Monday, May 7, 2012

Day 3...from hell

After two days of pleasant travel, today became a day from hell. The day started out fine with a stop at the post office in Capitan (the home of Smokey the Bear) where I spent almost $30.00 to send back items that were under warranty. That's sort of paying for someone elses mistake, but I bit the bullet. Then it was west on highway 380 until I was just west of Carrizozo, New Mexico where the police had blockaded the highway. It seems the US Navy had decided to test some missals at the White Sands Missal Range and because highway 380 runs on the north side of the range we were allowed to cool our heels for two hours.

What we had to look at for two hours.
  
Once they turned us loose it was an hour over to I-25 and a southward turn towards Elephant Butte. 10 miles into the southbound journey a loud explosion interrupted the trip. The right outside dual tire decided it didn't want to hold any more air.


I don't even think duck tape will fix this.

Unfortunately there was a little wheel well damage to go with the problem.

After a quick pull over to the side of the road the next surprise was waiting for me. I was in a zero bar area for the cell phone. So it was just sit and wait to be discovered. After two state police cars failed to notice my plight as they drove right on by, I decided my fate was in my own hands. So Mel was put in gear and limped down the road at 5 mph until a bar showed up on the cell phone. Just enough of a signal to engage Coach-net for the afternoon. An hour later the spare was in place and I was on my way south again. Tomorrow the search for 6 new tires begins.

As for the rest of the day, I think I will crawl under a rock until tomorrow and hope things improve so we can better enjoy the good life.

A sad note to finish today's blog. My friend Sharon lost her battle yesterday and her ashes are heading back to Alaska where she spent a large portion of her life. Her husband, Clay, will be back in the park tomorrow and will be in the space next to me. Sharon will be missed, but a lot of good memories are left behind.

29 comments:

  1. WOW that was a pile of bad events gathered into a short time frame. Good luck on the new tire search. I know you were not overloading the tires, so my guess is you ran over something to cause a leak. When the tire got low enough it exploded. What a mess!

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    1. No leak according to PressurePro, Just one enormous air exit.

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  2. Sorry for the loss of your friend it is never easy.

    Hoping Mel's damage is easily repairable. The monitors are supposed to help prevent that but it doesn't always happen that way. Be Safe and tomorrow try Enjoying the Good Life.

    It's about time.

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    1. The monitor reported no air right after the big bang. I guess there is no way to predict a blowout.

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  3. John, so sorry to hear all this. Luckily you didn't get into a worse place.
    So sad to hear Sharon lost her battle. I feel for Clay. He will need your friendship like never before.

    Travel safe the rest of the way.

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    1. Thanks Jo, you're right, blowouts can lead to lots worse.

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  4. Sounds like you are having one of MY days.
    Sorry you lost your friend.

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  5. What a day! Sorry about your loss. Good luck with the tire search. How long will you be staying in Elephant Butte?

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    1. I checked in for a month, but will probably not be here that long.

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  6. Oh no, I was upset over your tire, till I read about your friend Sharon. Wow, I'm very sorry to hear this. :-( Yes, treasure the memories.

    I had a flat once & some damage to a storage bin due to it. And of course, it took both duallies, not just the one. Scary spot on a very busy Houston feeder road. So the moment I saw your photo, the words Oh Crap came out of my mouth! Btw, my friend's Macaw said "Oh Crap" last night..oops!

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  7. Sorry for the loss of your friend. We need to treasure the time we have with friends and family.

    We were through that same spot near the missal range, and thought it was funny that a major road cuts through it. Then we stopped at White Sands National Landmark to enjoy that area too.

    Your blowout looks awful, glad you are getting all new tires. Glad you were able to pull over and get a signal afterwards.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
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    1. It's always fun having trouble in the middle of nowhere.

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  8. Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.

    May be it was one of those missal's that took out your tire..

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    1. Hadn't thought about that Kenny, you may have a point.

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  9. Tough day John but that's what makes life interesting. Loosing a friend is always tough but like you said "the good memories live on".
    I love my TPMS unit but until it has better prediction capabilities I guess blowouts are going to happen.
    I hope for better days ahead as you settle back in.

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    1. Into every life a little rain must fall, some days it's a thunderstorm, but it's always followed by a rainbow and sunny skies.

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  10. Sorry to hear about your friend. Just to show how short life can be. So many awful things happening your way but hopefully for now it will be over for a few months? So can again enjoy the wonderful(good) life.

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    1. Little setback, but still continue to enjoy the good life.

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  11. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend Sharon. I believe she is in a better place, but her friends and family will miss her.

    That tire is something! I'm glad you weren't hurt or in an accident. Getting new tires will give you a bit of peace on the road after that blowout.

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    1. Thank you for your kind thoughts.
      I won't sit so lopsided in my seat either, once I empty my billfold on new tires.

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  12. WOW...we are sorry for your terrible day. We are happy though that you did not get hurt. We loved Elephant Butte State Park. Lovely place to stay.
    Please let Clay know that we are saying a prayer for comfort for him and the family. Our prayers extend as well to you also.

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    1. Thanks for the kind thoughts. EB is my second home. I usually spend a month here in the fall and another month in the fall.

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  13. Oh My Goodness - it doesn't get much worse than that! So sorry you had such a bad day and especially sorry for the loss of your friend. Hope the next few days will be better.

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    1. I just looked for the silver lining and moved passed the day.

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  14. Sorry for the loss of your friend and your mishap. :(

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    Replies
    1. One thing about growing older is we learn to accept the bad with the good, just part of enjoying the good life.

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