August 2, 2011, Tuesday
Grants, NM to Ft. Stockton, TX,
Comanche Arrow RV Park
Blown tire about 15 miles S of Pecos, TX
in 106* temps
In order to
beat the rush hour traffic in Albuquerque, I left the CG at 3:40am and passed thru Albuquerque.
Between 5 & 6 am, no traffic at all.
Yesterday I set my watch & clocks to Central time so I wouldn’t be
loosing an hour in todays long drive. So by my watch I left at 4:40am. Much better than leaving at 3:40am.
Turned of
on I-40 onto Hwy 285, a really nice 4 lane divided hwy in wide open country
until you get to Roswell, NM,
then it is about 20-30 miles of good hwy between towns until you get to the Texas border
Everything
was fine until I got to about 15 miles S of Pecos on Hwy 285. It was hot! My outside temp gauge was showing 104-106*
and I had slowed down to about 51mph to try and be sure the tires were not
being overstressed in the heat. Then
Boom!!! The outside right rear outside tire blew. Right after it blew I could hear the flap,
flap, flap of the tire tread hitting the fiberglass side of BF. I slowed down
& pulled over onto the paved shoulder & looked at the damage. The
fiberglass is pretty badly torn up & the tip of the exhaust pipe in pinched
a little more than half way closed. I
can’t drive back to Pecos with the tire tread
flopping around on the tire.
I called Coach Net our road side assistance
company & they called Hector’s tire in Pecos
to come out. Coach Net said it should take about 60 minutes for them to get here but they arrived in about 10 minutes. They must have been on the highway near me. They got here about the same time I got the spare tire down from the roof. They installed the spare and tried to open up the exhaust pipe.
We got it almost half way open.
I drove on to Ft.
Stockton at about 40-45mph. Paid for the night at Comanche RV Park & drove into town to try to find someone to pry the exhaust pipe tip open.
No luck. The metal is to stiff to pry
open more than what it is now. There is
a muffler shop in town, but it is closed.
No sign as to when it will be open.
A hot afternoon & night. The right
rear side is facing the afternoon & setting sun. I pulled the shades down and hung some
blankets over the window to keep the heat out. The a/c kept me comfortable all
night. I had thoughts of getting up
& leaving about 4am, but realized I can’t drive the 300 miles home with the
exhaust pipe partially closed. It could damage the engine. I'll have to do something in the morning.
Pictures of the blown tire and damage to the fiberglass.
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