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08-19-2009, 16:02

Since I am looking for parts for out Wanderlodge, folks will probably want to know what happened. So here goes:

Last week Kathy and I were headed to Nebraska from Fort Worth. We had stopped in Guthrie, OK and I had checked the tires, etc. About mile post 231, north bound on I-35, we were in a single lane construction zone between concrete dividers. I hit a piece of metal that couldn’t be avoided and it made a great deal of noise. While I was thing that I would take the nest off ramp and see if there was any damage the left steer tire exploded. We were only about 2 feet from the concrete divider and we hit that at about 50mph. “Bouncing” off that pointed us toward an off ramp which we took to exit the highway.

Damage was to the front left of the bumper and the body. The dump plumbing (gone), front left docking light (gone), front of the grey water tank(valve and tank fitting pulled out), battery door and hinge damage, and the left outside rear tire damage from being scraped along the concrete..

Had road service installed a new tire and we drove it 308 miles back to Fort Worth. The road service person said that “your RV must be built like a tank! I have seen a lot of accidents along here and most of them are not drivable.” I don’t think a plastic coach or even a car would have survived hitting as hard as we did.

Insurance is coming out to look at it. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I could do most of the repairs if I had a place to work on it.

I am looking for Tom Eastman to see if he still has Rick Archie’s salvaged Wanderlodge. If any one has contact information for Tom I would appreciate it.

- Chuck Wheeler-

1982 FC 31SB Fort Worth TX