Hello from Nevada

Since we last talked we have had some crazy stuff happen. First we were on I-80 East driving from CA to NV. when a wheel flew off the camper! The same one as the last time! OMG. We think it got loose when we went over a pothole at the rest area we had just stopped at. This time we not only lost the wheel, the axle was broken. Triple A was useless so we called highway patrol and had to find our own help. Without the axle the camper cannot be moved. It can’t even be put up on a flat bed because the back end of the camper would not be supported. Also the 13’ camper plus the height of the flatbed makes it too high to go through some of the overpasses. We ended up having the axle chained up and towed ourselves to an area the highway patrol picked out. Kingvale Shell.

It was a gas station, pizza joint, another area for snow tubing and disc golf. There’s also lots of heavy equipment. Everything is owned by the one guy. We checked in with the gas station manager and were told you’re fine over there. We found a company called Axle Surgeon, got an estimate, he ordered the parts and thought we OK.

Friday morning after 2 days in place we were approached by a very angry gas station manager. He thought we should have been fixed and on the road already. He gave us an hour to vacate the property. He threatened to have us towed (which would cause enormous damage) or possibly use one of those snowplows or bulldozers and push us off the property into a ditch or wherever, who cares as long as it’s off their property. The man was loud and verbally abusive to both of us. We were stuck there unable to move and get away from this place.

Fortunately the Axle Surgeon guy, Chad, came to our rescue. He called in a couple of favors to get enough parts that he could give us a temporary fix. By the time he finished it was dark but we hitched up. The station owner had called the Sheriff’s office. 4 sheriffs were there to make sure we left. They were all nice guys trying to help us. They even gave us an escort with flashing lights to the Donner Summit rest stop where we stayed overnight.

The next morning Chad came back and towed us 30 miles to (Sparks) Reno NV to a Travel Center. He has a working relationship with the TC to work on vehicles. He parked us in a good spot in the back. There are probably 150 semis parked here. There is a hotel, casino, restaurant, truck repair facility, tires, oil change place, gas station – everything a trucker needs. It’s a huge place. When the trucks are running their refrigeration systems there is a low constant rumble but there is no highway traffic noise and no idiots yelling at us.

We expect Chad to show up tomorrow with the parts but it could be another day or two. We have everything we need and are OK for now.

Trivia: one side of the hotel parking lot has a sign that says “no bobtail parking”. What is that you may wonder. When the cab is separated from the truck body, the cab alone is called the “bobtail.” There is a separate section for the cabs to park.

Donner Summit

We walked the path around a marina combination park this morning. Swanky residences are along a part of it.

If you’d read this far now you have to listen to me brag about Vic and Zoe. Our “walk” this morning turned out to be a 2 mile trek. Both of them did it with no issues! Yay especially for Vic. I’ve never seen him do 2 miles with no problem.