SEVENTEEN

Our trip back to the plant in Tennessee was highlighted by a flat and a blowout on Friday. The flat was in Deming Nm and the blowout was near Van Horn Tx. As we were refueling in Deming, Betty checked the tires and found a low tire on the trailer. There was a tire shop just up the street and we were soon on the road again.

Here we are at “Big O” tire shop in Deming, Nm.

Later that evening, just before dark, we had a blowout. Though we immediately pulled over, we still had some damage. Here is a look.

The tire that blew was a good looking tire that was three years old. I had been checking the temperature of the sidewall and tread at each stop with no hint of a pending problem. Go figure  .  .  .  .

We keep a jumper pack and a 12 volt impact wrench handy for such occasions.

We pulled the good tire up on a block and soon we had the tire changed out. Now, we were out of spare tires and we eased into a tire shop in a old service station. Being next to the border and at night, the border patrol was constantly active as we got a new tire and our spare checked out.

Here is the service truck that got us back on the road.

We waved good by to the tire guys, and put on a few more miles to make sure that things were working well. Overnighting in Van Horn Texas, we were still ahead of Winter storm Titan. It was time for a few hours of sleep. Up early the next morning, we put in seventeen hours behind the wheel to beat the storm into our docking port in Norman.