Our RV Journey, Part 1

Lotus and I loaded up the RV one warm, humid night and headed out after work. We'd been planning this trip since last year, but it wasn't until June that we finally took posession of our new-to-us RV. We headed west, into NY state, and right around the time I needed to find a place to pull over and use the on-board facilities, the car in front of us swerved left. Something was in the road. I couldn't swerve due to the other car and tractor trailer in the lane next to me. There was a tire (or large piece of a tire) sitting in the middle of my lane. I figured that since I couldn't switch lanes, I'd straddle it. Heck, I 'm a huge RV. I probably have enough ground clearance. Wrong! Ker-thunk a thunk-a bump bump! Oops! I see rubber flying in my back-up camera monitor.

Then I remember all of the warnings from other RVers that say if you've had a blow-out, the flying rubber can damage the underside of your motorhome. Now, all I can think of is how much damage this stray tire has caused underneath. We're barely started on the trip and I'm envisioning a propane leak, black tank (toilet) contents oozing, etc.

We pull over at the next exit. I am on my hands and knees on the hot pavement crawling around under my RV with a flashlight. No damage, thank goodness. But who would have thought that a huge 33' RV would have as little ground clearance as a low slung sedan? There's not much, let me tell ya!

For the next 100 miles or so I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for our rig to implode, or some other horrible fate. Nothing! We made it to our stopping point by 11pm and went to bed.

Later I read that an RV had pulled over on that stretch of highway a few hours prior to our passing. Apparently they had a flat, but when they stopped to change the tire, their RV caught fire and was toast! I still wonder if that tire chunk was related or not, as I do remember seeing an area of burned out pavement around the time we hit the tire.

More happy travels to come!