After driving 8.5 hours and only 23 miles from our destination, we had our first blow out in Turlock, CA on 99. Left rear inside tire. It truly sounded like a explosion. Lucky for us, we was only 50 yards from a exit so we was able to crawl off into a safe zone.
Unlucky for us, its a Sunday and we was 2 blocks from a Les Schwab and within 5 miles of 4 others and of course, all closed. After 45 mins of calling any truck stop/tire shop/any place that might be able to fix this that we could find on google, we decided to take the “back roads” to our planned destination. It only took 2.5 hours to go 30 miles (back roads added miles, but was for sure the smarter route and not the shorter route of 99)
The “great part” was we had a 3/4 of a gallon of Killz left that we planned on using in a few weeks as well as a pint of varnish, the impact hit the bottom of the cargo bay (water works) where I had them stored, the impact spit open the killz bottom and almost opened the varnish, it also destroyed our hummingbird feeder. Waiting on “rescue” I was able to clean the worst of the mess.
Looking back, I put all that stuff in the “water works” cargo bay for a reason. I was thinking spillage, not impacts, but the results are the same. We also have some minor damage to the exhaust pipe and area, not too sure how bad it really is, when the tire is fixed I will get a better look at it all.
It has been a long day. The camp host say’s there is a tire center “next door” that is open on Sunday’s, but apparently they just don’t answer the phone.
Anyway, The rest of our day will be relaxing and tomorrow, we will deal with it.
Turlock, CA – 04/07/2013 – Left rear inside tire exploded, the impact hit the cargo bay, destroying a 3/4 of a gallon Killz can. Lucky for us, the varnish did not open.
Turlock, CA – 04/07/2013 – Left rear inside tire exploded, the impact hit the cargo bay, destroying a 3/4 of a gallon Killz can. Lucky for us, the varnish did not open. The humming bird feeder was also destroyed. Lucky, I had a full tank of water to clean it up