#30 India, I smell something like rubber burning

I got back out on the main road and went about a third of a mile and I saw the most beautiful like on the left. I pulled over as I wanted to take a picture and so I told are stopped in middle of road and stepped out.

AsI finished taking this picture I smelled something like burning rubber or asbestos and I thought to myself this doesn’t seem right. I walked around back to look around. On the right side of the camper the tires we're actually touching. I remember this is the exact situation I had on the left side in Hopewell Virginia when the leaf spring shackles busted. I knew that couldn't be happening again. I stuck my head under there and turns out it can be happening again. The right side was busted now and this time the leaf spring is actually twisted and warped and looking pretty scary.

I just kind of slowly limped forward and backed the RV into a roadside table overlooking the most gorgeous lake ever and you're definitely not allowed to be there for more than a picnic.

I kind of realized that if you're truly broken down then you’re technically not camping ,you're just broken down. This was a Sunday so I had a feeling we were here for a day. It occurred to me that while you're waiting for the repairs to be done you get a hall pass. You can make meal and you kick back in your lounge chair and you look at the sky or just chill for like 2 days. It looks like your camping and it feels like your camping but you're really just broken down so there is no foul. I called Good Sam roadside assistance and they said it would be not be today but they could come out Monday morning.

I left a note for the park ranger saying just that and so they wouldn't get all weird on me and we went to go see Mount Rushmore and stuff like that and so we after we kind of settled in pretty good went into town and became tourists at Mount Rushmore.

They mechanics came and used the two extra shackles I had made back at Hopewell and they were able to get me roadworthy. You can see my solar panels working in the foreground and they kept our battery charging well while we were waiting for the mechanics to arrive. Later at yellowstone they will be mounted on the roof permanently. When I had the shackles made in Hopewell I had hoped I would never need them. The leaf springs were also twisted as well as the substandard I beam holding the whole RV together. He got us going in a few hours but he referred us to a guy called West Dak Welding.

We went to Wes Dak and they had a huge shop big enough for three of my big rigs. The first welder guy that looked at the suspension on the camper said he had seen bigger leaf springs on a boat trailer. They said they could manufacture some better structure and told them if we needed better leaf springs then lets get it right. We left the camper with them and went up to see Crazy horse.