The Trip (home) From Hell

[CaptainObvious]

Our group left Saturday evening right after the awards ceremony. We weren’t on the road 4 hours when we lost not one, but TWO tires on I-44. We weren’t able to move the RV, so we were stuck on the side of I-44 from 1:00am Sunday until we were able to get a spare in place on Noon Sunday. Red and Nikki stopped by to help at about 10am, but there wasn’t anything they could do to help. BTW, if you ever need frozen lug nuts removed…Red’s your guy!

With one tire in place on the dual axle, we were able to crawl our way to a Walmart about 20 miles away – a one hour trip! When we got there they told us that they didn’t have the correct axle jack, so we had to proceed to the next Walmart - another six miles on the one tire.

The missing tire was replaced and we were on our way at about 5:00 pm Sunday evening. Five hours later we had another massive blow-out…yep..same side. This time we were able to crawl our way to a tire dealer. The shop opened at 9am Monday morning and it was clear that we were first in line (we parked in front of the doors!). Steve (MrMxer327) made a decision to purchase the largest possible tires that he could squeeze on to the RV – so he had to buy FOUR new tires! By noon we were back on the road. I rolled into my drive way this morning (Tuesday) at 4:00AM. In all, a 54 hour trip home.

It’s not all as bad as it sounds…if you need to be suck with people for 54 hours…Steve and Pat are great to be around.

 

[Patman]

WOW! Any idea what caused the tires to go?

 

[gnarlykaw]

I think we saw you on 44 but going 75 miles an hour with a 5th wheel and moto trailer in back of that, there was no way of stopping real fast. Plus there was a convoy of army trucks so we couldn't really pull over. My apologies. Sorry about your misfortune. Glad you finally got home safely.

 

[squeaky]

Damn Gary...you and your tire problems! We got on the road around 8:15 Sunday morning and within 15 minutes or so Roosters cell phone's ringing..it's Nikki and she's looking for Gary's phone number...she thinks that it's you pulled off the side of the road, so she tells us she's going to turn around and check out the situation anyway. That's true DRN Spirit right there! Unfortunately you guys were too far and out of the way from where we were going or we would've stopped! Glad you all made it out of there ok!

 

[Treejumper]

What the heck is Steve doing to those tires??? He just replaced all four rear tires on the way to DW 02'. I do believe the Damn Yankees have had more flat tires in the past 4 DW's than all of the other DW attendees combined.

 

[Jeff Gilbert]

I passed a couple of trucks on the side of the road on IH35 by the "scenic turnout" that I thought was some DRNers but I was almost a half mile down the road before I got to stop. Tigger & I started walking back toward the guys standing on the side of the road in their moto jerseys and they started walking toward us. Turns out they weren't one of ours, they were locals on their way to ride Red River and had run out of gas. I told them where we had been and why we stopped, they were amazed. I wouldn't doubt it if we have a few more newbies show up next year.

 

[WaltCMoto]

Sorry to hear about the problems. tire problems stink when your in town and close to home, much less on a highway far from home.

 

[Pokie]

.... hey our return was just dandy..... United Air flight left and arrived early.... yet my Jeep and trailer showed up only 3 hours after arrival at Crispy and Jim's home... who did the 14 uneventful hours of driving... then an easy 2-hour drive next morning to our home in lovely Galena www.galena.org .... that's the way to fly; thanks to a fine daughter and son-in-law.... (will they do it again next year?)

 

[motometal]

our 10 hour drive back was pretty lame and uneventful in comparison. I had a hard time pulling my share of the driving duties...hung over and very tired! Seven 4-5 hour nights of sleep finally caught up to me, I guess.

Did anyone else notice way more cops than normal this year??

 

[XR3J]

Motometal
I didn't notice any more cops than normal, but it seemed like there was a slug more R.V.'s going down the road. People headed south already?
Jerry

 

[squeaky]

Rooster and I noticed way more cops than usual too...especially in Kansas, wonder what the deal is...

 

[CaptainObvious]

Funny, we were stuck on the side of the highway for almost 12 hours and not once did an officer of the law stop to see if we needed any help.

 

[CAL]

Did anyone else notice way more cops than normal this year??

Yep! We got to meet a very nice officer in Yale on Hwy 51 on our way in to Stillwater... ;)

 

[MrMXer327]

Ahh Gary holeshot me... This is the first chance I've had to log on and the first thing that caught my eye was this thread. Yes Tj, those were the New tires I put on during DW02.... and the one of the New tires I put on during DW03. I've done a ton of research on tires and Michelin has the best rated tire for this application. I went up to the largest and highest load rated tire I could fit in there. A 235/85-16 which boost the load caring capacity by 1200 lbs over the 225/75-16. My tires were always pretty warm to the touch when we stopped for gas, but with the 235's on, they were as cool as a cucumber. I sure hope this puts the tire problems behind me. Anyone out there having problems with tires on an RV should consider going up to the 235's. Not everyone will agree to mount them on, I know Walmart refused to at our first stop. It did throw the speedometer off by 10%, so 60 seen is actually 66.
BTW - It was awesome having Conner and Gary traveling with us... but I bet they have second thoughts next year knowing our Tire history :)

 

[TwistNShout]

Well, at least you all made it home safe!

 

[CaptainObvious]

BTW - It was awesome having Conner and Gary traveling with us... but I bet they have second thoughts next year knowing our Tire history :)

I have faith in the 235's :worship: Looking forward to more travel with Team Eagle.