The Drive Out West

Well, the drive hasn't been going great :( We were forced to stop after only 400 miles in Bismark, ND due to some very dense fog. It was 8:30pm, and we just weren't comfortable driving without being able to see the lines on the road. So we started driving around to all of the hotels in Billings and asking for rooms. To our surprise and consternation, the first 3 we stopped at were completely full!!! I was nervous to stop in at the Super 8, cuz T thought it would be dirty and gross, but they had rooms, with a free breakfast, and it was cheap. We were also pleasantly surprised at how clean it was. Sunday morning, we woke up at 7, ate breakfast and were out in the car by 8am. Right away we noticed that a light was on in the dashboard. I looked it up in my car manual, and it was the Emmisions Warning light. I called my brother-in-law to ask what that was about and he let me know that the car was most likely still driveable, just to be aware of how it's driving and if it's overheating at all. So we kept driving. It was running extremely sluggishly. It was pretty much impossible to get over 65 mi/hr, unless we were going downhill. We were running at higher than normal rpms. And burning thru gas almost twice as fast as normal! It was scary and frustrating, watching all of these cars, trucks, semi's, and vehicles hauling trailers pacing us going so much faster! Just my luck, it was sunday, so no auto places were open. Finally we made it to Billings, MT and stopped at the Walmart Supercenter. Some kid there was able to test my car's computer and tell us that the light was due to "cylinder 3 misfire". Unfortunately, this kid had no idea what else to tell us, and went back inside. We stopped in at O'Reily and I told them everything I knew. The guy talking to me there said that it could mean about 7 different things, and without having it checked out by a mechanic, there's no way to know exactly how to fix it. Well, we kept driving (and kept getting passed by dozens of semi's). Now we have arrivved in Bozeman, MT. We tried asking around at the gas station about the roads; trying to see if they were any flatter, or the same or worse, so that we could decide if we wanted to keep pushing out to Butte. But the people we talked to said that there were a few pretty steep and long passes between us. So, with it getting dark, and in the hope of getting my car fixed BEFORE hitting those steep inclines, we found our way to another Super 8 motel. I really, really hope that we are able to get my car fixed without too much $$$$$$$$$$$$$