We are at it again!

We are at it again! This morning Brad and I spent 4 hours planning our next big trip.  We worked out 30 stops backed full of adventure.  It will be a 42 day trip this time covering Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota.  3,260 miles!!!  We are staying a little closer to home this time, but I have a feeling it will just as memorable as our first time around. 
Some big stops that we are super excited for include Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain National Park and Badlands.  We will also be seeing some of our amazing friends and wonderful family members.
Needless to say we are super excited and have asked each other several times today if we could leave tomorrow :)

Brad is still crossing off things on his van to-do list, but we are optimistic that the list will be complete before June 10th!

<3

Four Page Itinerary 

The Transmission Rebuild

The winter in Nebraska is difficult. The cold winters make camping not a great way to spend the weekends. The van's transmission had been giving us problems since we bought it. Last summer on our big trip we fought it almost daily. So because of it being winter and it needed to happen, we rebuilt the transmission. It was a cold winter day when I decided I should pull it. I was thinking I should get it out before it got too cold.

We got it out and started the taking it apart. I cleaned the transmission as much as I could before painting it. It was filthy. I scraped over a inch of grease and dirt off the top.

It was so dirty. I bet just by cleaning it the thing weighs 5 pounds less.

All painted.

The cooling fins on the torque converter Were completely caked full of filth.

Rebuit the differential while I was at it.

Brand new axles. Old ones were not horrible. But I figured it was the best time to do it.

The brain of it all rebuilt.

Put on its first major test.

After driving it. I have to say: I should have rebuilt this transmission long ago. So many small problems I had with the van is fixed. Can't wait to put the next 165000 miles on the van.

Stay tuned this summer is going to be a fun one!

Brad