The last 24 hours have been the worst since we started traveling 10 years ago. It started about 7 last night when Ellen announced that she was bleeding out her ass. The next 3 or 4 hours were spent in the emergency room. The verdict is that they don't know what's wrong with her, but she's in no immediate danger. She does need to get a colonoscopy ASAP. So they sent us home with the name of a local gastroenterologist and instructions to call her doctor in the morning.
She called her doctor about 8 this morning. The doctor said come home immediately and see her on Friday. That meant a late start to a 443 mile trip. To add insult to injury the place in San Angelo insisted on charging us for one night because we cancelled our reservation.
We got on the road a little after 9. Most of the first 2/3 of the trip was boring. However, at the first gas station I noticed that the sewer hose was hanging out of one of the storage tubes. Both of the tube ends were broken off. I have no idea how.
I put the hose in the basement and we continued. We were going through flat Texas. The only thing of interest were the hundreds of windmills around and south of Lubbock. My tax dollars at play.
It looked like we'd get in a a semi-reasonable time. Then about 70 miles out of Fredericksburg one of the tires blew. It took out the whole side of the trailer. It also chewed up a cable support and the trailer bottom above the wheels.
We were incredibly lucky about where it happened. First, the tire didn't lose air. That meant the other tire on that side wasn't killed by having to hold double weight. Second, that part of Texas is deserted. The road is narrow. I pulled off the side of the road when I saw the damage. I took off the damaged skirt and ducktaped the cable up (I couldn't believe I didn't have any cable ties). I drove about a quarter mile up the road and there was a large parking area with some sort of small bar that was open. It was the only sign of civilization for 20 or 30 miles in either direction.
Our luck continued. The proprietor came out and offered to help. I thanked him and said I had it under control. I put the trailer up on blocks and got out the spare. That's when I found out that the spare only had l48 PSI in it. Luckily the bar had an outside plug that I used to pump up the tire. I don't know how long it would have taken with that little 12V pump.
We got back on the road and made it to Fredericksburg without further mishap. We got there about 7 or 8 minutes after they closed. Fortunately they left instructions. I unhooked the truck - of course the release stuck and I had to pound it open. I didn't want to open the damaged slide, so we went to Walmart for cable ties.
When we got back I used the cable ties to repair the power cable hanger as well as I could. It actually looks like it will work pretty well. Ellen went and did the wash while I finished up hooking up the trailer and feeding the animals.
There's one last gotcha. When I opened the off door slide I pinched Ellen's computer case and the file case. The file case was destroyed. I don't know about her computer yet.
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