Bound for Rexburg—Part VI
I had planned this trip to specifically avoid driving at night in the Blue Mountains. Now, here we were, well after sunset, making our second ascent of the day.
While it was pretty tense for me, not knowing if we would hit a patch of black ice as we climbed and made the curves, or if something else might happen, the rest of the group seemed to calm down a little. Some even slept. I left the radio on trying to listen to a bowl game that we’d intended to watch with pizza in our hotel room in Boise. At least we did get to hear some of the game when the signal was strong enough.
Because it was harder to tell in the dark what the road conditions might be like, I went slower than I might have in the daylight, which only added to our time on the road. It was frustrating to say the least, particularly since, after about 100 miles, the highway was still bare and we were out of the mountains and into straightaways. I woke up Trevor, who was continually nodding off in the back seat, to let him drive for a while. This was his trip, after all.
We rolled into Boise sometime around midnight, their time. There wasn’t much said or done after that. We got our overnight bags up to our room and went to bed, since we had an early start for the next morning.
Well, morning came quickly, and so we didn’t get out as early as I would have liked, but we did have daylight, dry weather and bare pavement. The wheels managed to stay on, too, another plus. We made it all the way to Rexburg without incident, where we spent a few hours unloading Trevor’s stuff, getting him settled, going to a Walmart for groceries, and saying our goodbyes. It was around 9 pm when we returned to Boise that night. Road conditions and weather held up the entire leg of the trip.
In fact, it stayed that way until we reached The Dalles in the Columbia Gorge the next day. Snow began to fall, light at first, then heavy, and began to accumulate on the roadway. Most motorists slowed way down, but there were about a half dozen who thought they could continue at higher speeds, and so they passed us. Within two miles, we came across most of them parked on the side of the road helping another maroon colored SUV (might well have been an Explorer) on its side (passenger) in the slow lane. I can only imagine how that might have happened.
We continued on. After about an hour of slow, tense driving, we finally out ran the snowstorm. About two hours later, we arrived back at home, safe and sound and only a litte worse for wear.
The thing that kept playing in the back of my mind was it could have been worse. We saw worse, with both SUVs that crashed. While not ideal, and not how I wanted to do it, we made it, and we were able to keep to our three-day timetable. Many thank yous were sent heavenward for helping us with the weather and the roads.
Now, you might think the story ends there. The rather nightmarish road trip to Rexburg behind us, we could get on with our daily lives.
Well, that lasted until the following Monday.
It was about mid-morning. Angela was on her way to buy groceries for the week. She left the cul-de-sac, and made a right hand turn at the next street. As she did, she started to feel some shaking. Not knowing what it was, but our trip fresh in her mind, she pulled over to the curb and got out. After a short inspection, she found the rear wheel on the passenger side was loose. Not only that, but just like it’s companion on the other side, three lug nuts were missing. The studs were also sheered off.
In a panic, she called me. I happen to work at home, so it took three minutes to get to the corner. By then, she had a friend of hers and her husband looking at it. The consensus was, we’d need a tow truck. Again.
About an hour later, the Durango was at our local Les Scwhab. I got a call telling me that the wheel would need to be replaced. That now made two, since the other side was still running on the spare. I had the Les Schwab guy call up the history on his computer of what had been done at the store in Pendleton, and after reviewing it, our local guy said they needed to get to the bottom of what was happening. About two hours after that, we finally had an answer.
Somewhere around Thanksgiving, our local Dodge dealer, after several weeks of attempts to try to figure out an electronic issue (the slippery when wet icon kept coming on when we would make a turn), decided to switch out the oversized tires that were on the vehicle when I bought it back in August to regular-sized tires they had lying around the shop. The tires they’d put on were relatively new, with good tread, so I said, sure, let’s try it. Well, at their behest, we drove it for over a month that way, and eventually, the electronic issue was resolved.
It was in the changing of the tires where the mystery of the lugnuts began. In order for the oversized tires to fit, rings were put in to allow them to balance properly. When the regular wheels replaced them, the rings were not removed. Thus, when the lugnuts went on, they did not settle properly, even though they were torqued completely. So, after that, over time and miles of use, the lugnuts began to unscrew.
All that needed to happen in either event where the lugnuts fell off was to have a fourth one come off, and our situation would have changed drastically. More damage to the Durango, more costly to fix, and potentially, issues with injuries to us. To say we weren’t being watched over that whole time up and back to Rexburg, to me, would be the height of ungratefulness. My family and I feel truly blessed and thankful that despite the inconveniences and the stress and the costs to tow and repair incurred, that we are alive and well and able to tell the tale.
