New Mexico Trip

Hi everyone, sorry it has been so long since our last posted blog.  Since we kept going back to the same locations (Florida & Colorado), we felt there was not much to report.  In order to make things interesting, we feel the adventures must be new and exciting.  Having said all that, this winter we are trying something new and very different.

We left Jefferson City, MO on November 11th.  Way too late in the year to get on the roads.  Needless to say, the temps that morning were in the 20's and very cold.  We were concerned with the so cold temperatures causing problems and freezing our water lines in the RV.  Stress level slightly elevated.

Day 2 on the road:  Until then it had been uneventful except for the cold temps.  We stopped several times and ran the furnace to warm the water lines and keep them from freezing.  Again, stress level slightly elevated.  Then we entered and exited the town of Pratt, KS on the South western corner of the state.  Still travelling at low speeds since we were only 2 miles outside of Pratt, KS; we experienced a tire blow out on the RV.  It was the rearmost tire on the passenger side.  

Unfortunately, it also caused structural damage to the undercarriage of the RV.  It tore the undercarriage exposing the insulation and bent a support bracket from its 90° position to the main frame to about 35° as can be seen below after manually attempt at straightening it:

Cardboard box was my attempt to cover the damage and insulation loss allowing cold air to enter RV right under the love seat in Livingroom.

Here we are on the side of the road waiting for Roadside Assistance to come and install our spare tire and allow us to continue the trip.  Temps were 25F and a very cold strong wind (like always in Kansas).

From time of call for help to resuming our trip it was exactly 1 hr.  The fact it was a Saturday and lots of luck, made this almost painless.  Stress level extremely high!

We arrived at Dalhart, TX on the NW corner of the Texas panhandle later that afternoon.  We had made arrangements for a 2 night stay.  It was well needed after 2 days of driving under the conditions mentioned above.  However, the weather had other plans.  High winds were forecasted as well as  snow for the next day.  After getting this information from multiple sources, we paid a visit to the campground office and extended our stay an additional night.  The winds were crazy strong and approximately 2 inches of snow came down.  After the storm passed our location, the temps went above freezing allowing for the snow to melt.  This permitted us to leave the next day to our destination for a week (7 nights) to Albuquerque, NM.

During the entire drive to NM, we were making calls to tire and RV businesses, trying to make appointments for service.  The only thing we managed to accomplish was getting a time slot at Discount Tire for installation of 4 new tires.  We went directly to their facility in town and had the work performed while we had lunch in a burger facility across from the tire store.  

We finally made it to the KOA in town and setup camp.  Upon entering RV, we found one of the window shades near the entrance to RV had unwound.  We normally travel with all shades up to prevent damage.  It turns out spring had broken internally and shade could no longer be wound or unwound.  

The calls continued to many businesses in an attempt to have an axle alignment since we had noted the tire opposite the blowout on same axle had become smooth and lost all treads.  Additionally, we also managed to order a shade replacement under warranty and will be shipped to us at the State Park.  After numerous and disappointing calls, we managed to speak to the service manager of a local KZ Durango Gold recommended to us by KZ Warranty customer service in Indiana.  This man appears to know his stuff.  He suggested we come to his location and allow him and his team to inspect our rig since he felt something else was causing problems and not necessarily the need for an axle alignment.  Thursday morning we traveled to RAM RV and Truck Service where our Rig was inspected, pictures taken, documented and diagnosed.  The "shackles", that are part of the suspension are loose and not centered.  They will be replaced and properly mounted.  We will return for this service on Monday the 21st.  Stay tuned…. Stress level off the charts!