthouse is) you need to have a photo ID, which shouldn't have been a problem...except I embarrassingly discovered at the military gate that my driver's license was not in my wallet. Seriously?! I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd pulled it out and left it. Well this is just great...so much for day four's grand plan.
Two (Out of Seven) Towers
We set off from Granny's on Sunday, heading back home to the Richmond, Virginia area. Since it was on the way we stopped at Fort Monroe National Historic Site (which thankfully wasn't a military base anymore...since I didn't have my driver's license). After exploring the site we made sure to stop by the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, getting our second stamp of the largely gutted trip.
Driving home that afternoon I could have felt terrible, like a failure on many levels. But I was happy because my wife was happy, and so were my kids. They had a great time despite “the plan” going out the window and daddy screwing everything up. We laughed and talked that whole ride home about all the things that were their favorites from this trip. And getting home, after unloading and unpacking I thought to myself, “It wasn't seven, but two towers seems just right for a Middle-earth sequel.” We've got a lot to learn and improve on between now and this Fall (me especially...I'm hopeless), when we plan to finish this crazy adventure, but are looking forward to the people we meet, the places we go, and the memories we make along the way. Godspeed everyone.
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Outdooraholic
Adventurer
Outstanding read! As a fellow Mitsubishi driver, family adventurer, and Virginia native, I commend you on getting out there with your family and making the most of the trip, even when the best made plans sometimes fall to the wayside! Very well written and inspirational trip report!
Tundraguy81
Observer
What an awesome adventure/story. Now I can't wait to get our Montero and family out there for an adventure. I'm also in va. We just purchased an 05 Montero . 
haolepinoy
Incomplete Idiot
Thank you guys. That's really encouraging. :beer:
For anyone that has followed along with our adventures this year, I just wanted to let you know to stay tuned :lurk: I'm currently working on the final chapters of this Middle-earth saga...we've completed a handful of additional adventures that really put a nice bow on this year. It'll (hopefully) be a fun read for everybody. 2016 was a great intro to overlanding for us...never thought it would go the places it did. And finding out that writing was a good scratch for a hidden itch has been great too. I really appreciate the encouragement.
For anyone that has followed along with our adventures this year, I just wanted to let you know to stay tuned :lurk: I'm currently working on the final chapters of this Middle-earth saga...we've completed a handful of additional adventures that really put a nice bow on this year. It'll (hopefully) be a fun read for everybody. 2016 was a great intro to overlanding for us...never thought it would go the places it did. And finding out that writing was a good scratch for a hidden itch has been great too. I really appreciate the encouragement.
unkamonkey
Explorer
Thanks Haolepiny, it makes me want to reread all of those books. It's been many, many years now. I just need to find them in my mess.
Tundraguy81
Observer
Offroadmuch
Explorer
I'm not trying to highjack your thread. I just want to let you know your story inspired us to take a trip to Crabtree falls with our 5 kids in our recently purchased Montero
Great truck! What kind of wheels and tires, size?
Tundraguy81
Observer
They are the stock 17" Montero wheels with 275-65-17 kumho road venture sat sl61
haolepinoy
Incomplete Idiot
I'm not trying to highjack your thread. I just want to let you know your story inspired us to take a trip to Crabtree falls with our 5 kids in our recently purchased Montero
That's great to hear. This is a great time of year to go. What part of VA are you in? Looking at your pictures with the kids in the Monty makes me long for the day that mine are finally out of their accursed car seats...them things just take up so much room!
x2 on the good looking truck. We love our Montero, and were really blessed with all the fun places and great memories it allowed for last year. Despite that, there's a part of me that wishes I'd held out a little longer for an '04-'06 or at least a better maintained 3.8L. My '03 has been never-ending problems for me since the day I bought it, going from annoying to now debilitating. The more and more I've looked into all the different gremlins and issues I've had has made me believe that the '03 model year was the lemon year for the Gen 3 Monty (numerous TSBs and overseas recalls seem to back that up). Most everything was sorted by '04 (Hydraulic Brake Booster for instance). I almost want to start over with a later year, but the market has really jumped up on Monteros since I bought mine. Trying to repair it may be the only option I can afford right now, so I'll be starting a litany of tests and repairs next week to hopefully bring the tired ole' girl back to life again. We've already missed two planned adventures this year...hoping to be back on the road by the end of April with a reinvigorated and reliable conductor.
Tundraguy81
Observer
We are located in Warsaw VA.about an hour east of Richmond. I'm sorry to hear about your Montero. I hope you can get it back up and running for the nice weather.