Another Day, Another Challenge…

It is hard to believe that today is only August. 24th, and so much has happened since yesterday. After a nap and some food yesterday we decided to drive for a while and around 10:30 PM we searched for a service plaza to rest for the night, thinking tomorrow we will get up early and really get somewhere. We were up a little later than planned but got moving and after about 2 hours of driving (I follow and John leads with the RV pulling the trailer because the truck just wants to be “for show“), I see a wheel come off the trailer and take off across the highway, sparks are flying from the axle and the other side is smoking before John gets on the berm and stops. We are on I-80 close to Toledo and traffic is pretty heavy. John comes back to assess the damage and I call the turnpike traffic control for help. I asked them to look for the runaway wheel and if they could help us as traffic was so heavy and hazard lights were not doing the trick. John had another wheel in the trailer and started to work on things the best he could. A few minutes later I saw the highway patrol on the eastbound side and we wondered if they found our wheel. Shortly highway patrol came and sure enough he had the wheel, it had jumped the barrier! I can only say God was watching out for us and others because it could have done so much damage and caused an accident. Highway patrol was great. They set up trucks with flashing lights for about a mile behind us and an Ohio state trooper set up as well to keep traffic away from us so John could get another wheel on. We started off again and all of the sudden it looked like a big black wing appeared on the trailer and off to the berm we went again. Traffic control was still behind us so they stopped as well. The aluminum shell that is on the trailer peeled off of the door and was flapping in the breeze. John got some metal screws and reattached it the best we could at the moment. We traveled on to the next travel plaza and John has worked on coming up with a solution to the temporary fix. I am grateful for the things we have but so far it has been an ill-fated journey. So please keep us in your prayers and send us some positive thoughts. I think we will find a campground and try to  reassess and adapt. John is taking on the bigger portion of all this work in the heat and I feel a little useless.