Trapped in REDDING, CA May 2013

We left St Helena, CA Thursday, May 2nd, heading to Montana.  The plan was to stop in Redding for a few days, then on to Vancouver, then on to Libby, MT.  About 10 miles south of Redding the EGR value on our truck died and white smoke came pouring out the back of our truck.  At first Dale thought one of our back tires or brakes had caught on fire.  He was headed to the trailer to get a fire extinguisher when he saw that it was the exhaust out the tail pipe and not a fire.  The truck seemed to be running OK.  We drove very slowly to the next exit (about 1 mile).  There happened to be an RV park there so we dropped out trailer.  It was about 3pm so we called the Ford Dealership in Redding and then drove up there to have them take a look.  Well it was no good news.  All the coolant had been blown out the tailpipe when the EGR valve failed.  The truck was not driveable so we had to get a rental.  They dismantled the engine on Friday and found that we had 2 blown head gaskets.  This would be covered under warranty so we had to wait for the adjuster to come take a look.  All in all the repairs cost $7100 and took 9 days to repair.  We did manage to go see the things we had originally planned on.  Like Lassen National Volcanic Park, Whiskeytown-Shasta National Park and Shasta State Park.  I've attached photos of those.  All 3 places were beautiful.  Once we left Redding we had to make a mad dash up to Montana since we were suppose to start working there on May 11, which was actually the day we left Redding. 

 Whiskeytown National Park

Shasta State Park