We leave nasty Nancy’s place and head for Colorado. Our tail wind ends somewhere in Colorado and was replace by a south, south west wind. Trailer stayed behind us for the most part, tightened down the sway bar. Made it thru Denver, up the Hill-From-Hell west out of Denver, thru the mountains and then down the mountain.
That’s were the good fortune STOPS!
Just before we get to Grand Junction, I hear a “flapping” noise. First thought, flat tire. Find a wider spot to pull off…remember, we are on Interstate 70 here, not exactly a minor highway. Chris goes back to check, sure enough…blow out! Tire still has air in it, just all the tread has come off.
Luckily, it’s on the passenger side, away from the 80 mph idiots on wheels. Get the floor jack out, that’s buried in the front of the bed of the truck (’cause I ain’t gonna have a flat with good tires). Get it up in the air and notice some things. When the tread comes off at 70 mph, it has to forcefully go somewhere, in our case, it wen thru the floor of the trailer “Cause heaven forbid the manufacturer would put somethings substantial above the wheels. About a 10 x 14 inch hole completely thru into the kitchen cabinet area. I could see the bottom of the hot water tank, wires hanging down and water leaking all over. Wonder if this could be any worse…..?? Shut up Idiot…cause it can and WILL (see day 3).
So, we get the tire changed, all the while the trailer rocking back and forth from the 18 wheeled IDIOTS that won’t scoot over to the left lane. It was hot, we were both sweating (sweating bullets also) and now dirty.
Deb finds us a campground close so we head there.
Get the trailer set up and survey the damage. We remove dirt, insulation, metal and tire fragments from under the kitchen cabinets. I spot several holes in the plumbing, wires running to the water pump are gone…but the hot water heater looks OK, thank goodness.
Walmart is the only open tire place, head there but they just closed. I leave the blown tire and rim there, young person tells me they will replace it first thing in the morning.
Leave Wally World, head to Lowe’s to get some plastic pipe, fittings and clamps. The “formal clamp tool” is $65…I’m gonna try Phil’s way…
Get back, me and Chris start replacing pipe, running down wires and still removing crap from under the cabinets. Remember when they build these, the plumbing is put in first, making it VERY difficult to fix anything totally put together. We worked for hours under the cabinet and outside trying to cut out the mangled piece of metal in the wheel well, put a new piece of metal back in so crap wouldn’t be flung into the trailer while driving down the road. AND, parks strict rules say NO WORKING on trailers in the park, so where trying to hide and be quiet. Finally quit after mid-night…exhausted, tired, dirty, sweaty….can’t take a shower yet.
Oh by the way, Phil’s way didn’t work…will have to go back to Lowe’s and buy the gold plated tool.