We Survived a Blown Tire

We left the Grand Canyon yesterday morning to drive to Phoenix to see my parents.  We were about 10 miles from their house on the 202.  Six lanes of traffic, and while it wasn't rush hour, if you've ever driven in the Phoenix area, you know that the roads are always busy.  My husband was driving and I was talking to my sister on my cell when all of a sudden we hear the biggest bang.  Doug stayed calm, cool and collected and got us off to the side of the expressway.

We assume that a tire had blown so he got out to check.  Sure enough, the passenger side, inside rear tire had blown.  He smelled LP gas, opened the outer compartment that holds the tank and propane was spewing from broken lines.  He immediately shut off the propane.  He started looking around and saw the bottom of one of the other compartments hanging.  By this time, I was also outside of the MH and he says to call for help.  Before I could even open my phone, a State Police Officer pulled up behind us.

I told him that we have blown a tire and he told us that he knows because he just saw the debris scattered on the expressway.  Soon after, he got a radio call that a Highway Service Patrol truck is on the scene of the debris.  The officer backed up the expressway while truck held traffic so that they could get the debris off the road.  The debris was not only the pieces of the tire, but also the contents of the compartment.  He and the Highway Service Patrol truck driver then helped us get a phone number for a nearby tire dealer and gave us directions on how to get there.  Because the inside tire was blown, Doug tells them he's pretty sure we can limp over to the tire store.

The police officer stopped traffic that was entering the expressway from the nearby on ramp, which allowed us to safely get over to the exit lane and off the expressway.  While we were waiting for the new tire to be put on the MH, I called my sister to have her search online for the nearest Jayco dealer so we can have them take a look.  They agreed to take a look at the damage and at a minimum give us a safety inspection to check for frayed electrical wires, brake lines, etc. and to see if they can do an estimate for the insurance company.

I called the insurance company to make notification and to get a claim number.  After the tire was done, we headed to the RV dealer which fortunately was only a few miles away.  They did the emergency inspection, lowered the stabilizers, had us run out the slides, take the slides back in and retract the stablizers.  All of that seemed fine.  Clearly we do not have the use of any propane so we can't use the stove or the furnace.  They determined that there's no way they could do an estimate because they would have to start tearing things apart and it could take days just to do an estimate.  They told us to bring it back Wednesday morning and they would do a minimal fix so we can be road worthy.

This morning we were their first appointment at 7:30.  They capped off the LP (precautionary because we already had the gas off), checked the LP tank for leaks (none found) and re-secured the compartment flooring and wheel well.

As we've traveled down expressways, we've often commented to each other, "There's a piece of blown tire.  Hope we're never near a tire when it blows".  I never dreamed it would happen to us.  I had no idea how much force an exploding tire has.

It's not as bad as it could have been.  We are fine, the dogs are fine and we will get our repairs made after we get back to Michigan.  We didn't have a fire, we didn't loose our brakes and while we can't cook or use the furnace for the rest of this trip, we still have a microwave which will warm up pre-cooked food from the grocery and we have extra blankets and a sleeping bag on board.

Thank you, God, for keeping us safe yesterday.  Thank you, guardian angels, for keeping us safe yesterday.  Thank you St. Christopher for your protection yesterday.

I'd stop drinking coffee, but I'm no quitter.  ~Author Unknown