Roof rack getting some use After heading back to Minnesota for a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration with the family it was time to go. I left bright and early the morning after thanksgiving heading to Iowa to break down camp at the KOA . I spent all day packing up the RV and getting the final details ready for take off in the morning.
I certainly did not need an alarm to wake up on that crisp Iowa morning. I made a quick breakfast and a pot of coffee before disconnecting the shore power. A final walk around checking tire pressure on all ten tires, putting one more "click" on the ratchet straps and I was ready to go. The weather was perfect, only in the 30s when I left and no wind (almost unheard of in Iowa), traffic was a little heavy from the Thanksgiving travelers but for once I wasn't in a hurry since I didn't have any timetables or deadlines. I set the cruise control at 65 mph and hung out in the right lane.
Only an hour into the trip I thought the journey was over before it started. The Betty took a violent jerk and made a gut wrenching grinding sound. I looked out the side mirror to see a huge billow of blue smoke following me down the highway. My immediate thought; I had just dropped the transmission. I pulled over while the RV continued to jerk and spew smoke down highway 29.....I hadn't even made it out of Iowa. I jumped out and looked under the rig fully expecting to see a puddle of transmission fluid, but to my surprise, nothing. That's when I noticed the empty spare tire rack hanging from the underbelly. I looked back down the highway expecting to see the tire bouncing through traffic. The only thing I saw was a 3 foot wide skid mark leading to the car hauler.
A weld on the spare tire mount had failed, dumping the tire out the back of the RV and lodging itself under the axle of the car hauler. Over the years of traveling and pulling trailers thousands of miles I learned to keep tools handy. I had my 3 ton jack easily accessible and a couple of jack stands. After an hour of fighting the U-Haul trailer and holiday traffic I had removed the tire and was ready to go. There was no apparent damage to the trailer but the spare tire was shredded. I didn't find out just how bad the damage was to the
trailer until I had arrived at my destination. The axel was bent causing one of the tires to wear down to the wires. I had only miles left before a blow out and a potential roll over. I'm glad I spent the extra $35 for
insurance on the trailer so I didn't have to eat the cost of a new axle.
Only an hour into the trip I thought the journey was over before it started. The Betty took a violent jerk and made a gut wrenching grinding sound. I looked out the side mirror to see a huge billow of blue smoke following me down the highway. My immediate thought; I had just dropped the transmission. I pulled over while the RV continued to jerk and spew smoke down highway 29.....I hadn't even made it out of Iowa. I jumped out and looked under the rig fully expecting to see a puddle of transmission fluid, but to my surprise, nothing. That's when I noticed the empty spare tire rack hanging from the underbelly. I looked back down the highway expecting to see the tire bouncing through traffic. The only thing I saw was a 3 foot wide skid mark leading to the car hauler.
A weld on the spare tire mount had failed, dumping the tire out the back of the RV and lodging itself under the axle of the car hauler. Over the years of traveling and pulling trailers thousands of miles I learned to keep tools handy. I had my 3 ton jack easily accessible and a couple of jack stands. After an hour of fighting the U-Haul trailer and holiday traffic I had removed the tire and was ready to go. There was no apparent damage to the trailer but the spare tire was shredded. I didn't find out just how bad the damage was to the
trailer until I had arrived at my destination. The axel was bent causing one of the tires to wear down to the wires. I had only miles left before a blow out and a potential roll over. I'm glad I spent the extra $35 for
insurance on the trailer so I didn't have to eat the cost of a new axle.
Breakfast at Mona's The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. The "no wind" anomaly stuck with me for the entire trip which helped to keep the gas mileage at an amazing 10 mpg! I pretty much drove straight through. I did make a couple stops and tried to sleep but was too anxious to get to the mountains. Arriving in Denver around 4:30 Sunday morning with a couple of gift cards to REI from my sister and parents burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to stop at the flagship store in downtown Denver. Maneuvering nearly 60 feet of RV and SUV proved to be less than easy but managed to find a spot right in front of the store, I just had to keep three meters fed for the morning.
I headed across the street to a little café called Mona's for an over portioned but delicious breakfast while I waited for the store to open. I spent a few hours browsing, picked up a couple items and was back on the road.
I headed across the street to a little café called Mona's for an over portioned but delicious breakfast while I waited for the store to open. I spent a few hours browsing, picked up a couple items and was back on the road.
After the hundreds of miles of flat farmland and nothingness, the mountains were a welcome sight. The Rockies waste no time rising from the mile high city, sending you into a climb almost immediately. The weather was once again on my side with dry roads the whole way to Breckenridge. It took about 2 hours from Denver to Breck. The Betty is no speed demon at this elevation, tipping the scales at over 10.5 tons, I spent the majority of the climb in the right lane with the flashers on.
I arrived at Tiger Run Resort in Breckenridge mid afternoon. Greeted by 6" of snow that had to be shoveled out of the lot. Even though I was wore out from the 800 mile trip, I would have been disappointed if there wasn't snow to shovel! With some help from the landlord we had the site cleared and I began to set up the camp site.
I arrived at Tiger Run Resort in Breckenridge mid afternoon. Greeted by 6" of snow that had to be shoveled out of the lot. Even though I was wore out from the 800 mile trip, I would have been disappointed if there wasn't snow to shovel! With some help from the landlord we had the site cleared and I began to set up the camp site.
A month ago I was living in a house. A week ago I had a career. Today I am living in an RV in the Rockies...
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