Current Location: Ladybug RV Park, Cuba, Missouri

We headed west with our truck slightly limping along. The transmission is slowly losing functionality as we go. We already knew we’d have to manually select second gear, but found out after we’d been on the road for a bit that third gear is almost always skipped when the lever is placed in Drive.

Climbing hills was a bit more of a challenge without third gear, but at least the transmission would release the torque converter lockup on uphills, allowing the engine to rev more freely at the expense of hotter running transmission fluid. We kept an eye on the transmission fluid color and smell (still pink and not burnt), so the larger cooler seems to be doing the trick. We ran against a partial to full headwind all the way here, which didn’t help the situation much, either.

We’re going to limp as far as we can (with the trailer) tomorrow, hopefully as far as Omaha, Arkansas. We’ll play that one by ear and park the trailer, if needed, and drive the remainder of the way to the transmission shop on Monday.