So where are we now, day 2? The days had started to melt
together at this point. What with the drive down and the weekend in Florida and
heading back and the bunk issues and delays and….. You get the picture. So we
got up the next morning in Dalton, New Year’s Eve, and checked the bunk first
thing. Sure enough, we had to tighten it up. Our next stop is Bloomington
Illinois. 584 miles, should be 12 hours. Going to stay at a nicer hotel tonight
as I figured we would be deserving after this trip. The Fairfield Inn Marriott.
This leg would take us in to Tennessee, past Clarksville
where we stayed on the way down and through Kentucky to Illinois. All
interstate this time as I had mapped our gas stops out online and budgeted 10
miles to the gallon with my Explorer. When we did this getting the O’Day, we
averaged 9 so I figured it was a good safety margin.
We got on the road I think by 7:30am after tightening things
up again. There was a thought in my mind on this return leg from the drive down.
When you go through Chattanooga and in to Georgia, there is a nice little “Hill”
you go down to get there. It is a bit of a windy 6% grade with runaway truck
exits and the like. I was thinking as we went through there, “How the hell am I
going to get the boat back up this??” Well as it would be, we actually went
down a 5% grade on the way back with no real hill climbing. I wasn’t convinced
we were clear of all that until we got to Nashville. Liked that drive so far.
Nashville looks like an interesting town and besides the Grand Ole Opry, the do
have a pretty good NHL team. Better than ours at the moment and we live and
breathe hockey in MN. Anyway….. getting off track…
We got in to Kentucky just fine and the boat was doing what
it was supposed to back there. The land was an uninspiring flat prairie so we
were just motoring along… Then it happened… I started to her a rattling and I
looked in the side mirror and sure enough, we blew the right side trailer tire.
We were about 40-50 miles southish from Paducah. So we pulled over at an exit
and I called 911 as we were kind of on our own out there. I had a jack and tire
cross and spare but…. Was not too sure my jack was capable. Anyway, the 911
operator pinged my cell phone as I did not know what mile marker we were at or
the exit number as we had stopped just after passing it. She said I was about a
mile outside her county so she transferred me to Kentucky State Police and she
dispatched someone out to me.
In the mean time I called Boat US as I have unlimited towing
assistance with my membership. She took down all my information and I walked
back to the exit sign and l let her know where we were. The state trooper
showed up and we talked and I explained everything. He was a very nice guy and
when we were talking about getting a spare he said “Well, it is New Year’s Eve.
Most places will be shutting down soon and you are in the middle of Mayberry.”
That made me laugh and he said it….. though I may have been thinking it. So
Boat US called back and said it would be an hour and a half. Stu and I started
to realize at that point we may be staying a night in Paducah. Oh hells….. So
the trooper went to his car and called the Highway Helper he knew was on the
road. He came back and said he could be here in a half hour. SOLD! So I
cancelled the Boat US person and the trooper went on his way and the Highway
Helper guy showed up about 20 minutes later.
He changed the tire for me. I signed a piece of paper saying
he helped us. He gave me a card to an RV center up the road by Paducah and I
gave the guy a call. They apparently have a gentlemen’s agreement on handing
out the card. So it took 3 attempts but I got a hold of him. He said he was
sick and so was his partner but seeing as I was in a bind, he and his son would
meet me there in about 45 minutes. We drover there and there he was. A nice
older guy that when I told him what I needed as far as a trailer tire and rim,
he had his son pull one off of a camper he had for sale. I was very
appreciative of this act and the fact that he came out even though he was sick.
We took care of business and Stu and I were finally back on our way. 2 hours or
so later.
We finally got in to Illinois and I started to feel somewhat
better. We were back in the Midwest. We both started to just feel that all we
wanted to do was get the hell home. As the sun began to set we came upon a fire
truck in the left lane and everyone was slowing. I noticed someone in a yellow
vest standing in the middle of the median and something that looked like
bundles too. As we passed the fire truck I had a realization as the little Honda CRV
or Jeep Liberty that had been in an accident was on it’s roof…. And the bundles
were the white tarps over the former occupants. A sickening feeling came over
me and Stu. Their families are going to have to deal with the loss and grief.
Something I never want to see ever again. People, wear your seat belts no
matter what. These two paid the ultimate price for not.
Night fell and the bunk seemed to have started to behave
itself. I think it was around Champaign IL when I saw the flashing blue lights
behind me. I thought, “What me? Why am I being pulled over?” So we pulled over
thereby breaking one of my Cardinal Rules, No Cops No Hospitals. At least it
wasn’t the hospital one. So the nice Illinois trooper informed me that only my
blinkers were working on the trailer. So I pulled up the road a bit to an off
ramp and we talked and I pushed the cord back in to the receptacle on my truck
and wha-hoo, they worked! So he took my license and gave me a warning ticket. I am thinking of framing it. I
told him to stay safe and hopefully he isn’t too busy the New Year’s Eve
working and off we went.
About a half hour later a semi passed me and flashed his
lights. I figured things had gotten loose again so I pulled in to a rest stop
to check. Sure enough. Only this time, I couldn’t get them to work again no
matter what. So I decided to drive with the flashers on….. Yeah awesome but I
didn’t have much choice. So we drove the rest of the way to the hotel with the
flashers on and no other incident.
We got to the hotel about 9:30pm, 15 hours later. As I was
pulling in to the back of the parking lot I heard a loud thump and bang. I had
cut the turn too tight and ran over the curbing. Thankfully nothing was worse
the wear. We got in to our nicely appointed room, especially seeing we had been
staying at Red Roof and Super 8’s, and basically went right to bed. What a New
Year’s Eve eh? I decided to get up around 7am the next morning as I was very
tired and a bit frazzled with that drive all things considered. Plus, we would
be HOME the next day!
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