My, oh my, what a crazy day. What looked to be four hours of driving ended up closer to six, and 260 miles ended up at 350. Let's get right into it.
This morning was very similar to yesterday. Wake up, eat breakfast, hook up the trailer, and get on the road. We planned on driving from Rawlins, WY to Lakewood, CO to camp at Indian Paintbrush Campground at Bear Creek Lake Park (more on that later). We made it 36 miles down the road, driving along just fine, when the truck did a real weird shudder and didn't really feel like it was driving right. We crested a hill and I pulled off onto the soft shoulder. Turns out one of our trailer tires had shredded itself, but only the tread part. The inner tube didn't pop, so it was still somewhat driving. "OK, sure, minor setback. Let's pull out the spare for the trailer and switch it out." Well, that only works when the spare is inflated...uh oh.
So here we are, stuck on the side of an 80mph freeway that is a major trucking route. I've got a wife and three young kids and a trailer that can't drive. Now what. I called Geico to get some roadside service. (Small aside, here. I was told when we first bought the trailer from an insurance agent friend that when the trailer is hooked to the truck, it falls under the truck's insurance policy and benefits.) OK, back to the call with Geico. Turns out, I was told wrong. She was still super helpful in calling all the local roadside providers to try and find someone to help. However, Wyoming is a very rural state and we were too far from anyone to come out and get us. She suggested calling Wyoming Highway Patrol dispatch to see what they could do. I called and they said the best they could do was call for a tow truck. I don't want to pay that bill, so I asked if we could leave the trailer where it was, drive back to Rawlins to get the tires fixed, and come back to hook up and leave. He said as long as it was far enough off the road to not be a danger to other drivers, it would be fine to do. We unhooked, took the shredded tire off, loaded up that and the spare, and headed back to Rawlins. We had to drive 9 miles farther down the road to find an off ramp to turn around and then the 45 miles back to Rawlins. Thankfully the guys at Kilburn Point S got them right in and fixed in about 20 minutes. We got McDonald's for the kids and headed back to the trailer. This whole experience added quite a bit of time and hassle to our day. It was supposed to be our shortest day of driving so far, but ended up being the longest. We didn't crash, nothing was permanently damaged, and our kids did great until about the last 20 minutes, so we can't complain too hard.
 |
| There are worse views when stranded. |
After driving for two days across Wyoming, it was a bit of a shock getting into the Denver metro area. We made it to the Indian Paintbrush Campground at Bear Creek Lake Park near Lakewood, CO. There is very little to no shade here, and we don't have water or sewer hook-ups, but at least we have electric and can run our air conditioner. We only did a quick walk around, but this place is pretty sweet. So sweet, in fact, we are considering staying here for a full day just to explore. The map below shows all the different trails and paths that snake around. I can't wait to go on a run and see what I can find. There are also two decent sized lakes. We are very happy we brought our paddle board. It's going to be a nice place to stay.,
We haven't fully decided what we are going to do four our three days here. We know of a couple places that are open, but will make plans day-by-day. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading!!
 |
| Fun path we found at the campsite. The kids are all on their bikes ahead of us. |
No comments:
Post a Comment