As I slowly made my way onto 440 I was gently trying to accelerate to highway speed. I was in the heart of the work zone and people were of course flying. Luckily I’ve learned with a large vehicle you just have to gently make your way in and people will basically get out of the way. Just as I made off the on-ramp, I hit the first bridge. With all the construction, the transitions to the bridges are pretty brutal. With all that weight behind me, it was even worse than normal but nothing like when the trailer tires hit the transition. I heard the explosion more than felt it and knew immediately I’d blown a tire. With all the cardboard, I really couldn’t see behind me to see if I was smoking or throwing chunks. Even better, in the construction zone, there is no shoulder. It’s Jersey barriers right up to the travel lanes. Oh goodie.
I trundled along as best I could in the far right lane, looking for smoke. Fire. People waving at me telling me I was about to explode. That kind of stuff, for over a mile until I could get to Rock Quarry Road and it’s exit. Once I finally made it off the exit I was able to go see what had happened.
If you look closely, you can see that there are multiple holes in the side walls of the tire. It exploded! The inside tire is in even worse shape. I said a little prayer for getting me to the exit without the other tandem blowing because it was now carrying all the weight of that side. I then called a couple of tire companies to find one that could come and change my tires on the side of the road. About an hour later, I had two new tires on my trailer and I limped back home to try another day. I was still struggling with my back and being on the side of the road hadn’t helped it a bit. I went home and got back in the bed and saved recycling for another day. But that’s the next post.