We were planning to travel 5 days straight to get from So. Calif. to Livingston, TX.  But, on our 2nd day as we were on the freeway going through Benson, AZ Jeff glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a wheel rolling down the road away from us.  Since there wasn’t any other vehicles on the road we pulled over quickly to see what had happened.

Yep, it was one of our wheels.  Not just a tire, the rim and the wheel and the bearings that a wheel gets attached to – it all came off!  The brake and a twisted smoking piece of metal were all that was left on that side of the axle.

Jeff started walking down the freeway to see if he could find the wheel.  He noticed the weeds at the roadside starting to burn so he stamped out a little fire…good thing too as it was a ‘dangerous fire hazard day’ in Benson!  He never did find the wheel and he walked over a mile looking into the scrubs and weeds along the road.

So, we called AAA and got towed to a nearby mechanic who replaced the axle, wheel, tire, the whole thing in 3 days.  We had to stay in a motel in Benson while the work was being done, but we were really glad to see it get done so quickly so we could get back on the road.

We’re working with our insurance agent to get reimbursed for the expenses.

Here’s my review of “Big Dave’s Towing” on Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/review_share/JQHAPQgZABrgyT-3uP3AZQ/review/nUFz_CV4rzZRYTXz7rN7GQ

And here are a couple of pictures of the damage: