On the eighth day of our journey, we headed south on Interstate 15 from Idaho to Utah.
Our plan was to make it through Salt Lake City and relax at Canyon View RV Park in Spanish Fork for a few days. It was a beautiful day for a drive, the traffic was light, and the Big Tan Turtle was doing great. According to https://www.visitutah.com/Places-To-Go/Parks-Outdoors, Utah is known as the home to Life Elevated and the abundance and proximity of incredible mountain ranges is at the heart of Utah's identity. The state has five of our country’s national parks and over forty state parks that you can explore.
As we got closer to Salt Lake City, we made our “before city stop” to stretch and refuel. We do this about twenty miles before we hit a big city for a variety of reasons. After a quick break, we jumped back on the interstate. Even though we really try to avoid hitting the bigger cities during morning, lunch, and afternoon rushes, we hit Salt Lake City during lunch rush. Brian stayed in the right lane, maintained the speed the motorhome liked going, and got us through the city.
We continued south toward the city of Provo and discussed coming back to Utah soon to explore its natural beauty. We couldn’t stop this trip, we had to keep our mission and safety in mind. Plus, we didn’t want to leave our cat, Sailor, in his crate any longer than necessary. I told Brian we had six and half miles to go until we reached our destination. Right after I said that, we heard a loud BOOM, and knew it was our motorhome. Fortunately, Brian was in the right lane and able to safely get the Big Tan Turtle onto the shoulder without involving any other vehicles.
Our home was sitting on the shoulder of one of the most dangerous interstates in the country. On one side, there was a thick wall blocking us from the city of Provo. On the other side, we were inches away from a white line where there were four lanes of traffic heading south with vehicles going well over eighty mph. We needed to see what had happened. The motorhome was so close to the wall that the two of us were barely able to squeeze out of our door. As soon as we looked under the Big Tan Turtle we found the problem. We had a tire blow out on the rear driver side.
Brian and I got back in the motorhome and called our insurance company. Luckily, we added Emergency Roadside Assistance to our policy before we left and it was early afternoon. There was plenty of time to get towed, a tire fixed, and to our destination before dark. After the phone call, we were confident someone was on the way to tow us to a tire shop. We stayed in our seats and held on as the Big Tan Turtle rocked with every passing car.
We sat in our seats and rocked on the shoulder of Interstate 15 for over three hours. After several phone calls, including three to the insurance company, help was finally on the way. We received a phone number to another tow company, called them immediately, and explained the urgency. Plus, they needed to bring a flatbed truck to tow us. It was going to get dark soon, the shop was closing at six, and we couldn’t afford any more mistakes. Due to the interstate being so dangerous, they asked us to try to drive it off of the interstate for safety purposes. We were about a mile from an exit, but the shoulder got narrower. We stopped, called them back, and waited for the flatbed.
A truck finally arrived and the driver walked to the passenger window. He told us to stay in the vehicle and strapped us to the truck. We called the tire shop and explained we were on the way. The tow truck driver came back to the window and told us to stay inside for safety reasons. Feeling excited to get off the interstate, but nervous to ride in a motorhome on top of a flatbed, I asked the driver if he had strapped us in well. He assured me he had and took us and our home to Discount Tire in Provo. Those guys stayed open for us and replaced all four back tires. We can’t explain the gratitude we felt that day.
While the guys worked on the Big Tan Turtle, we needed to find another place to park for the night. After being turned down by the Elk’s Lodge located right behind the tire shop due to not being a member, we decided to call Walmart in Springville. They were fine with us parking for the night, so that’s where we headed. After we parked, we walked to the back of the motorhome to let Sailor out and saw the damage. There was a hole in our bathroom floor from the blow out that Sailor could’ve easily fit through if he hadn’t been secured in his crate. We realized we could’ve lost him and the crate was a must for his safety during this trip.
As we continued our inspection, we felt so fortunate. The tire had busted the wheel well, put a hole in our bathroom floor, and barely missed our water, fuel, and electrical lines. We picked up tire tread and wood chunks from inside of the motorhome and discussed our next plan. The Big Tan Turtle had four new back tires and we had parked at Walmart for the night, so we could get the supplies we needed to patch the hole. The next day, we grabbed some supplies and fixed the damage in the Walmart parking lot. Finally, we were able to head to our original destination, Canyon View RV Park in Spanish Fork. It was only eight miles away, so this allowed us to test the patch work we had just done.
The scenic views at Canyon View RV Park were absolutely breathtaking. It was very quiet and behind it was a small city park with a pond we could explore. Brian and I really needed this nature time after our city adventure the previous day. We parked the Big Tan Turtle, paid the $25 a day fee, and transformed our home from travel mode to living mode. After getting Sailor settled, we grabbed the camera and went for a walk.
We spent two nights at Canyon View RV Park and were very happy with the location and water pressure. The sites were paved, leveled, and included a picnic table. The power allowed us to charge everything we needed to hit the road again. We enjoyed exploring the city park, visiting the ducks, taking photos, and we even saw our first mink. It would’ve been nice to stay another day, but it was time to go.
Now, we had to decide if we were going to continue the trip and head to Colorado to visit our twenty-three year old kid or return home to Montana. We were having a blast, but could we trust the Big Tan Turtle to get us to the east coast safely. We were starting to wonder after the week we’ve had.
We will definitely come back to Utah soon and explore this beautiful part of the country.