Uncle Burt Goes To a Comedy Show

Meet our covered wagon for the summer trip: Uncle Burt.  The kids named it Burt in a nod to the movie RV, which has been referenced many times since the purchase.  Burt is the Big. Ugly. Rolling. Turd.  Dad added "Uncle" because it clearly placed the coach in the right crowd.

Dad spent many an evening fixing and upgrading things to get Burt ready.  Then we loaded up and went on two shakedown trips: one to Rexburg earlier this week and another to St. George last night.

The trip to Rexburg went great.  We parked in a Walmart parking lot the first night and pulled over to a rest area for the second night.  It was a lot of fun.

Last night's trip to St. George didn't sink the ship, but we (a.k.a. Dad) learned by experience the wisdom in pulling a toad--our Dodge Dakota.  Mom voted to pull it behind from the beginning, but Dad wanted to try a trip without the toad.  Sure, the truck would provide a little freedom, but what could we possibly need it for on a one-day trip to St. George?

What we might possibly need it for on a one-day trip to St. George became painfully clear when we heard a boom on the freeway between Scipio and Fillmore.  Was it a gunshot?  Did we run over a fridge?  Did the back slide fall off the RV?

Nope, one of the back tires blew.  If you've ever gotten a flat tire in a car while driving on the freeway before, it's nothing like that.  It's much, much louder and scarier in big truck tires that are filled to over 100 pounds of pressure.

We turned on the emergency flashers and pulled over.  First and foremost, we checked our time to see whether we'd now be late to see Brian Regan at the Tuachan.  We had about a 2 hour window to spend before we'd be late.  Start the countdown.

Since the back tires were duallies, we decided to limp into Fillmore at low speed and hope to make a hero out of its remaining, sister tire.  And yep, we were proud of that tire.  It held wonderfully until we pull into the only open tire shop in Fillmore on a Saturday afternoon.

Finding the only open tire shop in Fillmore was a blessing, and they quickly fixed us up with two new tires (one of the front ones was about to burst as well).  And as customers at the only open tire shop on a Saturday, we also got the privilege of paying top dollar for our new tires.

Two hours later, we arrived in St. George--just in time to see the show.  Tragedy averted.  And, we learned that being different can really pay off.  The RV parking spaces at the Tuachan are right up front, which means we parked really close even though we showed up at the last minute.  After the show, we beat the traffic jam--even in a huge RV!

All in all, we learned some valuable lessons, which is why we're doing these shakedown trips.  Dad learned that pulling a truck gives a degree of freedom when the RV breaks down.  We could have sent the family in the truck on to the show in St. George while Dad fixed Uncle Burt.  Mom's patience--she was a champ and didn't even give the obligatory "I told you so" to Dad--is amazing.  The kids learned that watching four workers change tires on an RV is actually quite a bit of fun.