May 14-15, 2013
There are RV days that have just too much excitement !!!
A last return to Kings Canyon on Tuesday, lots of blue sky with big puffy clouds. We did a short trail at the "Princess" camping area that was an area that had been logged with many old stumps remaining. These areas are now well grown over with pine trees of considerable size. We stopped at several road viewpoints that we had previously missed and the cloud formations were really accentuating the views. We also saw more of the beautiful Kings River and on this visit.
On our return from the Canyon we stopped at the town of Sanger to use McDonalds free WiFi and then ate at the interesting "Chuck Wagon", home of the Chilli Dog. It seems to be a local favorite and was pretty good in a greasy kind of way.
We then headed for the campground and almost there came upon an RV'er broken down in a bad spot on the road. I probably would have just driven past and waved, but Twinkles, ever the savior of the poor, the homeless, downtrodden and needy volunteered our services. (It is good there are people like her in this world !) They were actually a nice family on an outing, the young man was a navy diver based in San Diego with his very frazzled wife, two young kids and a couple of dogs. His Ford F-350 transmission blew a seal or something and had lost most of its oil and he couldn't make the hill. A local campground owner was there helping him and was going to try to tow him using a chain from his pickup down the road to a safe spot. Instead they were able to add transmission oil to his truck, unhook it and move it off to the side. I then hitched my truck up to his RV and pulled his trailer to the campground owners place a 1/4 mile or so away. This trailer had to be at least 40 feet and probably was way overloaded, the turn into this campground was tight, it was dark, then I had to pull up this hill, then back down into a camp spot. Somehow it all worked out ! The campground owner was great, (he was an angel) he put them in a full hookup spot and was not going to even charge them, kept saying how he had been in that situation before. He also knew a good transmission shop and was going to help to get the truck there for repair. We ended up getting back to our RV at 9:15 PM, tired, but exhilarated that we had done a good deed, this has to count for a healthy dose of good Karma, even if I don't exactly believe ?
Wednesday started off OK, I was able to get the our RV up the steep campground hill with the S-curve at the top using 4 wheel drive low range with no sweat although another big RV, by chance, started down the hill as I was going up. I stopped before the S- turn so he could get around us then pulled up to the top.
It was then smooth sailing until the trailer tire blew out. I mean came apart, check the photo. Luckily there was a decent shoulder on the road and it was a right side tire. As it was a safe spot that I could easily jack I decided to change it myself rather than wait for road service. I've now done it a couple of times and have the routine down pretty good. This was a little different as the tire tread had come off the tire and wrapped itself around the axle, don't know how that could happen, but it did and it was a struggle to get it unwrapped. Anyhow I got it off, put the spare on and we made the rest of the trip was uneventfull. Needless to say, I am now very nervous about these "Towmax" tires and looking for a tire dealer. The tire tread flapping around did some damage, tore up the fabric covering and insulation on the underside of the slide, bent a frame bracket and loosened up a wheel fender brace, but they are all easily fixable. Well, so much for the good Karma theory!!!
You're going to love Yosemite! We were there a few weeks back. It's so beautiful it looks fake.
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