Dumont

We went to Dumont Dunes last weekend. As always there were hiccups

We left at 1pm and we didn’t get more than 1 mile from our house and the left side trailer tire popped! In all fairness we drove up a curb when pulling out so that’s probably what bubbled up the tire and caused it to pop. We drove up the road to an America’s Tire Co. and had to wait in line for a trailer tire. It was about an hour wait so we grabbed a snack and waited. After they replaced it, we were on our way again… for a little while anyway…

Hector, Travis, and Alex who were driving behind us, had the check engine light turn on and the truck temperature was really high. He pulled over for a while to get it to cool down. Then he drove up to the next exit where we were waiting and they started adding water, because his coolant was down. Turns out it was down almost a gallon and a half! And so we continue on.

About 40 miles outside of Dumont, where it’s just desert and tumbleweed and the occasional trailer or shack in the middle of the desert… POP! The right side trailer tire pops! What are the chances?!! So it’s about dusk at this time.. the sun is slowly setting and we’re in the middle of nowhere!! Josh removed the tire and rim and Hector disconnected his trailer from his truck and took his truck up to the next town 20 miles away - Baker.

In the meantime I called Mom to be my internet sleuth and start looking up numbers of tire places and towing places nearby to see where we could get a tire at 7:30 on a Friday. By about the 5th place we found a tire! Josh and Hector eventually got there and had to wait in line and finally got the tire (for $100 more than retail!) after about 45 minutes. While they were out there our friend Eddie who was meeting us at Dumont found us on the side of the freeway and pulled over. He totally nailed my thoughts - said it was like Hills Have Eyes.. we’re stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere between hicksville and hicksville! I felt like I was in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses. When they got back they hooked it up… it was only C rated so it wasn’t exactly rated to tow all the weight we had in the toy hauler. It was sort of bubbling out so we kept it at 55-60 with our hazards on.

We had an awesome time out there. The best thing was the weather, it was way nicer than Pismo weather. It was 84 in the day and 65 in the night.. Pismo was 64 and cloudy in the day and 48 in the night. It was sunny everyday too! I forgot how much fun Dumont was. The dunes are way higher and way more exciting too. I tried to ride Josh’s quad around camp and it’s just too much thinking right now for me to learn the clutch, shifting, brakes, etc.

I posted pics in the gallery on the right.

now playing: Lenlow - Bjorn Slippy