Blown Tire on Interstate 40

Yesterday we traveled from Memphis, Tn to Nashville TN - but not a normal travel day. We had just passed through Jackson and was heading up into a rise on Interstate 40, an 18 wheeler passing on our left and bam! I told Dave something happened, we both scanned the mirrors to the back - saw nothing. The warning signal came on to say the trailer was disconnected from the truck - a warning we had experienced in another trip when the harness had failed on the truck. We continued on I 40 - buzzing about 62 miles an hour and an SUV pulled up beside us, slowed down, rolled down the window and said our tires were on fire! Holy smokes! Dave immediately pulled over, I handed him the fire extinguisher we keep in the glove compartment, and he headed out to see. Yes, the tires were smoking, he couldn't really tell which one - on the driver side of the trailer - and there was no fire. We stayed sitting on the side of I 40 (dangerous) and then he decided we had to get off the freeway. Another mile up the road was an exit, Dave road with the flashers on, and riding along the berm, until we got off the interstate. I called for roadside assistance - a plan we have - and after some phone calls - got someone to come change the tire. We asked that they bring another tire since our spare would have to be used and we don't want to be without a spare. When the service showed up - nope, he didn't bring a tire. Okay, just change it and we'll take the chance that another won't blow. The guy had a tough time getting the blown shredded tire off the wheel, it had ripped off and spun around the tire. He said that happens all the time. And, the ripped tire cut or severed the electrical brake line and he couldn't fix that. So, no brakes on trailer, no spare - we took a chance to get to a campground to get off the road and get things fixed in the next couple of days.

After two hour delay, no spare tire now, we got back on the road. Signs said - rough road next 9 miles - and we cringed. Oh no. But, we made it to Nashville, just east. And we are safe and no one was hurt. Except me - when Dave pulled off the interstate and parked along the ramp of the exit, he was so close to the side and there was a ditch. We needed to use the potty and we took turns going into the RV and I managed to slip off the steps and my butt hit the steps of the RV and I slid all the way down into the culvert. Ouch. I am so black and blue today! And sore.

Tuesday we wait for an RV repair service to come by to fix the brakes, and to get us another tire for spare. We learned alot of lessons with this incident. We had our paperwork handy, but I didn't have the tire size written down, that's corrected now. We have to be very very specific and demanding for what our roadsize service can do - I insisted that they bring a spare tire - and the guy didn't have one. We should have said - please go get us one befroe we are done here, and we didn't. So - now that we released the service after changing the spare and not insisting on getting us a spare, the cost for the spare is our burden. The brake costs - we will pay for this and the roadside will have to reimburse us. And - we survived a blow out. This is something we were dreading and now that we lived through it and survived, we will be better prepared. And last - we said we wanted to get new tires this June before we head out west in July - well, we just stepped up our plans for new tires a couple of months. cha-ching!