Our Accident

[Ryan Wright]

Chuck,

How full was your holding tank?

I lost an outside drive tire on a '66 Travco a number of years back. Had no trouble getting the coach off the road since it was one of the rear duals, but the blowout ripped the dump valve clean off. We were on our way home after a 3 day weekend and the holding tank was full. Spewed the entire contents over both lanes of I-5. I ran back a few hundred feet to retrieve the dump valve in case it was salvageable and the sight was surreal. The sun was just setting and traffic was fairly thick, likely other travelers returning home from their own mini-vacations. The roads were bone dry but everyone had their wipers on as the leading vehicles kicked our unmentionables up onto windshields at 70 miles per hour.


I grabbed what was left of my dump valve and got the hell out of there. Limped to the next exit and hid under the freeway until roadside assistance showed up to swap the tire. No way was I going to sit around and wait for one of those drivers to figure out what happened and come back for me. I still wonder whether the owner of the car wash at the next town noticed an unexplained surge in business that night.


-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92