It was a gorgeous day.
We headed out early with frightening expectations! The anticipated climbs never happened! All the steep grades were downhill.....YEAH! Paul shifted into 2nd gear on those steep down hills and took it slow and easy. No problem......YET. (That should keep your interested).
Glad we didn't have to use this.
We did make a short climb to the Eisenhower/Johnson Memorial Tunnel – elevation 11,158, highest point along the interstate highway system in the USA. Again, for us it was a mostly a downhill experience.
Downhill again.
So, if you plan on driving I-70 across Colorado travel from the East to West. I don't think I want to go the opposite direction......ALL BIG CLIMBS!
A little highway humor.
Once we reached Vail, CO, we were out of the worst of the mountains and were cruising right along. Bella just loved the ride through the White River National Forest. She really stretched her neck looking at the canyon walls. Neat!
We crossed into Utah via I-70 having less than 90 miles to reach our destination (Moab, UT) suddenly Paul says....”Oh no....we got a problem!” A FLAT TIRE on the 5trh wheel. He quickly pulled over and hesitantly walked back to inspect the damage. The tire was destroyed and some of the tread was wrapped around the axle. Paul was disappointed that our Pressure Pro Tire Monitor did not give us any warning of the blowout. The only indication of a flat was seeing the rubber flying all over the highway.
The only other damage was a broken ground wire and a missing docking light lens. Man, it could have been a HECK of a lot worse!
We called our Coach Net roadside assistance, and they dispatched a truck that arrived 90 minutes later as promised. The repair guy, Sheldon, was wonderful and had us on the road in no time. Luckily, we had a spare tire under the 5th wheel.
So our time in Moab will have to be shared with shopping for a new tire and fixing those few items in the wheel well. All-in-all it was a scary experience, but we came through in pretty good shape. We know the good Lord was looking over us!
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!
Glad there wasn't more damage. My blowout last year cost me $2,500.00. Continued safe travels.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the tire. You said your Pressure Pro didn't warn you, but I hope it was beeping like crazy as soon as the blowout happened. Glad you only had minimal damage.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Moab!
Did the pressure pro go off when it blew? Ours has warned us several times of low tire pressure.If the blew without first running low pressure pro would not alarm, they only tell you of lose of air.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! Sure glad it wasn't any worse! Those canyon walls do go up, don't they? Love your new header photo.
ReplyDeleteI stress also when I know we have heavy mountains ahead of us. It's definitely a reason I get little sleep the night before too. Eek! We've had a flat on the motorhome and that's not fun either. Glad you came through it without a lot of damage. At least you're there and now you get to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteOn April 16th and August 24th our Pressure Pro Tire Monitor did not warn us that we'd had a blowout. We can't figure out why because a tire normally loses air before blowing. Still waiting to get repairs done for the last one but have replaced all the original tires to made in the U.S.A. Good Year tires. We didn't know that the trailer came with Chinese made tires (Tow/Max). Be Safe and Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteIt's about time.
Oh my. So happy to hear that you came through this experience relatively unscathed. This is a worry for us all but I sure like having Coach Net to call. You need some time to kick back for a few days after this intense drive.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is one stripped tire. Glad to hear that it wasn't a worse experience!
ReplyDeleteOh you are so right..it could have been so much worse!! Just thankful you all are ok and the rig didn't suffer any major damage. You all don't have any idea what caused it? Scary!!
ReplyDeleteSafe travels!!
You guys and Bella are okay and that is the most important thing. Thank goodness the Lord does watch over us. We had our blow out on 60 in the middle of Phoenix. And the other one in North Dakota. We were also blessed to not have much damage. But now you are in Moab so get out there and hike off some of that stress.
ReplyDeleteI have heard many people having problems with the tire monitoring systems, too bad about you issues but luckily not too much damage.
ReplyDeleteMaybe time to replace all your trailer tires.
Those elevations and that tunnel would surely have caused us to lose some sleep. Glad you made it. I think I like going down worse than going up.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your blow out wasn't worse. It surely could have been. When we are traveling, I try to watch the temperature of all the tires, hoping it might indicate a problem before a blowout. We have a TST system. I sure hope we would get a little big of warning in the event of a blow out.
Safe travels.
All too familiar! Except you caught it in time. On January 1st 2012 when the back tire did exactly that, the front tire took all the weight, and blew off, lug nuts and all. We had no tires at all and the rig was about to fall over.
ReplyDeleteThat highway is very much like our Coquahalla Highway. But we have done that so many times, we don't worry any more. We fear only the unknown and that happens pretty regularly.
Glad you and your rig are alright.
Too much to say
ReplyDelete1. doesn't encourage us to buy tire sensors.
2. when in Moab, check out the little town of Overton. Lots of boondocking.
Very Thankful that you are safe and relatively little damage to you home on wheels. Bella needs to write a blog about her impressions of the trip.
ReplyDeleteOh, no! I hope that wasn't one of our monitors that failed to give warning. They worked for us, honest!
ReplyDeletewell goodness. . .never a fun experience. . .glad you had good Roadside Service. . .we think it's worth every penny.
ReplyDeleteYou sure got some great pics before your little drama. . .
Oh dear! I am so sorry your Pressure Pro didn't do its job, I wonder why the failure. Enjoy Utah. I hope you have weather conducive to hiking.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, you're all o.k. Boy, that tire just disintegrated.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're okay and the damage to the RV was minimal...still scary though. I'm sure the list of things you were grateful for grew and grew as you waited for Coach Net and thought of what could have been. Weren't you traveling east to west and recommend that direction? When we left Moab heading east into Colorado, the hill climbs were killer traveling at just 20-25 mph. Probably should have unhooked the car and driven separately. Imagine our excitement when we got to pass ONE 18 wheeler! All the others left us in the dust. :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like familiar territory! So sorry to hear about the blow out. How fast were you going? You're right that it could have been much worse. Praise God!
ReplyDeleteTerry lives in fear of steep grades and tire issues. We are so glad to hear that the damage was minimal and that you two are safe. I love your header photo!
ReplyDelete