Afterward

The trip was 3364 miles, of which 2150 were towing the trailer, and took 24 days. There wasn't a lot of fooling around there! We had a great trip and saw a lot that we've always wanted to see. Of course, there was enough rain that we could visit the Blue Ridge again and there is way too much in Washington to see in just one trip so I guess we'll just have to go again sometime.

As a post script, we had the truck torn apart by the garage that usually works on it. They found that the parking brake, which is a drum in the middle of the rear disc brake, was making our noise. They also found a leaking seal at the end of the axle. In order to repair that, they pulled the axle and then found some scoring on the pinion bearing and carrier bearings. So it turns out that the answer provided by the mechanic in Carrebelle was partially correct. He got the bearing but missed the parking brakes and the leak. This is probably because I directed him to the differential and he had only a few minutes to diagnose the problem.

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