Could this be used in a commercial?

**Six Goodrich All Weather Radial Tires      $1070.00

**One Good Sam RV Emergency & Road Side Service Membership      $127.00

**One tip for Jesse from Lisek Tires who came to the rescue           $20.00

** Being only 2 miles from help...            Priceless!

Well, not EXACTLY priceless, in greenbacks, it actually cost quite a bit, but when you look at the bright side – as we are inclined to do on this trip because if we didn’t we’d be in tears and headed back to Seattle!

So, ask yourself - what would you do when you’re driving along (safely under the speed limit) and suddenly hear a loud thumping from the rear of your RV? 

Well, for us, it went like this:

** First look to see if one of the “kids” is rolling around loose.
** Then the lovely assistant springs up and over the front seat (of course with the utmost skill) while wrestling a 170 pound Dane off her lap (yes, Julio is still trying to drive - but I'm motivated by the smell of burning rubber.
** Our quit-witted pilot skillfully maneuvers to the shoulder of the road while vehicles are whizzing by like they are vying for the pole position at the Indy 500.
     Note:  The speed limit in Montana is 75…now tell me how often YOU stay under the limit…well they don’t either!
** Once stopped he engages the safety blinkers as the agile and graceful assistant deploys from the side door (those of you who know what a klutz I am can only imagine all this leaping and diving about.)

Picture me doing a safety brief like you’ve heard at the beginning of every flight and think of what ours would sound like after this latest "adventure":  

“There are four emergency exits, two in the front, one on the passenger side, and one in the rear of the vehicle.  In the event of an emergency, oxygen will not deploy from the overhead but you may feel a flow of oxygen as your hind end sucks the upholstery up from your seat.  Lighting will not appear on the floor showing you the way to the nearest exit, but you will be able to follow the other screaming passengers ahead of you…particularly your pilot and his lovely assistant will be trying to outrun and grab the three Danes who are faster, and likely even more frightened than of all of you.” 

So, the next event was to contact our Good Sam Dispatcher (one of the BEST things we purchased before undertaking this voyage) and they sent someone rushing to our rescue.  Truly, they were there in under an hour.  It was a comfort to know that our mishap occurred approximately 2 miles west of Butte, Montana, we had numerous blessings:  The weather was gorgeous though it was forecasted to be stormy.  There was a cooling breeze to keep the temperture from getting hotter than the hinges of Hades, AND we were 1/4 mile from the nearest off-ramp where we could park safely awaiting assistance…see, the bright side glimmers through!   

Our fabulous tire repair guy, Jesse (who can’t be any older than shoes I own) was strong enough (and had a floor jack) that easily got the offending tire off and the spare in place.

What happened to cause this (because I’m sure your trembling with anticipation) was the bracket that is behind the rear mud flap, broke loose and lodged into the mud flap, which then stuck - gouging into the inside tire.  By the time we had come to a stop, it had peeled off the top of the tread like an apple.  Jesse also informed us that the adjoining tire looked a bit dodgy.  We got a recommendation to a tire store in Butte and directions, and headed that way.  Thankfully again, we were only a few miles from a really good tire repair store.  When we arrived, they gave us top priority, had out tires in stock and put us on jacks within 30 minutes.  We were out of there in less than two hours.

Another memorable thing for me was that standing in the Safeway parking lot across the street, discussing how fortunate we had been (especially considering how this “adventure” COULD have gone) I looked up to see this HUMONGOUS statue of Jesus up on a mountain overlooking  the highway.  I have no idea what the kindly people of Butte call this monument, but to me that statue will forever be, “Our Savior of the Blessed Tire Change.”  

While Donald was commenting “at this rate, we’ll get to Vermont sometime in November” he then concluded, “what the heck – we aren’t on any tight schedule” and decided to stop early this evening, at a KOA.   <- more about this place later…but a quick preview – they are a little slice of heaven…they have SHOWERS, swimming pools and movie stars!  Well, not exactly movie stars but there are some RVs here with gigantic satellites, solar panels, buffalo wings on the grill and cute little patio lights around the astro-turf in their sitting area. 

Oh yeah, you gotta be tantalized about these!  …just as soon as I finish shaking the dog hair out of the rig, dropping the toilet fresheners into the potty, and fixing three bowls of dog food AND a gourmet bologna sandwich for my beloved and myself. 

Grace does come in all different ways and places, you sometimes just have to look for it…in my case, up was a good place to start.  :o)