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Alabama Blowouts

My son had moved to Alabama to play college football and the trips to his games were becoming a burden. It was seven hours one way on a Friday night then back again early Sunday morning. We thought a motorhome would be fun and maybe we would not be nearly as tired when we got home.

We looked all over the internet to find a cheap yet reliable RV. We found one right here in town, so my wife and her brother took a look and brought it home on a Saturday that we didn’t have to travel North. It is a 1986 Tiffin Allegro, in pretty good shape and hey, it sleeps about 9 people. It is perfect for us.

We were getting ready to go on our first road trip to Alabama for a home game and some tailgating. We were so excited I think we drove the thing around town about ten times. Everything was loaded and we had a plan all made up.

The RV was parked in the driveway, ready to go. we were all loaded in and the house was locked up. We were ready to go. As we pulled out of the driveway the spare tire on the back of the RV caught the fender well on our Dodge Grand Caravan parked in the driveway and ripped clean off. Normally this would be the end of any story like this, but after about a half hour of calming down we headed out for our maiden voyage.

My wife had finally convinced me that we were still going to have a blast on his trip when the rear right outside dual tire blew out. Here we go again. I did the crazy dance on the side of the road and calmed down enough to change the tire and get back on the road. My wife kept saying how someday we were gonna look back on this and laugh. It was about that time that I had asked her to make sure I didn’t forget to replace the spare before we headed home or we might not be laughing.

You guessed it. The spare blew out about an hour short of our destination. We parked in a gas station parking lot right next to a go-go bar and settled in for the night. I spoke with a police officer and he gave me the number of a local tire company with an emergency truck that opened at 0700 hrs. I stayed awake for the rest of the night trying to locate some help. as the sun came up I got a hold of the tire company and they were on their way.

It turned out that the initial blowout caused some damage to th muffler system and caused it to heat to be aimed directly at the tire. Luckily we got it fixed and made it just in time to the pregame activities. We have been stranded on the side of the road since then, but we have learned to deal with it.

Submitted by Michael Rich of Spring Hill, FL as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest.

Do you have a favorite RVing or camping memory you’d like to share? Submit your favorite memory here!

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