WATCH WHAT YOU SAY!

WELL, the last words of my previous blog said “we never know what a day will bring”…

TRUER words have never been spoken!

We left Bardstown, Kentucky and continued our trek across the country.  We had three places to go just for stop overs on the way to MOAB, UTAH, which was next real destination!!

The first place was COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – we had been there before at a campground called Cottonwoods RV Park – a really pretty stopover for the night.

The next day brought a six-hour drive to Hays, Kansas – the drive started out very uneventful and I even took a turn driving for a while – if you’ve been through Kansas, you know that much of it is long, straight highways with lots of “nothing” on either side (a great place for me to take drive)!

After two hours of driving, we pulled off at a rest area to change drivers so Leonard could take us on in to the next campground.  As we pulled off, there were no big parking spaces for our two trucks and trailers!  So, we pulled off onto a gravel area next to the exit ramp and changed drivers.  After a few minutes we headed right back on to the highway.

It was only a FEW minutes until we heard an awful sound that made us think we ran over something in the road, although Leonard said he had seen nothing to run over!  Right after the terrible sound, his tire pressure monitoring system showed the right front tire getting low – and VERY quickly!  He pulled off the highway (by the way, the speed limit on this highway was 75!) and as soon as I got out of the truck, I heard a LOUD hissing sound coming from the tire!

Bob and Bobbi had pulled their trailer over also and they were right behind us…we all realized that the tire had to be changed, and the truck had to be jacked up soon before the tire was too flat to remove!

(I’d like to interject here that it was on the side of the highway where cars and trucks were going 75 miles per hour with us right on the side of the highway!  AND it was 108 DEGREES!!!).

Bob and Leonard got to work!  I even helped by reading the manual to help them get the spare tire down from under the truck!

Even with this unforeseen and scary event, I have to say how GOOD God is!  It was the front RIGHT tire, so it wasn’t the side of the truck that was right on the highway!  AND…after a little while, a state trooper pulled up right behind us and protected us on the side of the highway – what a wonderful and kind man he was and he stayed until we pulled away!

We realized that we couldn’t keep driving on the spare tire, and we were a little unsure what we could do because it was late on a Saturday and most of the tire shops were going to be closed by the time we got to the campground, as well as on Sunday.

After googling tire shops in Hays, Kansas (you’d be surprised how MANY there are – haha ) we realized that most wouldn’t not open again until Monday morning…

Once again God was looking out for us and we found ONE shop that was open until 10 pm on a Saturday!  After arriving at the campground and getting all set up, Leonard and Bob headed off to the tire shop.  They were able to fill and patch the very clear puncture in the tire, put it on and  put the spare tire back under the truck – for FIFTY dollars!   AMAZING!

We had a relaxing, but HOT day in Hays, Kansas on Sunday – doing laundry, going to Wal mart to stock groceries, and having a GREAT lunch at a nice restaurant.

Monday morning brought a new day, a new tire and new adventures! Next stop…Denver Colorado for another one-night stay –  at a campground called GOPHER GULCH! It was a great campground and we were all so thankful that the truck is okay!

Well…that’s enough excitement for this post – I probably won’t be ending it with the words “you never know what a day will bring” – haha

Moab, Utah is our next stop for three days!  We LOVE Moab – this year we will be doing some hiking, sightseeing, e-bike riding, and going back to the BEST donut shop EVER!!!  Pictures to come!

Thanks for coming along – not only for the good things but for the unexpected  “not so good” things, that really turn out to be okay!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…