Day 29 – Sycamore, Illinois

The day started brightly – little did we know what lay in store for the band of intrepid travelers. We blew along the I80 for many a mile until, just outside Davenport, warning signs foretold delays due to road works, so we took the advised alternative route. It paralleled the I80. Apart from us missing the I88 interchange because of this, we chanced upon a Highway Patrol Officer monitoring a ‘Fines are double in the Wok Zone’ area. This time, Jules of the ‘I’ve never been stopped by a policeman’ fame was driving. I am reliably informed by my law-abiding wife that she was only a few miles over the limit; as if breaking the law has shades of grey. We were duly stopped by this kind Officer of the Law; Jules adjusted her make-up in the mirror, and greeted him by the side door. With a little fluttering of the eyelashes and ‘I’m so sorry, Officer,” accompanied by barely concealed smirks from the other passengers, she was let off with a warning. Val thought she had missed an excellent photo opportunity. Meanwhile, Abby is totally unaware and completes a pedicure on Dan.
If both of those weren’t shame enough, some way down the detour the beast’s paw exploded. One of the near-side pair of back tyres blew out with an enormous bang. The almost criminal Jules took charge and ushered all the three females out to safety, leaving the males to try and stick the shreds of rubber back in order to continue the journey. As luck would have it, within a few minutes a tyre repair van passed and stopped. He braved the thundering traffic which caused the mighty beast to sway each time it was passed to assess the repairs. The first task was to switch off the propane gas, as the line had been ripped apart. It was a good decision to stop as any spark from the trailing pipe would have started the timer for a really massive blow-out. The beast suffered the indignity of having her rear lifted and a replacement installed, exposing the extent of the damage beneath. The main LPG supply line had been severed, three micro pipes feeding gas to the fridge, the oven and the heating system were severed as were two electrical wires and a courtesy light and one storage bin was wrecked.
We reported the damage to Jack and limped on to our Chicago RV site, with great assistance from Tom Tom, arriving near 9pm. We set up and slept.