The Epic Trip comes to a Screeching Halt​

After the runaway incident, the camera used for Magic Hitch was broken, and the front jack was a little bent and bound up when raising, but it worked. The caster wheel hit the curb with force and bounced over. I am surprised it didn’t fold.  But it worked well enough that we continued on our trip, hoping Pebble Service would figure out how to catch up with us to fix it.

It worked, that is, until today, at the 2nd charging stop in Edwards, Colorado. We charged the Pebble and the Truck at the same time. It was a good charge stop at an Electrify America. The site was a little tight, but that didn’t bother the Pebble. Steve RC’d it into place.

When we got ready to leave, the jack would not retract. A call to Pebble service told us how to get to the bolt on the top of the jack, where you can manually crank it up. 

Steve stripped out our 7/16ths socket. Then he borrowed another one from an oil change place next door to the Shell. No better. A nice guy offered to drive Steve to a hardware store, where he bought a beefier socket set and a big, long, heavy wrench handle.  Still, he could not get the jack to raise. 

We moved from the charger to a spot at the Shell where we were blocking some vacuums and air for tires. Also, we were blocking the fill ports for the underground gas tanks. 

Several employees of Shell came out to see if they could help. They were understanding about our awkward parking but did let us know that a gas tanker was due in and we’d have to move soon. 

Steve raised the air suspension on the truck to the highest level, and that got us 2-3 inches off the ground. The Shell staff pointed out a roadside rest area across the freeway where we could park. It was a stressful 5-minute drive, very slowly, with our emergency flashers on.

So here we sit, in a rest area, between two very noisy big rigs, in a thunderstorm. 

Pebble is looking for an RV campground that will allow us to be towed in. Then they think that they can get the part to us by… (SAD) Tuesday. 

I just cancelled 7 reservations that took me a month to plan. 3 Harvest Hosts, 2 RV parks, and 2 Provincial parks in Canada.

I really, really hope we can make it to my daughter’s house in time to go with them on the Prince Edward Island part of the trip. 

More later. I am too sad and mad to be objective right now.