It was a week full of RV life challenges, and while I like to keep things positive, there are times when life makes you want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head.
It's only a dip in the road, and everything is figure-outable, so we are figuring it out.
Let'sLet's jump into this wweek'sgood, bad, and ugly RV life adventures.
The Good
We left the campground a day early to visit West Virginia and collect our 47th state! Long drives at the end of a workday are never my favorite, and we were both exhausted when we finally made it to the casino to lotdock for the night.
Sunrise at the Wheeling Island Casino
After a great (and quiet!) night of sleep, we unloaded the bike and rode off for a delicious breakfast and a tour of Wheeling, WV. The town was an interesting mix of old and new, with a fun downtown area and a cool suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River!
The Bad
Jody always checks the tires before travel day, so when he said he thought we might have picked up something in one of the trailer tires and would need to keep an eye on it, I should have taken that as a sign.
Over the years,I'vee become more comfortable (??) with the knowledge that traveling thousands of miles each year will result in breakdowns. Heck, last year alone should have validated that knowledge. But there is anticipation and there is reality.
"I've"don'tAbout 80 miles from the next campground I said "what's happening?" as the truck started to vibrate like a washing machine with a turbo-boosted spin cycle. We both looked in the side mirrors and saw all the smoke and immediateYou'reught the trailer tire had blown. That seemed off to me because I always knew when it happened before (6 on the first rig in just over a year!) but it never came with such a strong vibration before.
Jody immediately starts heading for the side of the road. That meant crossing several lanes and an on-ramp in a quick manner. I don't think the guy we cut off appreciated it but he saw the problem before we did.
As we got to the side of the road I noticed my seat getting hot. And hotter. And hotter still. The smoke was very thick and clearly not from a blown tire. I said, "crap, we are on fire!" and as the truck came to a complete stop I grabbed my purse, ipad, and phone and bailed out.
Jody is calmer in these situations so he quickly jumped into assessment mode. After which he hustled back up to turn off the still-running truck and grab his own phone. "Tailpipes are shooting flames," he says calmly.
Now, the rest of the story is more a source of roadside entertainment and appreciation of the police and first responders in the Calcutta, OH area. The first cop showed up within minutes. The second cop was about 2 minutes behind him. The third cop was slow to the party, arriving about 5 minutes later. After assessing the situation and finding the immediate danger had passed several phone calls were made by cop #1 as firetruck #1 arrived. Minutes later the tow truck driver arrived. Shortly after that, firetruck #2 arrived.
At this point, I'm thinking it must be a slow day in the Calcutta area. Also, shout out to the guy we cut off for calling 911!
I'll wrap this up with with gratitude, because the tow truck driver's friend had driven by and called to offer to tow our trailer to the campground and arrangements were quickly made to get that done.
Oh, and did I mention Jody was due to leave on a work trip on Monday? This was Saturday. And the truck was now sitting at the Dodge dearlership in Newell, WV waiting to be looked at on Monday. Brandon was kind enough to tow us all the way to the campground so I wouldn't be stranded in a parking lot for the week.
The Ugly
Jody headed off to Atlanta and spent his week juggling phone calls with the dealership. First the ugly news from the repair department: blown engine. Repair cost? $30,000. Value of truck in "decent" condidtion: $37,000. Knowing we had just bought a new RV and now needed to buy a new truck? Priceless. Just kidding, it was a bit overwhelming.
Now, the moral of the story is that this is a dip in the road and we will figure it out. I know this because becoming nomads and dealing with unforeseen "dips" has become more of a way of life. Things happen. We get frustrated and overwhelmed. And then we figure it out and move on.
And gives us even more campfire stories to share!
Fall Colors on the Kank in New Hampshire
Photo of the Week
Happy Fall! In all the craziness of the week I nearly missed that we had moved into the fall season officially. The leaves are in full transition here in Ohio. I'm sharing an image from a couple of years ago when we traveled through New Hampshire to see the White Mountains from the Kankamangus Highway. What a view! The reflection was just stunning in the water.
Wish us luck as we work on finding and buying a new truck in the next week! Always an adventure. 😂
Until next week,
We are considering restarting our YouTube channel to share more video footage of our adventures. Is that something you would be interested in?