Murphy’s Law Strikes Again
In my last entry, I left off with us waiting on the shoulder on Interstate 10 just a few hundred feet from one of the exits to Blythe, with a flat tire. Murphy’s Law wasn’t finished with us yet. It turned out, somehow, the tire that was next to the blown tire had its stem cut off and went flat.
We called roadside assistance who said they would get back to us as soon as they could find someone to bring out a new tire or stem replacement kit. Mind you, it was Sunday, after 5 pm. We waited over an hour for that returned phone call with cars and trucks whizzing by us.
Nearly an hour later, we called them up to find out they were having no success finding shops open or tow services available to tow us off the highway. Ray started calling shops and tire stores with similar results.
We waited almost another hour for roadside assistance that never came. Ray finally decided to drive off the exit and park somewhere safe. Just about any place off the highway would be safer.
He drove slowly. When we got to the bottom of the exit, we saw a gas station and a large vacant area with a semi parked in it. We pulled into the lot, and decided to do some more calling. Our lucked turned for the better. Ray called a truck stop called Flying J, who said they didn’t sell tires, but that there was a tire store next door open 24 hours and gave us their phone number. The next good news? They were at the very next exit from our current location. We felt apprehensive about leaving our trailer unattended in a vacant field, but there was no other way of moving forward. So, Ray unhitched the truck from the trailer, put the blown tire in the truck bed and we, the cat, dog, Ray and I, drove to the tire store.
After buying a new tire, which the shop placed on the rim of the blown tire, we went back to the trailer. It was intact and not vandalized. Ray replaced the flat with the new tire in the twilight making everything appear like an old film negative. We intended to spend the night on the Colorado River at an RV park, which also happened to be off the same exit as the tire store.
Murphy’s Law apparently decided not to mess with us the rest of the evening. The RV park was very nice, with grass all around our vehicle. The temperature was still over 100 at 9 pm, but the green surroundings with lots of trees made it seem down right pleasant. Ray and I, along with Raven, our dog, enjoyed a nice evening stroll and wading in the Colorado on the small sandy beach at the park.
Tomorrow, we will need to find a tire store to buy four new tires. We are going to minimize the chance of Murphy playing havoc with us again, at least with the tires.