A pop and a stop II

It has been an interesting trip so far. First we had the crazy rain and wind through Kansas. But then, while we were in Kansas it was actually great and beautiful. Then, we traveled to Colorado (which post I am working on) and we had the moth invasion AND no internet or cell service, which we were not expecting. Then came today where the real shit show happened.  We were all happy driving through the western side of Colorado

Pretty scenery in Colorado

And were super excited when we entered into Utah - a state that neither one of us have ever been before.

Welcome to Utah!!

When, only 40 miles from our destination, we heard a loud "POP". Of course, we both remembered the last time we heard a large pop and immediately pulled over to the side of I-70.  I looked in the mirror and could clearly see that something was wrong with the back tire and the side of the trailer. After getting out and looking at it, we learned that our back tire blew out and we lost the tread, which kicked up and damaged some of the exterior siding and created a few other mostly cosmetic issues with the trailer.

BAD TREAD!! BAD!!!

 Another truck pulling a boat was also pulled over on the side of the road and offered to help, (at which point I was thinking HELL YES, but Jason said no, we have all that we needed. ??  Really? I had no idea. I pay attention to what is INSIDE the trailer, not silly things like extra tires and tire irons). So, even though we thought was really nice, we sent them on their way towards their vacation since we actually had everything we needed to change the tire.  So, we put the cats (in their carriers) inside the trailer (where it was cooler), and proceeded to take the sad broken tire off and put the spare on (well, mostly Jason did all the work while I played the part of Ralphie and held onto the lug nuts - OH FUDGE).

I-70, the side of the road, and us

After about an hour of figuring out how to change a tire on a trailer on the side of a super busy freeway, we were back on our way driving on a nice shiny new spare tire. We were just a tad frazzled by the time we reached our destination, Slickrock RV Park, and were not at all amused by the first spot that we had apparently reserved for ourselves (let's just say that if we had tried to park there we would have lost our roof to a nice, but short and stocky tree).  I was really worried that we would be screwed and having to sleep on the of the road or something, but Jason sweet talked the front desk lady and we got our pick of several sites in the park to move to.

Our second choice site. Obviously just a tad tight!!

So we chose this site because it was long enough and was going to be in the shade most of the day. AND it was on the end of a row so we would only have neighbors on our mostly windowless side. 

Being on the end, it makes our spot seem bigger. We even had a picnic table, a grill, and a fire pit! 

But, this park is a tad small (although, we noticed several sites that WERE wider than ours), and we had to really work to position front to back and side to side to fit and be able to put our slides out. We have stayed in 27 campgrounds and RV parks now, and this was the most tight fit we have had so far in a place that was supposed to be able to accommodate our size.

You can see just how close we are to that tree!!

However, if you can overlook the crowded nature of the park, it IS nice to have shade here in Moab, and we even have nice views of mountains and red rock from our spot.

Red rock mountain views

Once we got parked, settled (and Jason had to go buy us a power extension cord), and plugged in with the A/C running for the poor kitties, it was time to asses the damage.

Uh, sir, I don't think it is supposed to look that way

Jason will spend more time tomorrow looking underneath the trailer, but right now, the majority of the damage looks like it is cosmetic damage. Which doesn't make me happy that now our trailer has observable damage to it, but I am thankful that it wasn't worse.

*ouch*

So, after a MUCH longer day than originally planned, we were all set up inside and it was past time for a little celebration TEQUILA SHOT that we made it and we were all ok!

Sauza. Not normally a "shooting" tequila, but you do what you gotta do in a pinch. Also, a noticeable lack of salt and limes. 

Tomorrow we will work on dealing with getting a replacement tire and looking over the trailer for anything that we need to fix or should fix before continuing our summer journey.  And, since I once again have access to the internet, I will be able to complete the blog post from the state park we visited in Colorado. Till then, Cheers!