Not really sure what this is for, other than to be able to look back on later and hopefully laugh. For the last two weeks, barely a day has gone by without some sort of mishap. Thought I'd review these, labeling them Bad Luck, Stupidity, or Untimely, just to see which as caused me more problems. There also may be some in my family/friends group who are interested in what's happening, so this is also for them.
Bad Luck 01: 11/17 - During short visit to Charleston before starting the Arizona trip, my truck started a clicking sound. Turned out to be the vacuum pump -- $418.19
Bad Luck 02: 11/29 - After getting vacuum pump fixed, truck started smoking black on trip to Tallahassee. Turned out to be a vacuum line -- $60.99
Untimely 01: 11/30 - I had had a wobble in my steering when I put on brakes for some time. Decided I'd better get the brakes checked out. Needed front rotors, etc. -- $438.67
Untimely 02: 11/30 - Brother-in-law telling me I really needed new tires. Decided he's probably right -- $388.29 for 4 new tires. Tire guy suggested I really should get new shocks and told me my rims were bent -- decided I'd spent enough for now.
Bad Luck 03: 12/2 - 100 miles out of Tallahassee, flat tire on 5th wheel. Only cost $7.50 to fix flat, but had real hairy time changing trailer tire on the side of I-10.
Bad Luck 04: 12/3 - Going through Louisiana, I-10 gets very wavy. The long term bouncing pulled the 5th wheel's pigtail connection out of the truck. Didn't notice it until I arrived at son's house, but had noticed that brakes weren't working as well as I thought they should. Pigtail dragged the highway and wore half of the plug away. Had to replace both truck plug and trailer pigtail -- not too expensive, but quite tedious. Was lucky I didn't have an accident, driving 100 miles or so at night without any rear lights or brakes ... whew!
Stupidity 01: 12/4 - At son's house in Texas, stepped hard on a loose 2x4, hit myself in the head, giving myself pretty bad gash on forehead. Drove to hospital, but then decided I probably didn't need stitches.
Stupidity 02: 12/5 - Slammed truck door on my right index finger, nearly taking it off at the first knuckle. Lucky I knew where the hospital was. Got 5 stitches in front and 3 on back. Told me it would take at least 6 months to heal.
Stupidity 03: 12/8 - Ran heater to see if battery would run the fan through the night -- it won't. When heater quit heating, I first suspected that the propane was empty. Tested the stove and found out it lit ok. Accidentally left stove burner unlit with gas on low all day. Nothing blew up, but really scared me. Noticed it was on in evening after driving all day. Turned burner off and all was soon ok again -- wheew!
Stupidity 04: 12/9 - At first blamed bad luck -- later decided it was stupidity again. Got up to about 25 degree morning, started up the truck, and drove down the road toward Marfa. Didn't take too long to figure out truck wouldn't go beyond 2nd gear. Made the 9 miles into town and stopped at Chevrolet dealer. While stopped, I shifted to Reverse and Drive a couple of times. Tried again and now it shifted fine -- wheew again! Later learned that warming up a diesel is very important, especially on very cold mornings. Assuming the not shifting was due to not warming things up.
Stupidity 05: 12/10 - Woke up sometime around midnight with loud humming/ringing throughout the trailer. Turned heater off and still heard it. Suspected maybe a water pipe had broken somewhere and I was hearing water spewing. Went outside and turned off water. Back inside, sat and listened for a long time. Finally decided it was a ringing in my ears -- jeesh. Have had some many problems, I'm now looking for things to happen. Decided ringing must be from altitude.
Can't think of anything else since then. hoho ... looks like stupidity has won out. Writing these down has made me feel less like I've been plagued by bad luck, however, so maybe the exercise was worthwhile. Hopefully the unlucky streak is over.
My Travel Log
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2a. Bad Luck, Stupidity, and Untimely Events
