Oshkosh Or Almost A Bust 2021 Day 3 and 4

Oshkosh Or Almost A Bust 2021 – Day 3 and 4

So it is just after midnight here in Riverton, Wyoming and I am sitting here in a hotel room for a second night trying to collect my thoughts about the events over the last two days.
Here I go putting out to the world what is happening..

Well Wednesday morning I was up pretty early and began to pack the camper up, putting things away and getting ready to hit the road for my next stop in Shoshoni, Wyoming. I decided to go top off the gas tank at the Hill AFB gas station before trying to hook-up the camper to the truck. Yeah, that didn’t go as planned.

When I rolled up to the base gas station, all of the pumps were turned off. No idea why, no signs saying “Sorry out of order” nothing. Then one of the exchange workers looks at me and says, “Hey the pumps have no power”. “No shit lady, you think!”

I returned to the campground and completed the pack out and hooking up of the camper to the truck. I figured at this point I would wait and get fuel while on the road. About 20 minutes later, I had the truck hooked, did a quick walk around to make sure everything worked, the tanks were dumped, closed and that the tires were all good to go.

With the trip inspection done it was time to get the show on the road.

I headed out the base and ended up on Route 89 and eventually on Interstate 84 which would take me East towards Interstate 80 and Wyoming.

About 45 minutes into the drive, I was on finally on Interstate 80 and now on the hunt to find a place to get some fuel. That placed ended up being the town of Evanston, Wyoming.

Once I left there, I headed a little bit further down the Interstate until the GPS told to get off the highway and followed many different routes through a number of small Wyoming towns. The scenery for the most part was nothing to really brag about, it was pretty flat and desolate out there. I would eventually end up on a route that was put me on what was a pretty uneventful day.

State Route 28 (also known as the Lower Farson Cutoff Road) runs from the town of Fontenelle and eventually gets you to the town of Lander. The drive is uneventful and there are some really great pieces of scenery once you get into some of the hills just be fore Lander. This is I believe where my problems began.

Unbeknown to me, there was an issue developing with the rear tire/ spindle on the back right side of the camper. I didn’t notice anything and didn’t know how bad anything was until I stopped to check on the camper. Once I saw that I had a potential issue I knew I needed to get to a mechanic right away to get the issue addressed. The closest town was Lander. I stopped at the first auto shop I could find, but they couldn’t help me out at all and the lady there suggested that I push on to Riverton where there were shops that could help.

Fingers crossed, I headed up the road and began to make phone calls to the people at Good Sam whom I had an extended warranty with for the camper and then to find the closest RV Repair place. The people at Good Sam that I spoke with said that the warranty should cover any issues and to get to the RV Repair place as soon as possible. Well Duh!!

During all of this I was calling home to let my wife, cousin and mom know what was going on and that I was having a mechanical issue with the camper. Of course there wasn’t much they could do at the moment and I would be in-touch in a few once I got someplace.

As I was driving along, I used my phone to find the closest RV repair place and that ended up being “Adams RV Sales and Service” which is located in this little town called Riverton. At this point I really didn’t know how bad off I really was with the camper, but my luck was about to change for the worse in a few minutes.

Upon reaching Riverton, I ended up missing my turn and had to turn around and go back and then I missed my turn again. Then it happened.

The tire completely sheered off the camper in one big loud “BANG!”. I stopped and looked behind me to see the tire and what was left of the break drum sitting in the street. I went and grabbed these items and put them on the bed of my truck and completed my turn around and got on the correct street to get the to the repair shop.
I reached “Adams” repair shop a few minutes after all of this and of course it was the end of the day to boot.

I went inside the shop at this point and was just completely distraught about what had happened and asked for some assistance. The young lady behind the counter (Mary) was very empathetic and the mechanic on duty said there wasn’t much they could do right that section as they were about to close.

He went and looked at what the situation was and told me that the bearing had gone bad and that there was nothing that I could have even done to prevent this incident and that I was really lucky to get as far as I did.

Mary (the girl behind the counter) took down my information and the initial information about what needed to be done to get me back on the road and that they would make me a priority. But the catch 22 to all of this was they didn’t have the parts available; those would have to be ordered and shipped in. I asked where they would be shipped in from and she indicated that they would come from Casper. I asked how far away Casper was from Riverton and was told about 125 miles. I laughed at that point and told her that if they could get the parts that I would go pick them up and anything else they needed from Casper and bring them back.

Mary said that would work and that she would get a hold of me in the morning and she would also get a hold of the Good Sam extended warranty people to get the cost covered. I couldn’t thank her and her mechanics enough.

Now it was time to make some calls home and find a place to bed down for at least the next two nights and oh yeah cancel some other reservations that I had previously made.
I drove through the town of Riverton to see about some fuel that I really needed by now as the “low fuel” light was now on. While getting fuel, I began the search for a hotel with the help of my mom, we found a hotel and made the reservation on line. So the “Super 8” it is.

I checked into the hotel and the lady behind the desk was really nice, I couldn't believe how nice she was. What a difference a state makes..

As I didn’t want to sit in the hotel room, I grabbed my cameras and decided to check out this little town and see if there was anything really of interest. It was also during this time that my wife finally got a hold of me to see what happened and to make sure I was okay and to what extent the camper was damaged. I also ended up talking to my friends Cliff, Mel and “V” and told them what had happened.

During this time, I was driving up and down the roads here in Riverton just checking things out and came across a farm field that had a number of horses and new born pony’s. I pulled off to the side of the road and took some pictures, and wasn’t really paying attention and noticed that I created a one truck traffic jam. Once I noticed this, I got back in the truck and departed the area.
Eventually I ended up on one of the roads that led me out towards the Riverton Airport and eventually I ended up some side road that took me out to the middle of nowhere.

My wife whom was keeping an eye on me, via the tracking of my phone (yes I knew she did this) called me to check on me and too see if I was okay. I told her I was okay, but upset that this incident basically hosed up the trip at least for now. She told me that there wasn’t much we could do but wait until the morning and go from there. She was right (yeah I said that) of course. So it was time to get some dinner and head back to the hotel to call it a night.

My Thursday morning started really early as I was up at about 0330am local time, it was mainly because I was anxious and concerned about what was going to happen about getting the camper fixed and back on the road.

The morning progressed pretty slowly and I did a lot of channel flipping and realized that there was nothing but crap on TV now days and especially at that time of the morning. I mean really how much crap can you sell at 0330am in the morning to people.

My wife called me about 7am or so, and we both talked for a few and admitted to each other that neither of us had slept all night. Today was going to be a long ass day.

Finally at just after 8am Mary from “Adams” called me and said we had a problem with Good Sam. She indicated that they were willing to authorize the repair, but the information they had was that I was the “original owner” and not the “second owner”. So she said I needed to call them and get that squared away and then she also indicated that the shop in Casper had the parts needed for the repair and that I could pick them up. I told Mary that I would go once she had everything officially covered with Good Sam. That took her all of about 20 minutes.

When Mary called back with the news, about the repair authorization, she also gave me the address for the place to pick-up the parts in Casper and I told her I was heading out the door right away. It was also during this call that I asked about the blackwater line drain getting fixed. Mary indicated that this wasn’t on the initial information because all of us were only worried about the wheel area, but she would get back to me with the information confirming what the potential problem could be.

I headed out of Riverton and was now on my way to Casper, Wyoming to pick-up parts for the camper. And by the way it was only 105 miles to where I had to go.

It was during this part of the drive I called Good Sam to go over my remaining options to get the blackwater tank fixed. I had indicated to these folks that I didn’t want to keep having to pay the deductible and that “Adams” repair shop didn’t have the materials to fix what the problem was with the blackwater tank. The person I spoke with had indicated to me that if we got them some pictures and they spoke with the shop to confirm the issue that I could get the repair done else where and that I wouldn’t have to pay the deductible again. Let’s see if this is what is really going to happen.
The drive out to Casper went pretty quick, I wonder if that’s because I was doing slightly above the speed limit, as I wanted to get there and back. I know, I know. Safety first.

The shop I was heading to was Six Robblee’s and it was located just inside the Casper city limits, so it was a very quick zip in and zip out type of run. The guys at the store had everything already to go and we just put everything in the truck and back to Riverton I was not headed.

While heading back to Riverton, I spoke to my mom to let her know what was happening and she was as always trying to be supportive, especially given the current situation. Thanks Mom.. Love you.
It was also during this time that I spoke with my wife, and things ended up finally coming to a head for me as I just broke down from the stress of the last couple of days. I told my wife “I need you and I need you here now”. That’s all it took, she told me should be on the next plane out to meet up with me. Of course nothing is ever that easy, but my wife has ways to make it easy. She said she would begin looking into getting a ticket to Casper, I told her I would make a couple of calls myself to find a few things out.

I ended up calling my Marine Brother David Story to get his advice on what airlines flew into Casper airport. He told me which airlines flew into Casper, but he also offered up to fly my wife to me personally in his plane if I could get her to Salt Lake City. I was absolutely floored by this offer. I called my wife to tell her what I could arrange to only be told that she had already gotten her tickets changed/purchased and that she would be in Casper by 1645 (445pm) on Friday afternoon. I felt relief at this point and had to call David back to let him know what was up and to thank him profusely for his most generous offer. David if you read this “Thanks” brother.

I spoke to my a few more and she was already in her “I’ve Got This Mode” to begin making arrangements to get the blackwater tank fixed upon our arrival in Wisconsin. I told her I wasn’t sure yet what the full problem was with the blackwater thank but would let her know once I got back to Riverton and to “Adams” repair shop.

I also heard from my friend Mel about my wife calling him to see about getting a ride to the airport on Friday and that apparently after a couple of calls she had gotten it all worked out. But it was great of him to try and help out anyway.

I made it back to “Adams” repair shop with the parts just after lunch and dropped them off and paid for the Deductible with Mary. I knew already that the camper wouldn’t be done today and I was good with that. While talking to Mary I explained the situation about the blackwater tank and asked her if she would call Good Sam again to give them the confirmation about what needed to be done. She indicated that she would and made the necessary additional notes. It was during this time that the repairs guys pulled the camper into the garage and began to work on it.

At this point, I left the shop and headed out to figure what to do for the rest of the afternoon. During this time I called my friend Mel to talk to him since I owed him a call back and let him know what was happening. At this point I was back at the hotel and again didn’t really want to sit around, so I grabbed my camera bag and headed out to try and get some pictures of the local area.
After driving around the area for about an hour and a-half and talking to my friend Cliff, I decided that trying to take pictures was just going to be a major bust and that it was time to find a place to eat have a beer and to call it a night.

Well I think I have rambled on enough, as it is almost 2am here and I need to get some sleep.

I have decided not to post the pictures of the damage done to the camper cause honestly it happened and that’s all there is to it.

Thanks again to my wife for her support and for dropping everything to come here to Wyoming to ride with me to Wisconsin. Our cousin for getting up early this morning to take pictures of the camper paperwork and send it to me. My mom for providing all sorts of support and love to all of us in the house and me here on the road, it means more than you know. To our friends Cliff, Mel and “V” for listening to me the last two days and for making sure I’m good. David Story I said it above and online earlier today, thanks for offering up to fly my wife personally from Salt Lake City to Wyoming. Above and beyond the call of “Brotherhood”.

Thanks again for all of your support, there will be more shortly.
Semper Fi,
Frank
1/9 Everywhere