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A most interresting trip
So me and the wife have 38th anniversary trip planned. Take motorhome and quads out to Bridgeport for the weekend and ride out to Bodie. Simple , right?
Not for me. Spent last week getting things ready. Check tires and oil ,etc on MH. Get quads ready -chains lubed ,tires aired up , filters cleaned . All of the usual. So far so good.
Now I have never hauled anything with the MH so far. Have had it for just 1 year and still learning.
So up at 5:00 am and go to hook up trailer for 6:00 departure. Guess what? Should have done it a few days ago like I was planning. The hitch is too high and the front wheels are off the ground ( 2 axle flat bed trailer ).No problem , wait for U-Haul to open in 2 hours and get all of the right stuff.
So 50 bucks later we are loaded and on the road at 8:00. Not too bad. We will be there around noon.
Plan is 80 to 50 to 88/89 to 395 .Done it in truck before and remember it as being no big deal.
So going through Benicia toll plaza , feeling good , no need to use the wide load lane . BANG! "You hit something" "no I didn't , something fell on the floor" Drive up the road a bit , go to change lanes and [moderator edit] happened to the right side mirror? All pushed in. Pull over and luckily all it did was get get pushed in and not broken. Rearrange it back to normal and away we go.
Coming into Davis and road seems to be rather bumpy and "BOOM" Rear blow out. Pull off on off ramp. What to do now? Fist blow out ever and no spare.
call Geico and talk to a guy named Clayton. Really nice guy. First time handling a claim like this though. He starts looking for tow companies . I ask him about Les Schwab tire shops. He calls around and they can have a guy out in about 90 minutes. OK , lets do that.
While waiting - I call RV park and let them know what is up. They have no clue about me or reservation.No big deal they have a site and will reserve for me.
90 minutes and 500 bones later we are on our way again. Very nervous about the other tires now.
Note to self - never take 50 again [moderator edit] drivers, very twisty , not MH friendly.88/89 not much better.
We get into Minden and fuel up. Only about an hour away now. Be at park about 5:00 Cool.
25 mph through Minden , leave city limits and step on gas to get up to 55. BOING - check engine light goes on. I have had this happen once before due to O2 sensor , and when this MH goes into limp mode it sucks big time. Pedal to the metal and 3500 rpm and 35mph is tops. Crap , this isn't good.
Pull off in abandoned parking lot .Wife breaks down. Doom and gloom. What to do. I'm fed up with it by now too.
Turn around , and limp into Minden and Autozone. "I need a need a cheap scan tool to erase codes " Wilbur - "huh" . So I find one - another 50 buck gone. P0131 code . O2 sensor again. Erase code.
Now what? We decide to pull plug on trip and head back home. Call RV park and cancel reservation. Stop at casino in Minden and have something to eat and feed the slot machines as well.
Decide to take 80 from Reno home. Best idea of the day. Big worry was the remaining tires holding up.
But I guess our bad luck streak was over - return trip went off without a hitch.
got home a little after midnite , unloaded quads and called it a day.
Will get all new tires and try this trip again in a couple of weeks.
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