Weird Ass Day

Four days ago we were in Houston Texas enjoying what could have been a 75° day of absolute bliss. Instead we woke up to a 20° morning with a 20 mph wind blowing across the parking lot. The weather decided to throw a bit of wispy snow in for good measure. I went out to start the truck and all I heard was "click".  Nothing. No start. Son of a bitch, I'm 450 miles from home and the truck won't start. I headed inside and broke the good news to Katie. After walking around the motel room flipping through truck forums I came to the conclusion that the starter was most likely crap. Typically when this happens you can just smack it with a hammer and it starts. Well, I didn't have any tools with me. So another 20 or so turns of the key did the trick and it finally fired off. 

The Beast pulling the Deere

From here we traveled about 60 miles west to one of my dad's properties to drop off the tractor and trailer in order to grab our enclosed trailer that had a bunch of our housewares in it. I turned the corner and checked my  mirrors like I always do. I noticed that the one of the rear tires was sticking out further than normal. Within seconds I saw the tire roll right off the trailer and pass me on the highway and slowly roll into the ditch.

Brake drum still bolted to the wheel

The bearings had seized up and broke the hub in half. I can honestly say it's the first time I've ever seen this.

I was able to hobble to the old restaurant and drop the trailer off with little fanfare. The parts will be ordered and I'll slap on a new hub assembly when we get up to grab the combo on another trip. For now the enclosed trailer will be strapped onto the "Beast" and driven home. For those of you not in the know the "Beast" is a nickname my old neighbor Mario coined for my truck. She's a 2009 Dodge 2500 regular cab diesel. Equipped with a 6 speed manual trans and 4 wheel drive she's nothing to snuff at. Especially after the full emissions delete and custom tune to make it a little more fun to drive.

And drive we did. Another 450 miles of pounding the asphalt would lead us back to St. Louis to continue the set up of our new lives. Upon our arrival we were greeted with another treat. The main furnace for the RV stopped working around 2000. A ceramic ignitor had failed and would no longer light the fire needed to keep us warm. It just so happens that I had already ordered an identical part weeks ago for the secondary furnace that suffered from the same problem. With the ignitor in my hand the repair was able to be made in a few minutes. The heat was back on and life was good. 
Let's recap the day:

• Truck wouldn't start, then decided to on it's own
• Trailer broke a major part a mile from it's parking spot
• RV furnace broke the exact same part I had ordered for something else

​What a weird ass day...