What started out as an uneventful ride home from the Save
Our Trails ride turned into a horrendous incident.I have a ’98, 23 foot Tioga class
C motor home, ordered from the factory to pull a horse trailer.My trailer is a steel frame; aluminum
sheeted 2 horse, bumper pull that is about 10 years
old.
While traveling at 60, in the slow lane on I-15 in RiversideCounty just past
the Glen Ivy exit I hear a loud boom.I look in the rear view to find the trailer nose down and listing to the
left.I start yelling Oh S^*$ and
start working the breaks and pull onto the wide shoulder.I am able to come to a complete stop in
a few hundred yards and keep the trailer upright.I fly out the side door as the kids are
awaking from their naps. I run to the trailer, smoke is
rising from what is left of my crank.The trailer is nose down, sitting on the tongue.The hitch is in pieces on the
ground and the safety cables are stretched but still attached.The safety chain is broken, but the
activation pin did not pull out and thus the safety breaks on the trailer did
not activate.
The horses, Lyric and Merrylegs
are quiet, no kicking or yelling.They are shaking, but calm, looking around.Dani jumps in and stays with Lyric doing a quick check to look for injuries, none are
found. She then gets a book and starts reading to them.Corrine starts to feed them lush
grass from the side of the freeway.
I’m shaking and trying to dial US Rider on my cell
phone as cars speed past on the freeway each with a mini tornado and a loud
whoosh.A strange man appears who
takes one look at the situation and tells me I somehow lost a keeper pin.I am still trying to stop shaking and
breath.
The strange man, Jeff was an angel sent by God. And he drove
the dirtiest Hummer I have ever seen towing the biggest “toybox” made.Jeff is accompanied by the cutest freckled faced 8 year old girl who
took all the craziness in stride.Jeff had me up and running in less than 10 minutes, a regular MacGyver
in the flesh!He had a
folding jack to raise the trailer up, a large eye bolt to temporally hold the
hitch together and a roll of duct tape to secure the whole thing.Jeff was kind, calm and explained how
this sort of thing had happened to him and friends before and strangers had
helped him get back on the road.
Once the hitch
was put back together he got us off the freeway and to the closest auto parts
store. At the store he paid for the new pin, refusing to let me pay. His
darling daughter even refused to take my money. Jeff then installed the new
pin, gave me and my girls a hug and sent me on my way.Wow, I’m still in shock and in
wonder no one was hurt and the trailer and RV have only minor damage.
My angel is a boat manufacturer and due to his extensive
boat trailering experience he was able to save my
ridecamp dirty, stinky butt (oh and did I say he was one good looking
guy).So, if you or anyone you know
are in the market for a ski and/or pleasure boat please look into the
Aftershock and Carrera speedboat lines
(www.aftershcokboats.com).They are
manufactured in Riverside, CA.
So tomorrow I have and appointment with
the local horse trailer welding expert to get the crank replaced and figure
out how to keep my hitch in one piece.Thankful for human angles that ride boats and stop for dirty damsels
with kids and horses,
