[Loch-Ruadh] Home

[Chris Harper]

At 12:00 AM 8/12/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>I made it home from Lughnasadh safely, though not without a bit of
>adventure. The duct tape holding the valve stem together held, but the
>air found another way out and the camper blew out the tire shortly after
>I got on the interstate (just past the construction).

Just your luck that Dana and I were ahead of you by a very short distance
apparently.


>The tire-turned-flail managed to take out the entire plastic fenderwell,
>thus allowing the marauding bits of tire to also take out a cabinet door
>from the inside and spread bits of fenderwell, tire and cabinet contents
>on the floor of the camper. It also managed to send at least one whole
>roll of toilet paper, an undetermined number of paper napkins and at
>least one blue plastic Wal-Mart sack, the former contents of which have
>not been determined, out the resulting hole and onto the highway. It
>would otherwise have been humorous to see this violent purge in the
>mirror labeled "Objects are closer than they appear".

I said apparently because I don't recall seeing this display of belongings
spread along the roadside as we passed.


>The humor rolls on, for the lug wrench in the truck did not fit the
>lugnuts of the blown tire, though they did fit the ones holding the
>spare. I tried a pipe wrench that was handy, but eventually found a 10"
>adjustable wrench that, combined with the rubber mallet that I nearly
>left behind in Gwenllian's camp, I was able to remove the wheel. Luckily
>for the story, the spare was flat.

To bad your crystal ball was broken; I always have a can of Fix-A-Flat
in my van and us so short a distance ahead of you.  You could have called
our cell phones.


>I dropped the camper, went to the next exit (Hwy 47) and bought the
>ubiquitous Fix-A-Flat (two cans, just in case) and returned. It worked
>well, so I took it to the same place and aired the tire up to full
>pressure (Fix-A-Flat inflates to 35 psi; those little tires need 55-60
>psi). Back on the road shortly before 8:00...

At least you did not lose your sense of humor as I would have probably
done under those conditions.  We are glad you are home safe, but the
sound may be questionable. <G>

Bicé


>On the good news side, my new trailer dolly thingy worked its wonders
>allowing me to park the camper in my driveway rather than at the storage
>place. If I can satisfy some security issues, we can save about $35 per
>month in storage rental by keeping it at home.
>
>Sluggy!