A Good Breakdown Story

[CindyL]

Well, here we are in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We had 4 great days at Rocky Mountain National Park, at a wonderful campground, Estes Park Campground. On the way to Custer, I was driving, when my stomach started growling and we were at one of the rare towns with a place to eat, Wheatland, WY. So I woke Kevin up and we pulled off and ate lunch. Before leaving, he checked the trailer and noticed that one of the tires was not straight. He took it apart; the bearings fell out the back side of the seal bear assembly. Wheatland had no repair place, but the Motel 6 folks were great (I had parked there to walk to the Arby.) and let us leave the trailer there while we returned 75 miles to Cheyenne. We stopped at a JollyRogers RV. They, naturally, did not have a part for our old UHaul, but were going to Denver the next day and offered to take our part to Dexter (Kevin had removed the assembly and brought it with him.) They did suggest that we check with a machine shop. The machine shop said that they could make a part but suggested that we should check at a local UHaul that still does repairs on equipment. They were closed but called us back. They had not only one bearing assembly but two, so we have new for both sides of the trailer. They said that UHaul no longer lets them order parts to keep on hand, so they owner said it was likely the last one he'd ever see. I told him that we could stop in when next we are through. He wants us to, since he's never seen one of their camper trailers.

Sure do miss the small town helpfulness that we lost when we moved to Chicago. It was nice to see it today. By the way, Motel 6 is not charging us anything to leave the trailer in their lot, either. Nice folks in Wyoming!

CindyL

[Frederick L. Simson]

Nice folks in Wyoming!

I agree. We stayed in a campground in Wyoming in 2005 on the way to the Gathering at Bullard's Beach. They were the nicest people we dealt with.

[Lainey]

That was sure a situation that could have turned ugly if you had kept driving! I'm so glad that no further damage was done and that everything turned out well in the end.

It's always nice to hear stories about people just helping out, for no reason other than just to be nice. Nice folks in WY, so helpful!

On my maiden voyage we were parked and my son and I got back in the Rav4. All of a sudden we were moving - backwards! A semi tractor trailer decided that he could just back right on up even though I know I was parked back far enough that he could see me... (insurance found him guilty in the end - but it took a year...) Did some damage but it was drivable. A day down the road there was a big "thunk", the rad dropped! The dealership couldn't do the repair until the next day. A customer overheard our plight, called his wife to see if he could being home guests, and put me, my son who was 4 at the time, and even our large dog up for the night! A much nicer option than staying in the Boler in the middle of a Vancouver suburb's parking lot! Warms your heart to know that there a good people out there!

[scott fraser]

Cindy, you were very lucky to find that bad bearing while parked. Great to see small town folks are as helpful as ever too.

Lainey's story reminds me of a family from Arkansas who hit a deer with their minivan on the highway near here several years back. My wife was going the other way and saw it happen so she stopped and put the deer out of it's misery with a hunting knife then gathered up the family and brought them home to me before heading out shopping again. We put them up for the night while they contacted relatives in Southern Alberta who came up the next day with a flatbed trailer and took them and their crunched van south for repairs.

Good folks, they were. Young Menonite parents with 3 youngsters having a nice holiday till the deer said hello. I dunno what they thought of our place but I noticed their eyes popped when they saw my son's room papered with his best targets from competitions. I always figured we turned a disaster into a bit of an adventure for them, probably gave them a good story to take home too... Strange lady kills deer, waves them into another van with a knife, takes them home then leaves to go shopping and here they are in a house with a strange man, two boys with a roomfull of shot up targets and wondering what will happen next....geez..it's a wonder they didn't run off screaming.

[Lainey]

Strange lady kills deer, waves them into another van with a knife, takes them home then leaves to go shopping and here they are in a house with a strange man, two boys with a roomfull of shot up targets and wondering what will happen next....geez..it's a wonder they didn't run off screaming.

Yep, We're still talking about it here in Alberta!