10 hours ago, C. sapidus said:In the spirit of travel, here was our latest adventure. Blew a rear tire on the van, which immediately fell down onto the rim. Mrs. C was driving and did a great job of bringing the van to a controlled stop. The tire explosion blew off the rear quarter panel, and we saw pieces of tire fly out the front of the van at 70 mph. 🤯
After 4 hours on the shoulder of I-65 we were back on our way. Had both rear tires replaced today, and the spare is back in place for the trip home.
Van projects when we get home:
1. Get a 10-ton cylinder jack and attach it securely.
2. Practice tire changes in the driveway.
We had a similar experience in North Dakota. I was driving the speed limit (65mph) on US 85, heading toward Theodore Roosevelt National Park, when a right rear tire blew. We were driving a Pleasure-Way van and everything rattled violently. I was able to pull over on the modest shoulder in the absolute middle of nowhere--no buildings in sight in all directions and very little traffic. There were chunks of shredded tire for a quarter mile behind us. (We kept a piece as a souvenir.) Of course there was an (inadequate) bottle jack but I told my husband that under no circumstances was he allowed to try to change the tire. We were headed toward an RV park so we called the manager who recommended a tire shop. A nice young man named Derek came out with his rig, changed the tire, and followed us into town. Four tires later we were back on the road the following morning.
Lesson learned: Tires "age out" before they wear out. Our tires had plenty of tread but were in some cases over 10 years old. Our van get taken out of storage every summer for a couple of months but the rest of the year it's in an open lot with a couple hundred other rigs. Granted the tires are covered and protected from the sun, but Colorado's a dry place and it takes a toll on tires. I'm not sure that covered storage would solve the problem. This was an expensive lesson, but at least we're assured that our tires are good for another 10 years. Not sure if we are (good for another 10 years, that is). But we'll keep using the van as long as possible because we love driving our little house around the country.
One thing we discovered on this trip was the availability of city and county parks. Many of them have electric hookups and are much more reasonably priced than traditional RV parks. When all you need is an overnight with (or without) electricity, these are wonderful options. We found one that was the equivalent of a high-end RV park, and one where the host had planted a vegetable garden for everyone to use. Great tomatoes!
