On the Way to Myrtle Beach

November 8, 2010


"What Really Happened Between Willow Tree and Lakewood"

First, I have a couple of pics of our last day (was it only this morning?) at Willow Tree.  We both woke up quite early as we usually do on "moving day".  Watched the sun come up and the steam lifting off the water.  I donned two sweatshirts (one hooded) and gloves and took off for my morning walk around the lake.  It was soooo peaceful and quiet! 

What a beautiful walk!

By the way, there is a Cedar Creek Fifth-Wheel Trailer Owners' Rally taking place at Willow Tree this week.  John and Sheila, where are you?  I guess it would be too much to have you leave Arizona for a rally in South Carolina, huh???

Anyway, we were all packed up and ready to leave around 10:30; only had 40 miles to travel so decided I would just drive the car and follow Ken to Lakewood.  Two miles down the road he called on the walkie-talkie that he smelled smoke and was stopping.  We pulled over as far as we could (which wasn't much) and I jumped out of the car to run to the rig. 


We ran to the back which was filled with smoke and found the new nightlight we had just bought at Walmart two days ago for the bathroom was in flames.  The smoke alarms started to go off; I ran for the fire extinguisher and Ken blew like crazy and got the flames out!!!  We threw open the windows to get rid of the smoke but there was a lot of black soot all over the bathroom. 

This is what the night light looked like before it caught on fire.  GE LED Night Light, #19037.  We have reported the fire to the local Walmart and are writing to Walmart and GE tomorrow, but if you have one of these lights, please unplug it immediately.  Maybe the movement of the rig caused a short which started a fire, but it really isn't worth the risk. 






We decided we should hook up the car and I should continue the trip in the rig to watch for any more flames.  We went through our regular routine, however, rather quickly to get going and fix the electrical problem.  I really don't remember taking the key out of the ignition (which you don't do when you're towing the car).  Don't know what made me do it, but as I got in the rig, I plugged in the Pressure Pro (the tire pressure monitoring system we have on all tires, both on the rig and the car).

About 30 miles later on Route 31 (a two-lane highway), the Pressure Pro started beeping, showing the pressure in the car's front tire was 18 and then zero.  We had a blowout!!  Ken managed to get the rig over to the side of the road and got on the phone to the emergency road service when a SC State Trooper pulled over to see what the problem was.  He said the SCDOT would come and change the tire for us and they were there within 5 minutes, had the tire changed within another 20 and we were off again; however, we had no idea what kind of damage we...I had done to the car.  At the very least we would need a new tire (you would not believe the damge to that tire!!); or a new transmission; or a new car!

Well, here we are tonight thanking our lucky stars.  We had a fire, but we were in the rig and able to take care of it immediately.  If it had happened yesterday, we would have been gone and I won't even think about Barney being here alone with no way of escaping.  We had a blow out, but because of the Pressure Pro warning us, we were able to get the car off the road and the tire changed.  A lot more damage could have happened had we kept going.  And, the car appears to be working fine.  We're going tomorrow for a new tire and checking the alignment and other front tire, but everything (the transmission) appears to be fine. 

We were very lucky...Ken even bought a lottery ticket hoping our luck would continue!!  We'll let you know if that luck carries on either through tomorrow or Wednesday night!

So, all is well!

By the way, Bob thanks for all your help!!!