Later in the day, we got the call from the mechanic about the bus. Indeed, the alternator had died. The bearings had gone, which is why jumping the bus wouldn’t even work, because the alternator wouldn’t turn at all. New alternator and drive belt required. The mechanic said they could get the parts early the next morning and get us on the road by 10:00 am. People I talked to in town had only good things to say about this shop, so all I could do was wait and hope for the best. That, and find a hotel room for the night.
On that topic, let’s talk about what a hotel with “internet access” means. For some hotels, it apparently means “We have a four-year-old generic PC in the lobby that you can use to surf the web.” At least one hotel advertised “internet access” when what they meant was “there is wireless access in the lobby only”. Several hotels have advertised “internet access” and when you investigate they explain “Sure, just plug your modem into the phone line in your room and you can get on the internet.” If any of you reading this believe high-speed net access is ubiquitous in the US, I’m here to tell you otherwise. In fact, even dial-up can be a challenge. I called Earthlink to find out what the local dial-up number would be. The entire state of Wyoming is area code 307. For that area code, Earthlink has a single dial-up number, 201-0020. However, when I tried to call that number, I got a fast “beep, beep, beep” before I even finished dialing. I checked the phonebook, and the 201 exchange was valid. I even tried variations on dialing, like 1-201-0020 and 1-307-201-0020. Nope, nadda, zip. And all the Earthlink people could say is “Well, it *should* work.” Very helpful.
No pictures today. If you’re bummed, imagine how we feel. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things, an alternator is an easy thing to repair, and not wildly expensive. And I’ll say again how fortunate this happened as close to a big city as it did. If they can really get us on the road by 10:00 am, I’ll be quite impressed. It’s better than hitting a moose and totaling the bus. Although that might at least mean some spectacular pictures.