Yesterday we left Walterboro, SC about 8:30 and headed out for Virginia Beach. Our GPS was telling us that we'd arrive there around 4:30. It was a gorgeous day...blue skies and light traffic. It was a pretty uneventful trip until we pulled off at the Virginia border...at the Welcome Center. I took Boomer for a walk when Linda yelled, "Come here right now". I came around the rig and she said, "All of the tread is gone off of the tire". Sure enough....it had and I never felt a thing in the handling of the rig while I was driving it. With this being a passenger side tire, no one would have seen anything going on with it either. Based on the light damage to the fender, around the tire, it appears that the tread probably came off like ribbon candy and slapped against the fiberglass.Our first call was to the company that sold us the tire hazard policy but being a Saturday they weren't open. Linda then called the guy that sold us the policy and he was very nice and said he'd e-mail us the form to complete for reimbursement of the cost of a new tire. We've printed that form and we'll call tomorrow and put in a claim and see how that whole thing pans out.
Next we called our Good Sam Emergency roadside service folks. Derrick took all of our info and said he'd dispatch someone. Within 45 minutes Chris showed up, from nearby Rocky Mount and in 15 minute he was all done. I had gotten the spare down out of the holder in the rear of the RV, checked the tire pressure so it would be ready for the repair person. We were back on the road in exactly an hour from when we placed the call. Good Sam came through again for us ! They have been terrific to deal with anytime we've had to call them. We are SO LUCKY that we didn't have a blow-out with that tire. I think it was hanging on by a steel belt. Who knows how many more miles we could have gone on it before it would have blown out and probably taken the wheel wheel and surrounding area with it. We breathed a big sigh of relief !
Got back on the road and made it to the campground 10 minutes before they closed. The young lady, in the office, rang us up and then proceeded to draw on the campground map where our site would be. Wow, talk about over the hill and through the woods ! I asked if there was anyone who could escort us to the site since it seemed a ways to get to it and not sure what the lighting would be like, if we could see all of the turns. The "security guard" (I use that term loosely) was sitting at a table nearby and got up and came over but didn't offer to take us to the site. So off we went....OK, we always like to get to a campground while it's still light so we can see what things look like. In this instance we would have made it if not for the tire mishap. Some warning signs to keep in mind that might make you decide to choose a different campground. If you see a large sign in the office that says: "No beer or pot parties allowed in the campground" you might want to reconsider. If there's a sign that says: "No refunds on camping fees" you might want to reconsider. If you have to drive THROUGH the RV storage lot to get to your campsite, you might want to reconsider. If you need to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way out, you might want to reconsider. Not that any of these are bad things...Just sayin'
The site they sent us to was in an area with no lighting and the light from the bonfire where all the people were gathered around (probably one of those beer or pot parties we were warned about) didn't throw a whole lot of light on the subject. I walked the site and blacktop approach. Now maybe it was just us, but we didn't have a good result in swinging out and hitting that landing strip. The rear tires of the truck were hanging off the blacktop and the ass end of the rig was in the mud. Rather than risk it settling over night and not being able to reposition it in the morning I told Linda to pull out and we'd wait for daylight to try it again. We went to the parking lot, up by the office, and parked there for the night (thank god for glow in the dark bread crumbs). It got mighty cold overnight here....it was 43 in the rig when we woke up. We didn't want to run the furnace so it wouldn't pull down the batteries and then we wouldn't be able to get the dining room slide in. Linda's nephew and brother-in-law do cold weather camping....my hats are off to them. No way !
This morning we talked to the office people and since there are no refunds, they told us to go to the 50 amp area and we should have better luck with a site there. It was much better....probably will be pulling out through mud to get out (as the prior person did) but we'll get out of here. At least we will be warm...
Our Verizon air card reset last night at midnight so we can get on-line again. Linda called yesterday while we were driving and the over usage of time wasn't due to any downloads, etc. ...just time being logged on. Guess that it what happens when we're unemployed for 7 weeks....haha....time to get back to work and off the computer. We'll need to work to pay for the extra time we racked up for this next bill. Ouch !
Linda's a new grammie. Ila Grace was born around 9:30 p.m. on Friday. She is adorable and mom and baby should come home from the hospital today. We'll post some pictures soon.
It's a new day....sun is shining. We're alive and well and hope you all are doing the same. We'll be here for five more nights before we leave next Friday for work in New Jersey.
