Kerrville, TX (Finally)

Uh oh?

 What was going to be a long day on the road turned out to be a REAL long day on the road. We got off to an easy early start and everything was going very smoothly. We even got right in to the truck stop for fuel without a wait. The trouble came midway between Ozona, TX and Sonora, TX. Go ahead, look it up on the map. There is nothing there except cell service, thank God.

Barbara was driving when the front left tire blew. We have heard horror stories of the problems that can happen when this occurs, and we thought ahead and installed a steering stabilizer (Safe-T-Plus) right after buying the coach to help in this situation. Barbara handled it with a professional calm, kept the bus pointed straight ahead, slowed gently and pulled to the shoulder. Fantastic job, Barbara!

Yeah, there was a little body damage, too.

We called our roadside service contractor who, in turn, arranged for someone to bring a tire and get it mounted. While waiting for the guy to show up I kept thinking that the price quoted for the tire was way too low, and about the time I called back to confirm that they knew to bring the correct tire the truck shows up. I was expecting one of those big semi truck wreckers, but got a pickup. Sure enough he had the correct size tire, but it was a used tire. A WELL used tire. I did not like the looks of the thing and we discussed and cussed a bit. It obviously had been sitting outside and had water stains inside. The sun is low on the horizon and this is Saturday night of Easter weekend. The nearest tire would be at least two hours away. Towing the coach would have the potential of more damage and would be hours waiting alongside the interstate waiting for the truck, let alone the actual tow. Where would he take us?

Well we decided to take the used tire and limp to Kerrville, TX one hundred and thirty miles further down the road. It was our intended stop and we had a tire dealer recommended there that would help us Monday morning. We carefully drove at a lower speed while monitoring the pressure on the suspect tire. I found that the motor home is pretty good at night. We avoid night driving like the plague. At eleven PM we arrived at the Kerrville campground where we had reserved space. We found it to be a very nice, clean, large campground that earns the name “resort”. Not all do.

We got in our space and set up as quietly as we could, then broke out the wine and had chicken tacos for a late supper. It looks like we will be here at least one extra night, but it looks as though it will be a very pleasant place to while away the time.