Got up early, still stink, hairs a mess, haven’t shaved or showered yet, same clothes on. Pretty sure these jeans will stand up in the corner by themselves. Wal-Mart was supposed to call me when tire was done, no call yet. Well, I’ll just show up when they open. Deb checks the web site, they open a 7am!! She then checks Lowe’s sight, the open at 6 am!! WOW, these people get started early! FANTASTIC
Go to Lowe’s first, grab the crimper made of gold, head to Wal-Mart. Get there, tire still sitting there. I explain to them that I dropped the tire off last night, young lad said it would be done first thing. Tire still sittin’ there….the old man said, well there’s a tire here, we didn’t know what you wanted done to it (keep in mind, IT BLOWED ALL THE TREAD OFF, steel belts showing). There’s a work order taped to it, with tire size, price and my name and phone number. They got it done in 10 minutes, thankfully.
Back to the RV. Not gonna worry about water lines. Get the new tire put on, hit the road, get to the next park and worry about it then. Only 5 hours away. Don’t remember when we got started, but wasn’t that late.
Get past the town of Green River, quite a ways past Grand Junction. Probably 30 miles past Green River, Chris hears a high pitched noise. Neither me or Deb can hear it. Chris had the rear sliding window open thankfully. Drove for a couple miles, Chris says noise is worse now. We still can’t hear it. Pull over, passenger side looks good (side we blew a tire), walked around back, smelled something hot, walked to the driver’s side and my knee’s buckled. Rear wheel is leaning, hub cap gone, bearing cap gone….walked back to the truck, sat down…looked up and asked ‘what the HELL is next”!!
We were in the middle of NO WHERE. Then I remembered, I bought Good Sam Roadside assistance!!! Wooo Hoooo!! After 10 minutes of pushing buttons, the computer voice said were sending you a text, select the link and it will send us your GPS location. Well, that’s all fine and dandy if you have INTERNET!!! Finally, it says please stay on the line and someone will assist you. Well, Bill sounded like he was dodging Taliban bullets while trying to assist me, had no clue what to do. He said he would dispatch a service technician. Well, there was no such Technician within 200 miles. He offered me a tow truck. I had to explain to him you can’t tow a trailer in this condition….finally, neither Bill or I knew what do to, so we just parted ways….Good Sam Roadside Assistance wasn’t much more than Good Sam Roadside chat group.
We decide to unhook the trailer on the side of I-70, go back to the last town and find a parts store. Sure enough, NAPA parts store in town! Told the gentleman my problem, he said he had a “kit”. Drum, bearings, seal all greased up and pre-assembled…I said I’ll take 2 (cause at this point, well ya know)
Headed back to the trailer. Now I know what most of you DIY’ers are thinking right now, “did you actually open the box to see if it was all in there?”. Well, if I am bringing this up, you probably can guess the answer. Get back to the trailer, there was no washers in there…I need a washer because the old one was hot and got damaged..
SO, back to the parts store we go. Thank goodness that the state of Utah’s speed limit on I-70 is 80 mph.
We get the new drum put on, tire back on, re-connect the trailer. Again, me and Chris are hot and sweaty, dirty from laying on the side of a busy interstate and now were all greasy as well. I did remember to buy some hand cleaner at the parts store!!!
Now, we’ve screwed with this half the day and were gonna be late to the RV park. But, the park we’re going to stay at is a park where some very nice people that we know are “work campers”. They helped us get this site in the first place. Deb called Kevin and told him what was happening, he said “no problem, I’ll meet you at the gate when you get here and guide you to your site”!
I heard all kinds of noises after that. We stopped several times checking everything!! Extreme paranoia now.
Got at the site around 9 o’clock, should have been there early afternoon!
At this point, I am SO tired, SO dirty, everything hurts….but I’m gonna fix those freakin” clamps on the water lines and I AM TAKIING A SHOWER!!! Don’t care how long it takes!!
Got the gold plated tool out, crimped the fittings. Had Chris go hook up the water and turn it on. NO LEAKS!!! Thank God!!! Shower tonight!!
It was possible the most glorious shower I have ever taken, I almost filled the grey water tank up and used up all the hot water!
I am positive that the neighbors could hear me moaning and groaning in pleasure….
This night, I slept like a baby!!!