Big losses and even bigger gains in Utah, Chapter 4: "I'm a baby bee!"
We had such a traumatic situation occur, that we did something we only do in the most dire circumstances. We recorded ourselves on video! So, if you'd like to watch our video recaps, they will be listed at the end of each blog post when applicable.
Read Chapter 1 here
Read Chapter 2 here
Read Chapter 3 here
Our trailer had really been dragged through the mud. We could already tell that it had gotten damaged along the trim on its back corner - the same corner that was already damaged in our "ditch sitch" back in October 2021 - but we wouldn't know the extent until we cleared away some of the mud and gravel. Anthony got out the hose and sprayed down the trim, the wheels, and some of the underside of the trailer. Inside, the trailer was also covered in mud, as we had made our way in and out so many times during our evacuation. Buggy would need a good cleaning both inside and out, but at this point, our goal was to make sure we'd be able to tow it out of the campground.
Our trailer's frame is one piece of welded aluminum, and as such, it's really sturdy. Both times we've bottomed out, the trim has taken the brunt and not the frame. This time, the trim had gotten bent upwards, and there was a dent about 4 inches long along the bottom. It was all cosmetic, and we'd at least be able to continue traveling until we could get it replaced. We were also able to partially bend the trim back under, and though it doesn't protect the frame nearly as well as it used to, it's at least something. The axles and tires would normally be a different story; those can't be traveled on if they're damaged. But, we already had plans to replace both axles and all four tires. Now we'd just jump on those plans more quickly. During the mayhem, we had reached out to the company that Garret had recommended. As efficiently as ever, they told us that we could bring our trailer in for an estimate later that day. Only, with all the aftermath of our trailer winching, we weren't able to make it. Instead, we planned to bring it in first thing the next morning. We thanked our lucky stars that we hadn't yet gotten the axles or tires replaced. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that no one had been able to help us until we got to Spanish Fork.
We were surprised to see that our tongue jack continued to work as normal. We really thought it would have bent with all the weird hitching and unhitching angles, but after using it a couple more times, it's holding on a bit longer. The plate is only bent ever so slightly, causing it to not sit completely level on our blocks when we lower it, but this is a minor issue at most. We've seen many campers continue using jacks whose plates are totally bent out of shape. Ours still does what we need it to. We have thought about upgrading to a stronger jack at some point, and this is still on our list for the future. We're just glad that, with all the other repairs, the future doesn't need to be now.
Even though our tongue jack survived, we can't say the same for our stabilizer jacks. Both jacks that were buried in the trench got bent. One was completely unsalvageable, but the other we were able to straighten out, and even though it wasn't super solid, it still expanded and retracted and provided some stability for our trailer. We don't exactly know how they got bent. They can take a lot of force when used correctly, but getting bent in mud isn't correct use. Did they buckle under the pressure of the mud itself, or did they hit the pavement when we tried getting Buggy out of the trench? We'll never know, but we would need to order two new stabilizer jacks. Thankfully, we could travel without all four, as they really are just for stabilization, and 2.5 jacks are better than none!
As far as we could tell, that was all the damage, and so it was time to leave the campground. We said bye to our camphosts and started making our way out the gates...
...only we didn't get far. As soon as Anthony began pulling through the gates, I heard a scraping sound coming from the wheels. Despite all the cleaning Anthony had already done, there was even more dirt, and the dirt contained lots of rocks, some several inches wide. We put the truck in park and got down on our knees to clean the wheels some more with our bare hands. Tons of gravel came out. Anthony tried driving again. More scraping. We pulled out of the campground and onto the road so that we could have more room to maneuver. We cleaned the wheels some more and took turns driving the rig back and forth so that we could both listen to determine where the sound was coming from. We hoped that the wheels hadn't gotten bent, but we wouldn't know for sure until we did a thorough cleaning and the axle guys took a look. Best case scenario was that rocks were caught in the hubcaps and there was no actual damage.
We did the best we could with our limited cleaning resources and the scraping sound got about 50% better. We decided it was probably safe to drive, and since we were only going 20 minutes away, we weren't too worried. We traveled over to the Cracker Barrel in Springville, where we stayed for the night.
The following morning, we towed the trailer down to Fleet Pride in Payson, where the guys immediately came out, measured the axles, and gave us an estimate. Within 10 minutes, we had the cost and the timeline, which was almost too fast to believe: They'd build the axles that day, install them the next day, and be done by close. What?! How is that even possible?! Back during our axle appointment with Garret, he mentioned that the guys can usually get new axles built by end-of-day, but we thought there was no way. Now here we were, getting the same timeline from the workers themselves.
Now that we had an axle installment scheduled, we could start contacting tire places. As soon as the axles were replaced, we wanted all new tires. Not only did the old ones have a decent amount of wear, we now weren't sure if their integrity had been compromised even more because of the mud. We also figured that it was more professional eyes on the different parts of the wheel, so hopefully we could get to the bottom of the scraping sound. We had a few options for tires, including getting the same ones we currently had, Good Year Endurance Tires. Ultimately, we decided we'd rather upgrade. The Discount Tire in Spanish Fork was able to get Carlisle tires with thicker sidewalls and a higher load rating than our Good Years. We ordered them online for next-day delivery. They arrived later that same day. We made an appointment to get them installed at 9AM the day after our axle installation.
All our running back and forth helped us get familiar with the local businesses. We hadn't been aware of an ATC dealer in Utah until we kept passing a Parris RV on the highway, and they had several ATCs on their lot. We figured it was worthwhile to call and ask them if they have parts for ATCs. It was a long shot, but maybe they'd have the stabilizer jacks. We also inquired about getting service done. We were due for our annual soon, but if they couldn't fit us in, we at least hoped we'd be able to get the hitch checked out. We knew that our hitch wasn't at the right height, but now after our tilted hitch/unhitch job, we wanted a pro to look it over and make sure nothing was amiss. The parts lady at Parris was extremely helpful, checking for the stabilizers and contacting ATC for information. We weren't surprised when we heard that they didn't carry the stabilizers we needed; we'd have to order them from ATC. Not a big deal and also something we had done before. We then waited to hear from the service department, but the parts lady warned us that they were understaffed and might not get back to us right away.
Displaced days are never fun. When we need to leave the trailer for an extended period of time, we'll often get a hotel or Airbnb for overnights. This time, all our work would be completed in a day or less, so we planned to stay in the trailer each of the nights. This meant we didn't have a place to go during the times the trailer was in the shop. We dropped it off to Fleet Pride at 7AM and knew we wouldn't be getting it back until close to 4PM. We spent the day bouncing around to various parks, but we discovered that lots of the parks in the area don't allow pets. We ended up finding a couple places that were semi-conducive to doing work and walking Tanner.
Later, we decided to pop over to Parris RV to speak to the service department in person. We didn't want to be too pushy, but we needed to know what their schedule was like to look at our hitch and possibly get us in for service. They said their earliest available appointment was May 15, but that was pushing it for our travel schedule. We thanked them and decided to look elsewhere. Service could wait, but we really wanted our hitch readjusted before travel. Parris RV was the only company that couldn't see us right away, and truthfully, a two-week wait wouldn't have been an issue at all if we lived in the area, but full-time travel life is fast-paced. The people at Parris RV were outstanding, though. One day, Anthony got an email from the parts lady. Of her own volition, she took the time to get an entire list of parts we might need for our stabilizer and trim replacements, and itemized them with the model number and ATC's pricing. We couldn't believe the generosity. Even when she knew we weren't purchasing anything from her company, she still went ahead and wrote that list for us. That's a first in our experience.
We also had time that day to head back to Spanish Fork River Park to check on our camphosts. We had continued watching the water levels and they had peaked that previous night. Returning to the campground was emotional for us. Even though the water had receded since peak, it was still covering most of the park, all the way to the entrance gate. Our former site was half underwater, and the water next to our site was still flowing as the river continued to deteriorate the road. The park was officially closed and locked. Our camphosts had successfully moved their RV out of the park and it was now along the campground road, where the waters didn't reach. Some of the roads in the surrounding valleys needed to close. It was sad to see the area where we felt so at ease turn into a place of destruction.
Around 2:30PM, Kurt from Fleet Pride called to update us on the progress of the axle installation. Anthony picked up on speaker phone and was greeted with a warm "How ya doing, buddy?" before Kurt proceeded to let us know that one axle was in, the second was going in now, and the trailer would be ready by their 4PM closing. We went and picked it up around 3:50PM, but the guys let us know that they were just finishing up and it would take a little while longer. By 4:15, Buggy was appearing from the service bay. We hitched up and pulled out, only to discover a block later that our trailer brake wasn't working. We immediately pulled back around to try and catch someone before they left for the day. A guy that we hadn't met yet was still there and happily stayed a half-hour overtime to crawl under our trailer and troubleshoot. After not being able to figure out what was wrong, we told him we'd just come back in the morning.
The trailer brake needed to be disconnected when the axles got replaced, but the problem was, the workers could only adjust it so much without actually having our truck to test it with our hand brake. When we tested it, the connection was there, but the hand controller wasn't resulting in any braking. We were only going to a Harvest Host a short drive away, so we carefully drove the trailer to our home for the night. It would be another early rise the next morning, now needing to return to Fleet Pride before our tire appointment at 9AM.
Fleet Pride squeezed us in immediately, having us back the trailer into the service bay so we could stay hitched. They made some adjustments and within 15 minutes, our brake was working. They apologized...for that thing they had no way of testing...I'm sorry, but in Massachusetts, people don't apologize. If anything, they try to gaslight you into thinking you're the reason why something isn't working.
Fleet Pride's efficiency gave us extra time before our appointment at Discount Tire, and so we asked the workers if there was anywhere we'd be able to get the trailer washed. We hadn't been able to find any nearby truck washes, but they pointed us to a self-serve wash that they thought would fit us. Conveniently, it was only a few minutes from Discount Tire. It was a fairly tight squeeze, but we made it in, and finally we could give Buggy the wash he deserved. We were still getting the scraping sound in the wheels, so we knew we needed to do more cleaning. We also didn't want to drop the trailer off at Discount Tire with the wheels all coated in dirt and grime.
We spent a good 30 minutes washing the wheels, undercarriage, and backside of the trailer. The amount of mud that had gotten embedded under the trim was massive. We had already cleaned a lot out using our hands and a flathead screwdriver, but even more came out with the pressure washer. We determined later on when watching our videos back that it's likely the trim bent during winch #1, and got caked in mud during winch #2 (the backwards winch). In winch #3, the successful winch, we don't think Buggy incurred any damage. Go figure.
As 9AM rolled around, we finished up and drove over to Discount Tire. The guys had us pull right alongside their service bays and told us we could stay hitched, and it would be about an hour. We took the pets and walked across the street to a café that had outdoor dining. While we were eating, Anthony got a status update text, saying our tire install would be completed at 10:25AM. We took a walk around the plaza, trying to decide where we wanted to go next, but that's when we got the call that everything was done. They had completed everything in 45 minutes. We headed back over and saw that we had also gotten a tire rotation. How did we know? Two of the wheels still had some grime on them, after two washes. Now, those wheels were on the driver's side. I stood outside as Anthony pulled away to listen for the scraping sound, and it was gone! That final wash and the hubcap removal must have done the trick. And yes, all the pros told us our wheels looked fine. Whew!
With another job done in the blink of an eye, we left the tire shop with time to spare before any campgrounds would even let us check in. We pulled over in a parking lot to decide our next move. We had gotten a recommendation from Kurt at Fleet Pride to try contacting Miller's RV about our hitch. They were located in Spanish Fork, not far from Discount Tire, and so Anthony figured he'd give them a call, on the chance they could fit us in and we could head straight there. I wasn't holding my breath, but since we had gotten new axles, new tires, and a fresh wash in just 3 days, we could even stay in the area longer to get the hitch examined. Turns out we didn't even need to plan for that, because Miller's RV told us to bring the trailer right over.
An hour later, we had our hitch completely readjusted, with new hardware. The story of our hitch woes is multi-level. First, it was installed wrong at the dealer, the day we picked up our trailer. The guy didn't know what he was doing and attached it too high and without any spacers. Actually, we're pretty sure he threw out our spacers after not knowing what to do with them. Then when we had our driving lesson, our instructor took us to a mechanic shop, set our hitch lower, and added spacers. Here at Miller's RV, we found out that those spacers weren't enough, and contrary to our driving instructor's belief, we couldn't continue using them. We also had a loose bolt that was causing more give in the hitch, which is why we had issues with our ball getting stuck in the coupler. Anthony checks the bolts on travel days, but we learned that the torque was too high for our drill to tighten them. Apparently that's a lie and our drill will do the job just fine. Additionally, our tech at Miller's RV told us that the original guy at the dealer also installed the link plates for our sway bars in the wrong place. Bottom line, everything that could be readjusted, was. It was a long time coming, but here we had a guy that had been working on RVs for over 30 years and was just as skilled and professional as ever. We couldn't wait to get on the road and see how differently our rig towed with its new axles, new tires, and newly adjusted hitch.
And with that, we decided that our time in the metro south of Salt Lake City was complete. We reserved a campsite in northern Utah and decided to turn our productive day into a travel day. In just 3 days, the Beehive had adopted us into their community and took great care of us to get us back on the road again. Their camaraderie, competence, and level of organization inspired us to work right along with them, whether it was getting our wheels back up and rolling, troubleshooting our trailer brake, or learning the ins and outs of our trailer hitch. At one point I exclaimed to Anthony, "I'm a baby bee!" Getting to be a part of the community was eye-opening for us. There really are some parts of this country where people genuinely care about good hard work, and when all the companies work together, they form a well-oiled machine. Every other place we've needed work done, even when we've found really good, knowledgeable professionals, there's always a weak link in the system, whether that's someone who doesn't answer their phone, or someone who loses a part, or someone who delays parts production or delivery. Here in Utah, the people pride themselves on training their employees to be the utmost proficient professionals with their customers, and to top it off, many of these workers have known each other for years, as all their families have been part of the community for generations. We went through a really difficult and traumatic experience, but if we hadn't, we would have never witnessed the impressive level of functioning of these local businesses. It gave us new appreciation for what society can be when we all just work together and treat one another with respect, and that, my friend, is sweeter than honey.
Associated videos:
De-mudding and assessing the damage
Livestream update on the aftermath
If you're in the southern Salt Lake City area and need work, please go see our new friends!
Patriot Truck and Diesel, Salem, UT (ask for Garret)
Fleet Pride, Payson, UT (ask for Kurt)
Discount Tire, Spanish Fork, UT
Miller's RV/Motor Sportsland, Spanish Fork, UT