Day 66-August 10, 2013-AND YET ANOTHER TIRE (#4) BITES THE DUST!
Hot, 92.
Drove 220 miles in 7-1/4 hours, most of it on I-40 East fixing another tire.
Plan A-Drive to Brinkley, AR for the night. Not too many campgrounds around here so we have to make sure there’s one near where we want to stop.
Plan B-Drive to West Memphis, AR for the night. There’s another campground there and it’s 65 miles further east.
Plan C-ANOTHER TIRE BURSTS!!!!!
Yes, you are reading it right-tire #4 has bit the dust. We hadn’t gone more than 175 miles when we heard another “POP”! This one didn’t shred, it looked more like it exploded. This was not one of the tires we bought at home but one we bought in Wyoming. Called Good Sam Roadside Assistance. After 90 minutes he said he found someone who could be there in 90 minutes. By now Harry’s changed it. The truckers on I-40 in Arkansas are nuts-they didn’t even move over and every time one went by it shook the RV. The police were no help either, they said they were an hour away. Funny that we saw one up the road a bit later with somebody pulled over. I called around looking for a place to get a spare (seeing that we now are using ours) and, of course, it’s Saturday and everybody’s closed. One man, Zean from Carlisle Auto Repair said he was over an hour away and just as we were about to pull out and get on our way he showed up, led up to his shop about 5 miles away, opened it for us and got us a spare tire. Nice man, but he liked to talk, talk, talk and we just wanted to be on our way. Found out he had the Good Sam contract until last year when he wanted a hike (after 10 years) and they told him no way. But they called him right after I called for assistance, he told them it would take him 20 minutes to get to us but he wanted too much money. I can’t wait to find a number for a supervisor at Good Sam. He came because he knew he was the only one around and they would leave us hanging. Of course we have to bring all these tires back to get reimbursed (and the insurance company wants them so they can go after the tire company) so we’re lugging two on the rack behind the RV and two are in the kitchen.
After three hours we were finally back on the road and we reverted to Plan A to stop for the night. The campground is behind the Motel 6 right off the highway. Not much to it, although we can use everything the motel has to offer. All we want is a nice cold drink and a shower. Didn’t unhook again tonight, we really can’t wait to get home. Then had dinner and read, relaxed and zoned out. We’re both exhausted.