7200 miles! Disaster averted: grateful for a nail in a tire





7200 miles in we have just had a long delay. I did drive, drop and pick up Scott to move forward as much as possible during this  travel trailer breakdown. 

So what happened?  Leaving Santa Barbara, I noticed one of the rear travel trailer tires looked low.  It was a rainy day, we were on gravel, and it was not clear how bad the problem was.  Over the course of the day I kept  watching the tire. Getting into the Santa Maria Fairpark the manager also thought it looked low, and then noticed a nail in the tire. It was a Saturday afternoon, and all the tire places were about to close. Scott was still out on the bike, but I wanted to get the tire replaced with the spare and get the punctured tire patched up to use as a spare – or at least that was my thinking. So I headed over the with the truck and trailer to the tire place. Thankfully I saw Scott as I was leaving so he jumped in.  

The folks at America’s Tires noticed the tire was very worn on the inside. They propped the RV up and to the shock of all, the opposing tire and assembly fell off! It was then that we discovered that our whole axel was twisted and inoperable. Thank goodness for the nail in the tire. Had this fallen off while I was driving going down the mountain it could have been disaster. 

Smitty’s towing provided the tow, and they worked hard in the rainy cool weather to secure the RV so it would not tip over when towed. We had to find a place we could stay that allowed dogs and had a big enough parking area where we also could store the RV while we waited for parts and repair. The only option we found was Motel 6.

The axel was ordered on Monday and came in Wednesday.  Big thank you to mobile mechanic Edwin McGowan and his grandson Nico who worked late into the night, again in the cool rainy weather, to get the rig fixed.

We are so grateful for Jerry at America’s tires, to Lance at Smitty’s towing and especially Ed and Nico for the kind assistance to get us back on the road again.  It was an expensive and time consuming stop. Our experience at Motel 6 was not positive - enough said.  But this could have been so much worse – grateful for the nail in the tire!     

Mark your calendars for the final ride in and party on June 15th in Itasca State Park! The planning has started. https://www.milesformoney.org/

 

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