Sure, we’d miss out on Christmas and New Year’s Eve but the last two Decembers have been kind of brutal to me.

In 2020 I was traveling from Kentucky to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. I think I had 3 stops planned enroute before getting to my winter park. I made it to the first stop without any problems but when I left the next day only made it about 10 or 12 miles down the road before another driver flagged me down. I pulled over at an exit ramp and he was kind enough to stop on the shoulder to explain what he noticed. He was smelling burning rubber. I didn’t see any smoke as I pulled over but looked very closely at the tires anyway. One of the spring hangers had broken at the weld and the axle had shifted just enough for the tires to rub.

Well, it was early in the day and I was near a major city so it shouldn’t be a big problem. I called my roadside assistance and requested a mobile welder. About an hour later they called back, said they couldn’t find one, and I was on my own. I spent a few hours calling around and the best I could manage was a welder about 2 hours away who could make it the next morning. Wonderful! I was just getting settled into the truck for an overnighter on the shoulder of the interstate when someone tapped on my window. It was a state trooper who had noticed me earlier in the day. I walked back to his patrol car as he was explaining he knew a guy. Within a few minutes he had a tow service on the phone that just happened to have a mobile welder. Within an hour, a temporary weld was finished and I had a recommendation for a local welder to do a more permanent repair.

I made a slow, safe drive to a nearby RV park and settled in for a couple of nights. The next day was Sunday so I left a voicemail for the welder just to get on his radar. I also drove to his shop to make sure the 5th wheel could get in and out. On returning to the RV park I found the welder checking out the RV. We talked for a few minutes and made plans for the first thing Monday morning. The repairs took a little longer than anticipated so I spent another night in north Alabama

The next day I made it to Louisiana without problem and spent a restful night in an RV park. On the road again the next day, for about 100 miles. I pulled into a truck stop for fuel and walked around the RV to check things out. The first thing I noticed was a tire going flat. Then I noticed that 2 of the tires were closer together than they should’ve been. I pulled into the parking area and discovered a broken leaf spring. After the last experience with GEICO roadside assistance, I opted to start looking on my own. There was a trailer repair just 2 miles away. I could make that if I was real careful. I gave them a call and explained my situation. Unfortunately, it was the last week of December and they had no room on the schedule to squeeze me in. They did give me a number for mobile RV tech. The tech was also slammed but found time for me, at the end of the day. While waiting for him, I put the spare tire on and made reservations at the nearest RV park and found a local tire shop to get the flat repaired the next day. Sometime after dark, repairs were finished and I got some shuteye. Early the next morning I was the first one in line at the tire shop and was back on the road by 10.

I was very leery for the rest of the drive, especially when a trucker in Texas signaled that I needed to check the back of the RV. I pulled onto a nice wide shoulder immediately and checked everything very closely but didn’t see any problems. I continued down the road and remembered that I hadn’t retorqued the wheel after changing the spare. I took care of that at the next exit. There were a couple of lug nuts slightly loose. To this day, I still don’t know if he noticed a slight wobble or if it was something else. I finally made it to my winter home without any more problems.

So in December 2021 I was heading back to the Rio Grande Valley but this time the starting point was north Texas. I had just finished a warehouse gig outside of Fort Worth and we decided to sightsee and relax for a couple of weeks before heading down to our winter spot. One of our sightseeing spots was San Antonio. I had a spot reserved on Ft. Sam Houston for a week. Having stayed there before I knew all the sites were fairly level and had big concrete pads. A perfect spot to be on my back under the RV installing a wet bolt kit upgrade for the suspension. That would require all 4 tires being removed so before the slides went out I went around the RV breaking all the lug nuts so it would be easier getting them off while I was squatting under slideouts. The plan was to do one side at a time. I started on the street side and got the tires and equalizer off pretty quickly. Then the problems started. I had to make an extra trip to the auto hobby shop at Lackland AFB to punch out 2 brass bushings. That threw off the schedule by a few hours. It was late in the day when I finally got to the last spring hanger – and found that weld broken. Damn!! Start searching for another mobile welder on Sunday. I contacted one and he was ready to come out right then. In retrospect I should have taken him up on that even though his Sunday rates were higher. Since it wasn’t an emergency though I deferred until Monday morning. We coordinated on the phone and I sat back to wait for him. And wait. And wait. And wait. I started texting him and got no response so I continued my search. Found a big truck shop with a mobile welder and they quoted me a price. It was kind of high but I felt trapped. They agreed to send someone out and I waited again. And waited. And waited. Called them back and they confessed that they wouldn’t be able to help me. Not that day, not the next day, or the day after. I spent the next 2 days calling every possible welder I could find. Finally found one from a nearby town who actually showed up and did the work – the day before we were scheduled to leave. He welded the hanger back on and I finished the upgrade on that side of the RV. By that time I didn’t even consider trying the other side. Just buttoned up the street side and boogied down the road the next morning.

For about 100 miles. On US 281 south, in the middle of nowhere I heard a pop that could only be a blowout. Quickly pulled onto the shoulder and walked around the RV. I was NOT prepared for what I saw. Both wheels on the curb side were missing and all the lug studs were sheared off. I immediately realized what happened. I’d forgotten to tighten the lug nuts on that side before leaving San Antonio after a week of frustration. Time to call roadside assistance again, this time it was Good Sam. They wanted to send a tow truck even after I insisted on a mobile mechanic. Fortunately the tow company they found called me first before responding. They sent someone with mechanical abilities but not a lot of tools. I had the tools and jacks. While he was shopping for new studs and lug nuts, I backtracked and found one of the tires. The other had been completely demolished but I had a good spare. Late that afternoon we were able to continue our trip with an overnight stop at the nearest RV park.

The next morning as we were preparing to leave Mary smelled something like burning wires and we had several dead outlets. After determining nothing was actually burning I decided to pull out for the remaining 2 hour drive to our final destination. We arrived without further incident and got backed into a tight spot. Later that day the electrical problems became more pronounced. It would take a few more days of troubleshooting but what Mary smelled that morning was a capacitor frying itself inside the converter. Since we were on a full hookup site for several months I had the luxury of time and a plugged in battery charger to keep things running until I figured that out.

Slowly but surely I’m tackling the repairs and projects but I’m really, really, really glad that December is over. Maybe in 2022 I’ll just hunker down somewhere for the entire month.