Day 14, Monday, July 1, 2026
Travel day #2 is in the books. It was not without a couple of small issues. But, thankfully, we were prepared, and were able to handle situations quickly and efficiently.
We left Winslow, AZ around 7:30 am, we think. That’s the thing, we’ve been through 3 time zones in 24 hours, we’ve been confused at times about exactly what time it actually is. Johnny & the boys started the day with a quick trip to an Ace Hardware in Winslow. As they were hooking up they noticed a bolt on the distribution bar had sheared off. So, quick trip to the hardware store for some bolts (and extras) and we were on the road.
And let me tell you, that road was rough. Interstate 40 can be really nice, or really bumpy depending on where you are. Unfortunately one of those “bumps” got the best of the Babers’ camper and they had a tire try to come apart. Thankfully the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) did it’s job and alerted them that they had a tire losing air. We pulled over and Johnny, Scott and the boys had the tire swapped in 25 minutes from pulling off the interstate to pulling back on. If you travel by RV then you know that once you have used your spare, your focus needs to shift to getting another spare ASAP. Luckily we were within an hour of Albequerque so they were able to find a tire shop. We hung out at the Discount Tire for an hour or so which gave us a chance to make some lunch and stretch our legs.
We hit the road again, not sure what time though, again that dang time zone change. Our goal was to make it to Amarillo tonight. Well, an hour outside of Amarillo our TPMS monitor starting beeping at us so we had to do another pit stop on the side of I40. Thank goodness ours was only because the TPMS monitor that goes on the valve stem had come lose. Johnny & the boys tightened it up, put some air in the tire, and we were on the road again.
We got to watch a pretty nasty storm way off in the distance. We were sure we were going to drive into the rain before we arrived at our destination but it never rained a drop on us. Instead we got a good lightening show and then a pretty rainbow as the sun went down.
Tonight we’re at a campground on the side of the interstate, back in our home time zone, ready to get some rest before starting out early tomorrow for what we hope will be the final long stretch of the drive.
