Eagle Nest to Fort Smith

We headed out from Eagle Nest Wednesday morning (September 10) and had a rather eventful day—and NOT in a good way. Roger makes it a habit to stop a few miles down the road to check on everything to be sure it’s all secure. This time when he “thumped” on the tires he found that one of the inside tires on the rear of the motorhome was almost flat! Since there was nowhere in Cimarron to get it fixed and it was only about 25 miles of good, straight highway to a truck stop in Springer, we decided to take a chance and proceed on.

Arrived at the truck stop without a problem, they promptly removed both tires, checked for leaks in the one that had lost air—and found NOTHING! They also charged nothing, so all it cost us (other than a generous tip to the guy doing all the work) was an hour of our time—and we weren’t on a schedule, so no big deal. It’s still a mystery how it had gone flat, but seems to be fine now.

So we got back on the road, traveled another 50 miles or so and Roger saw a policeman behind us with his lights on! Pulled over, opened the window to see what was wrong and it turned out that someone had reported that we were about to lose the motorcycle which rides on a rack on back of the Explorer. It really wasn’t a problem, but we’re gonna have to find a better way to haul that thing because it bounces whenever we hit a bump and people are always telling us it’s falling!

Got back on the road and the wind must have been blowing 40 mph—the Zephyr handles wind like a champ, but what must have been a HUGE gust or whirly-gig suddenly hit us on the side and moved us literally into the other lane (thankfully nothing was over there) and ripped the awning almost open! The sudden swerve and noise made me think we’d had a blow-out. Roger managed to pull over to the side of the road and stop to survey the damage before the wind yanked the awning off the rails. However, it had broken the front roller mechanism and unrolled a couple of feet of awning at the back which prevented the arms from locking to hold it against the side of the motorhome.

We had some big zip-ties which he used to hold the arms together but eventually had to climb on top of the motorhome to attach a rope to the roller in an attempt to keep the canvas from flying out too much. It was just a temporary fix until we could get another 50 miles or so to the next RV park where he could more safely put the big ladder up and secure things a little better. Not sure if the entire awning will have to be replaced, but it seems secure enough to make the trip home and to our local RV dealer for repairs. (UPDATE: We stopped at the dealer’s when we got to town and they said it only needs a new spring mechanism in the front, they have one in stock and we have an appointment for Sept. 23 to have it repaired.)

Except for a lot of rain, Thursday was just another day of travel with no unexpected incidents. We couldn’t locate an RV park when we were ready to stop so we just stopped at a Travel Plaza on the Cimarron Turnpike for the night.

Unfortunately, we received a phone call that evening from Roger’s brother reporting on his mom’s appointment that day with a neurologist—and the news wasn’t good. It seems that she has a rare disease known as PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy). It causes the patient to lose balance and fall, along with some problems with brain and eye function, and there are no known treatments or a cure. Here's a link to some information about the disease if you're interested in learning more: http://psp.org/page/whatispsp"

This week the doctor admitted her to a rehab facility at a local hospital for further testing and evaluation. Not sure how long she’ll be in the hospital, but in the meantime we’ve been elected as “foster parents” for her dog Rusty, a 10-year-old Corgy—it's quite an adjustment for all of us right now!

We probably won’t be updating the blog very often now that we won't be on the road for awhile—somehow our trips from Rock Island, OK, to Fort Smith doesn’t make very good blog material! But I will post again when there’s anything new or interesting to report.