Happily, our RV travels this summer have been free from breakdowns and mishaps, well except for that crack in the car’s driver side window that we suspect was due to tree trimming in the Wellington KOA but that we didn’t notice until we left, and that missile or rock or whatever that hit the motor home outside of Boise that put the huge spider crack in the driver side windshield. That is until yesterday. Our RV site in Santa Fe was a bit unlevel, both fore and aft and side to side but that isn’t a problem because of the hydraulic leveling system that raises and/or lowers the ends and sides of the motor home to achieve level. However, when we were ready to leave and raised the jacks it apparently put a twist in the frame that caused the upper right corner of the passenger side windshield to pop out of its setting which we didn’t notice until we heard the odd wind noise as we picked up speed down the road. I could see the separation between the window and the gasket from the driver’s seat but it was small and I wasn’t concerned about the windshield falling out and was willing to wait until we stopped in Amarillo to deal with it which I did with a strip of duct tape. When we arrived at our new RV site we both noticed right away that one of the tires on the tow dolly was quite low. I hooked the hose up to the compressor and filled the tire to 40 lbs and hoped it would still have air in the morning.

In the meantime, it was time to go do what it is that we always stop overnight in Amarillo to do and that was to go to 575 Pizzeria to eat pizza. We only discovered this place because a couple of years ago we were stuck in Amarillo over a weekend due to a clogged fuel filter in the motor home. Now, we always stop in Amarillo for the night just so we can have their pizza – the best (says Karen) or the second best (says I) that we’ve had anywhere. We always try to get there early so we don’t have to wait for a table and we were immediately seated at what we now consider to be “our table” since it’s the same one we had last time. It wasn’t long after we ordered our pizzas that one of the managers recognized us and came over to chat. That’s pretty amazing since we only come here twice a year! The pizzas arrived and there was a short discussion between us about which is better, 575 or Fired Up in Durango. The issue remains unresolved because we would rather eat it than talk about it and we will continue to go to both every chance we get.

We woke up early this morning, anticipating a quick departure for Dallas/Fort Worth, but I knew that would be dependent on the condition of the tow dolly tire which was … flat. Oh well, I figured on a delay of a couple of hours as I called Coach Net, our roadside assistance plan. They actually got someone out pretty quick but unfortunately, the diagnosis was not a bad tire but a bad rim! Today, being Sunday, there is nobody open for business in Amarillo that has a 14″ rim – and we tried everyone from Firestone to Walmart to El Papa Wheel and Tire. Resigned to the fact that we’d have to wait until Monday to find a new rim I went to the RV park office and paid for another night as Karen called the RV park in Grapevine to move our reservation back a day. We are optimistic that we’ll be back on the road tomorrow and that we might even discover another reason to stop in Amarillo for the night.