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02-13-2016, 10:34 AM   #23536
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Isn't it weird how those things seem to happen in slow motion? Last fall, I was driving up I-95 in Virginia, north of Richmond. It's three lanes in both directions, and always crowded. About a quarter mile ahead of me, in the right lane, a big dualie pickup with a camper swerved - I never saw why. As the trailer slowly fishtailed, I noted that the swings were not damping out but getting wider, muttered "he's not going to make it" and took my foot off the gas. On about the 8th swing, the camper rolled over onto the shoulder and disintegrated. The truck snapped around to the left, crossed two lanes and slammed into the median at about a 90-degree angle. I don't know how he missed the cars around him. The oncoming lanes were packed, and I think I was saying "oh-no-no-no-no" as he hit the median railing. The truck only made it partly over the railing, and some of the oncoming traffic may have been hit with dirt and gravel, but nothing major. By the time I got there, there was nothing to do but stay out of the way.

02-13-2016, 10:41 AM   #23537
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Yep. Everything slowed down, yet speeded up in a fashion too. My big fear - momentary grip of panic, then 'control, control' - was at dusk I couldn't track the wheel closely. I didn't hit the brakes hard until it bounced, MUCH too close for comfort.

What's really interesting is the amount of detail I recall a decade or more later.
02-13-2016, 10:45 AM   #23538
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QuoteOriginally posted by Racer X 69 Quote
Mount Rushmore is in some mountains.

Not so far from your Prairie location.
Right. Just about 200 miles away.
02-13-2016, 10:55 AM   #23539
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QuoteOriginally posted by Racer X 69 Quote
Mount Rushmore is in some mountains.


Not so far from your Prairie location.
QuoteOriginally posted by Parallax Quote
Right. Just about 200 miles away.
Mount Washmore is just two floors up from where I sit now, and it magically grows taller all by itself.

02-13-2016, 10:58 AM   #23540
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
I went to pick up my Jeep yesterday...new brakes and a wheel cylinder. Paid the bill, drove off in rush hour traffic on the busiest highway in town...heard some strange noises.....about three miles later turned around to head back to the shop when it started vibrating. Left rear wheel came off and passed me in the oncoming traffic lane.

Someone didn't have their head in the game, did they?




QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
Yep, you need to tighten those lug nuts, it's kinda important.


Ya think?



QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
Very fortunately, unbelievably so, no one was killed or injured, there was no massive collision, no accident at all...just my poor little Wrangler sitting on the bare left rear hub in the middle of the highway.

All involved lucked out.




QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
It's not all fun, is it?


No.


Never good when wheels fall off of vehicles.






02-13-2016, 11:06 AM   #23541
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QuoteOriginally posted by Parallax Quote
Right. Just about 200 miles away.


Just a hop, skip and a hump.


Another 1,000 miles and you could be at Mount Pilchuck, right outside my backdoor.


02-13-2016, 11:11 AM   #23542
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
What's really interesting is the amount of detail I recall a decade or more later.
Yep, it is amazing, it's like our brains store it in living color as a reminder that things can go so wrong so fast. I can still see the ground coming up fast when I fell off my roof a couple of years ago. In the back of the "brain video", I can sometimes see a little tiny squirrel with outstretched arms....like he just shoved somebody......sometime I see it...sometimes not...just like squirrels in real life. You never know when or where they will appear or disappear.

02-13-2016, 11:20 AM - 1 Like   #23543
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QuoteOriginally posted by Racer X 69 Quote
Another 1,000 miles and you could be at Mount Pilchuck, right outside my backdoor.
I like the scenery outside your back door a whole lot better than what's out my backdoor.
02-13-2016, 11:44 AM   #23544
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
I try not to linger anywhere near a big rig.

After 5 years and 800,000 miles I could write a book about dipsticks that linger near big trucks and others that tailgate. Many times these Mensa members suffer the consequences when a tire comes apart.






QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
On a hot Texas day those tires are ticking time bombs.

This damage was caused when a drive tire failed in the Arizona heat. It was 150 degrees outside, and I had just resumed my trip Eastward from Los Angeles to North Charleston, SC with an oversized load.


I felt sorry for the kid that came out to replace the tire.





QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
My bet is that Racer never drove on bad tires, but I do see trucks that have tires that are pathetic. It puts everyone at risk.


Even when tires are managed well there will be failures. Drive tires are recapped at least once. Sometimes there is damage that cannot be seen, usually from a tire being run while flat or underinflated. Again, 5 years and 800,000 miles, and I had my share of tires coming apart with such explosive force that I thought a bomb had gone off.




Below is a shot I grabbed heading West from Houston on I-10. A can hauler who was either totally oblivious or actually ignoring the flat on his rig.





Can haulers are famous for this kind of thing.
02-13-2016, 11:48 AM   #23545
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QuoteOriginally posted by Parallax Quote
I like the scenery outside your back door a whole lot better than what's out my backdoor.


Notice the patterns in the clouds from the air currents. Like water flowing in a river.
02-13-2016, 11:57 AM   #23546
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QuoteOriginally posted by savoche Quote
Mount Washmore is just two floors up from where I sit now, and it magically grows taller all by itself.


Sounds like you need to exercise this:


02-13-2016, 12:21 PM   #23547
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QuoteOriginally posted by Racer X 69 Quote
Sounds like you need to exercise this:

I wouldn't mind, not at all. I do see that it could complicate things with my wife, however, and...

Oh, you were thinking of that thing on the right?
02-13-2016, 12:21 PM   #23548
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QuoteOriginally posted by savoche Quote
Mount Washmore is just two floors up from where I sit now, and it magically grows taller all by itself.
Ditto.

But mine is on the same floor ... and sometimes one above, too ...
02-13-2016, 12:29 PM   #23549
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jean Poitiers Quote
Ditto.

But mine is on the same floor ... and sometimes one above, too ...
Mine is in my closet. Typically I would be less than a basket case over it but it is eight degrees outside and the washroom is not directly heated.

Ain't gonna happen today.
02-13-2016, 01:31 PM   #23550
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jean Poitiers Quote
Ditto.

But mine is on the same floor ... and sometimes one above, too ...
No matter. That will a problem for another day. Now I'm battling a bottle of not-so-cheap Vallée du Rhône. They know how to make grape juice. They really do.
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