We were way overdue for a daily detour and finally it happened today. Needless to say, it was a very stressful drive by the end of our daily journey. We drove past Sacramento into the valley of farms and pastures when the tire pressure alarm went off.
The tire in question was one that we just had plugged within the past week in Grants Pass, Oregon. Both trailer tires on the passenger side have been plugged. One had three nails and the other had one.
The sun was beaming down and the temperature was just below 90 degrees. It was hot! And there was a bad, bad smell in the air. This time it wasn’t smoke.
With the pressure dropping fast, Darin pulled over at the first farm road he could find. I think it was actually someone’s driveway. Something resembling a coyote was hit and ran over near the shoulder where we wanted to park. Darin drove a little farther so the smell wasn’t too bad. Yuck!
We got the spare tire on and we only had 65 miles to go. Our gas was looking low, but we were in the middle of nowhere and we had no cell signal. We hoped and prayed that we would make it.
Once we were getting close to the campground, the final eight miles on our GPS were nothing but steep inclines and switchbacks. It would definitely eat up a bunch of our diesel fuel. Both of us knew we would run out of gas because of the way our day was going. Also, because there were very few places to pull over while traversing the mountains.
We turned off the air conditioner and hoped for the best. Luckily we made it with nine miles to spare on the tank. At least that is what our gauge told us. I’d say we dodged a huge bullet!
Now we have to find a tire shop and it will probably end up being an added expense this month for a new tire. Fingers crossed that someone has one in stock!