We woke up this morning with a view of the Rogue River. It was so peaceful and beautiful.....that we didn't really want to leave. We enjoyed our morning at the park. I tossed out the idea of detouring to see Mom G before we headed to Eugene. The more we thought about it - we were only TWO HOURS from Mom G - and the OR kids were all busy today. We decided to drive down to Crescent City, CA to visit Mom G - then head back to Eugene. We called Mom G to be sure she was at home....
....and by 11:30 a.m we were on the road. We had two hours to drive over Hwy 199 and envisioned a late lunch, afternoon visiting, grilling around the fire this evening.....it was not to be.
I had just told Michael I heard a flapping noise...when BANG.... (this is the Boo).
Several things happened at once, the van began to swerve, the trailer began to swerve, the road was twisting, Yuuki dove under Michael's feet, Michael threw Yuuki my way, my life passed before my eyes and Michael found a spot to pull over! I posted the above photo on Facebook and friends began to pray. I was especially heartened by the women in the RoadSchoolMomsBible study who knew exactly what this means for a full time family on the road.....as all prayed.....we began the chore of securing the area, calming the dog (below), disconnecting the trailer, raising the van, lowering the spare tire.....
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Yuuki does not approve of these sorts of shenanigans |
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The reflector was my job |
While we were in the midst of this someone stopped - a man in white from Les Schwab! All those FB friends prayed in a Good Samaritan. He said he "happened" to have a tire to fix in Selma (a small town indeed) and was on the way back to the shop in Grants Pass.
Yes, we check our tires OFTEN, every time we get gas. This is a 50k mile warranty tire - purchased nine months ago! It, and all the other tires, looked fine this a.m. We are not overweight. We balance the weight. We'll be stopping at a scale the next time we see one to triple check.
Lots of damage to the van
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Stace from the South Grants Pass shop is a hero! |
We turned around (not an easy feat on Hwy 199 towing a trailer) and headed back to Grants Pass. Would you believe the tire was RECALLED and no one notified us???? They gave us another free tire and checked all our other tires. They all look fine and are not on the recall list. They also told us to get two estimates to repair the damaged van. We'll send the estimates, with the damaged tire, to the tire manufacturer who will hopefully pay for the damage. The first estimate came in at $1800+.
While they rushed the van through the shop, we walked to a Safeway and grabbed some deli food for an impromptu picnic in Grants Pass - not the Redwoods - but it was fine.
We got back on the road and pulled into our site at 6:30 p.m. That is how a 2 hour detour to see Mom G ended up taking us seven hours - and we've still not seen her. It was 8 p.m. by the time we were set up and had dinner. Note: Veggie Pot Pie was a great travel day dinner. Grilled Burgers not so much - you never know how late you'll arrive. We are going to spend a couple of nights here. We need to get another estimate, have fun, hug some Redwood trees and relax.
Stacia was a bit clueless, about 30 miles from the Redwoods she said, "Wait! We WERE in OREGON! Are we back in CALIFORNIA? Are we EVER going to get out of California?" ::snort::
Lessons learned - listen and check out any odd noises IMMEDIATELY, do NOT pick up a steel belted tire when it blows - OUCH.
BOO - well - the tire blew and we were on the road a long time
YAY - no one was hurt, the van didn't roll, there were no semis coming at us, no one tail ended us when we began slowing and swerving, there was a spot to pull over, a Les Schwab man happened by, we got a "free" replacement tire, there was a grocery store within walking distance, Les Schwab moved us to the front of their repair line, we didn't have to spend a night in Grants Pass, we were able to get into a spot for 3 nights without a reservation in the Redwoods, and can get another estimate here before heading back up the road to deliver all the paperwork on our way to Eugene.
YAY - we are so thankful we were on HWY 199 (with a turn out) when this happened. If we'd gone to Eugene, as planned, we'd probably have been coming down Sexton pass when it blew. If it had blown later on Hwy 199 it could have been much more dangerous.
BOO - no Verizon cell here (my phone and our data plan); YAY - the extender is picking up camp wifi and we can check email and FB when at the trailer.
Here are a few raw clips of the road today.....