We travelled from Vista CA to Crescent City, stopping in Bakersfield, Morgan Hill and Lakeport. During this trip we had two separate mishaps!

1- first mishap just outside Bakersfield:

When we left Bakersfield we had gotten about an hour north of the city then someone pulled alongside us and frantically waved at us pointing to the rig. So, we pulled to the shoulder and discovered we had lost ANOTHER wheel because of lugbolts that sheared off.

Yipes! I called a nearby business that was a John Deere dealer. They say they couldn’t help us but gave us the name and number of a mechanic that worked on big rigs and said he’ll be able to help! I called him and explained the situation and he said he was working on another call but could come to us right after lunch.

While I was making that call Jeff pulled off at the next offramp and into a gas station right off the freeway. As we pulled in we were surprised that it was dirt and had one of the metal grates you see at construction sites. As soon as we pulled into a large parking space a guy in a truck drove up to us. Turns out the station is still being built! He saw the missing wheel and we told him we had called a mechanic but he couldn’t come to us until after lunch. The man was nice enough to tell us we could stay in the lot to wait for the mechanic.

So, we hung out in the truck and waited. I had packed a lunch and we had waters so we were fine in that regard.

The mechanic showed up shortly after lunchtime and took the part of the wheel that was left so he could get the proper lugbolts and get them intalled. He said he’d be back in a few hours.

About then the man in the truck came back and said he was done for the day and wanted to lock up the station. So we had to leave. We got back on the road and there was a wide sandy shoulder just a block away that we pulled into, so we were off the road. I texted the mechanic to say we had moved and we continued to wait. We were facing west so it got a bit warm, and we couldn’t open the slides in the rig so we were stuck in the truck.

After a while Jeff took Chloe out and noticed another tire was flat!! Totally flat! He found that the stem had been bent letting all the air out. Dang!

So…we unhitched and Jeff got the tire off and drove it about 10 miles further up the road to a tire place. While he was gone I stayed with the rig and sat on my camp chair in the shade to wait for the mechanic. The tire place was able to replace the stem and found no other problems, so the tire got re-inflated and Jeff brought it back.

The mechanic got back about the same time as Jeff, and he and his helper were able to get both tires back on and we were ready to head out!

But, we still had a 4 hour drive and by now it was 6pm. The RV park we were headed to didn’t accept checkins past 10pm. So we found a KOA just a few miles away and we stayed there for the night.

2. Near Napa, CA our nav system sent us over a very narrow bridge!

On our way from Morgan Hill to Lakeport we went through part of wine country. Beautiful country! Our nav system sent us down a couple of residential streets just north of Napa and then we found ourselves on a very narrow bridge! Just as we passed along it a pickup came onto the bridge from the other direction! He pulled in his side mirror and forced us to squeeze to the edge so he could pass us. We didn’t quite make it! We got hung on the rock wall of the bridge and had to back up a bit and maneuver to get past the bridge. When we could we pulled over to assess the damage. Dang, it scraped all along the side of the rig. But it didn’t make it undriveable so we continued to the RV park.

Here are pictures of the bridge so you can see how narrow it was, and the damage to our rig. Luckily the repair is covered by our insurance!