Silver Linings

I left the KOA Campground after a long discussion about MotorSilk with the owner. It was rainy and as I found out once hitting the Interstate, a bit windy. Remember when I said before that wind is the enemy of RV’s. Well Mother Nature showed me that she can mix it up even worse with downpours mixed with high winds. In this case I was heading straight into the wind blowing the rain so hard into my windshield the bugs quickly disappeared. A Silver Lining.

I kept cruising east and eventually got used to the pounding. By that I mean I quit squeezing the steering wheel so hard I left my fingerprints. I made my way out of Oklahoma and into Arkansas. Filled up with diesel at my favorite chain of truck stops, Love’s, and pushed my way through the wind and rain, making fairly good time to Little Rock, Arkansas.

50 miles out of Little Rock, driving along in less rain and feeling good about the time I was making, I suddenly heard a loud BANG and after a moment of what the heck, I realized my front driver’s side tire had blown out. When I started this trip I had always wondered in the back of my mind about the potential of having a blowout sometime and would the RV suddenly lose control and I would make the National News. As it turns out, the steering stayed perfectly straight and I braked slowly and limped to the side of the road.

Of course this was a section with a guard rail that I barely fit between the rail and the right lane of the interstate. I sat there a minute and gathered my thoughts, grateful I hadn’t made the National News. I was smart enough to get AAA with RV coverage, so I went to call them only to think, huh, where am I? There were no markers, no close exits, nothing to tell me my exact location. I was guessing that saying I was somewhere between Little Rock and Tennessee wasn’t going to be enough.

I looked at a map and thought I had narrowed it down a bit and made the call. AAA is great and they said they would get someone there, but it may take an hour. Oh well, an advantage to living in the RV is all your stuff is there, so I thought, Email Time… Remarkably I received a call from the service people and they said they would be there in 20 minutes. They called again in about 30 minutes saying they couldn’t find me where I said I was.

It suddenly dawned on me I have a GPS unit so I turned it on and after zooming out to the 80 mile view, I realized I told them I was about 30 miles east of where I really was. Oops! About an hour later, the guys show up.

In the mean time I turn on the radio and my CB comes on also and I start listening to all the truckers talking about the RV, the MotorSilk RV on the side of the road. Sympathizing for me because of the driver’s side blowout and being so close to the right lane. Free advertising! I heard speculation that I was with a race team, but they were talking about MotorSilk. The AAA guys showed up. Two older guys who were great.

As they were working I walked a ways behind the RV and signaled the oncoming traffic to move left in my safety vest I bought for the trip and my son thought was stupid. Ha ha..

Anyhow, after a three hour delay, I was back on the road headed for Tennessee. All in all, a good day. I know now the RV won’t crash violently with a blown tire and even delays can be good for business. Always look for the Silver Linings!