A Great visit, and Another Repair Adventure

We surely had a lovely visit with Merrie and Bill Edwards, long time family friends, in Galveston.  Seeing the before and after photos of their home, Before Hurricane Ike, and After Ike, was quite sad.  The flood of Hurricane Ike in 2008 destroyed  much paperwork, art work, home structure, belongings, but now they are back in their home, doing child care every day for their delightful granddaughter.  Here's Merrie, with her son Paul and his daughter, and Merrie's husband Bill.

What a handsome bunch!

We said sad farewells, but did have to drive on, on our westward journey.  To the seawall..........on the Gulf of Mexico..........

Past the newly built massive homes on stilts on the west end of Galveston Island

And on down The BlueWater Highway on our way west..........

Till the tire on the trailer had a blow out!

Leslie handled it well, got the rig stopped, and called AAA for help.

No help. No garage to tow the trailer.

Leslie kept making calls.  Thank goodness for cell phones and coverage!

 Brazosport Tire would send a fellow out, and yes,  within an hour.

Between the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Galveston.  Nice beaches. Really really deserted, as were the roads...........Plenty of time for a walk on the beach.

and always time for an eagle photo!

Young Rene, a native Galvestonian, and with ten years experience (at age 28), quickly changed both our tires.

Tires blow out in all directions, and this part of it we learned had destroyed the wheel well and exposed all the electronics to the weather.

Here's the view from inside the trailer, with no fender cover/wheel well cover.

So Leslie and I working together, covered the electronics with heavy plastic, to get to our next repair shop.

And here's our little trailer in Brazoria, Texas, hanging out with the big girls, till she can be fixed up.

Rusty, the shop owner, was amazing.  he created a wheel well cover out of plywood, sealed it with silicone sealant to waterproof it, fixed the shade that had been damaged too.  We'll have to have an official wheel well cover put it when we get home, but this one is working great!

It set us back a day on our schedule.  But when we think of all the other places this could have happened, especially if it had happened in Atlanta, Georgia, on 85, where they drive 95, it would have been a very, very different story.  I'm glad this little teardrop trailer has been big enough for our guardian angel to travel with us!

RJ