Limping into Colorado Springs

Andy and I finally limped into Colorado Springs about 5:45 Mountain Time. Lee greeted us in the parking lot and helped Andy take the bikes off the trailer. I’ve had a few moments to look at the Jott postings, and I can see there are problems with that. I may need to speak more clearly, or there is too much background noise when I make the call. In any event, here is an over view of our non-stop trek to Colorado.
It was outside of Scranton when we realized out first serious trouble. We had been hearing noises from the trailer, but could not find the trouble. Then the left wheel started to wobble. There were three lug nuts missing and the tire was about to drop off. With the tire having a problem, the weight of the bikes shifted and the frame bent all along that left side. It was now off the support. The tire rim was shot too, with the holes for the bolts all elongated and egg shaped. Lucky for us the spare had two bolts. Our luck held out and we found an all night truck repair that had a regular type bolt the size of the lug. We had to make a call. Go home or risk it. We headed west.
The trailer was listing badly. We stopped every 50 miles to check nuts. We did this all the way to Ohio. We stopped to get gas and noticed the spare was starting to split. It was an older tire and we sort of took a chance on it to begin with. We asked around and were pointed over the Wal-Mart Tire center. They agreed to transfer the good tire from the bad rim with the tire on the good rim. When we removed the bad cracked tire, we had a good shock. The tread had also peeled in big chunks. Since they also carried our size in the store all mounted and ready to go we bought a new spare.
My thanks to Frank and Krystal who were so helpful at Wal-Mart. We wanted to borrow a jack from them, but it’s against store policy. Then with their back to the security camera, pointed us around the corner away from the camera, and loaned us a jack. This kindness was repeated when after hitting a good pothole on the roads under repair, the trailer shifted further off the mount and the tire stared rubbing. Cheryl and Dave at, The Truck Place, went out of their way to help us with a “fix.” All of our troubles were made small by the kind folk we met along the roads of this great country. I can’t say thanks enough.
The Mowatt and Billman contingent were having their own issues, from what they tell me. At about the time we lost our lug nuts, they ran out of gas and were stuck on the side of the road for two hours waiting for AAA service. Also, it seems the rail on their trailer was eating tie downs like they were candy. They and we resolved and overcame all our challenges, and arrived safe and sound. We will begin our next adventure tomorrow, as we head for Aspen and sights. But I don’t want to spoil the fun with a preview. We had a great meal at Famous Dave’s and called it a night. I’m off to bed for much needed sleep and will post some photos tomorrow. Come back to this blog entry for the photos to go with this text.