Truck & Trailer Problems

   May 16th, from Torrey, UT I traveled about 60 miles, to a point 25 miles north of Hanksville, UT and 4.5 miles west on Temple Mountain Road where I boondocked atop a hill that was crowned with a large flat parking area surrounded with boulders.  From here, I had a view for miles and miles.  Wonderful parking for the night, but the next morning, as I was preparing to depart for Colorado, my slide failed to retract.  One side was still trying to work correctly, but the other side (or end) failed to move at all.  I attempted to bring the good side in just a couple inches and then go out to push the other side in, but it wouldn't even budge!  After a couple hours of fretting, I called Good Sam's Roadside Assistance, and they finally tracked down the closest available mobile maintenance person to help me - 60 miles away, back at Torrey, where I'd spent the previous couple days.
   About 2 hours later, the maintenance man showed up in a small car, but he had with him two 'come alongs', and using these, he was able to ratchet the bad side in while I operated the motor to pull the good side in.
   I think it was about 2 PM that I finally was able to hitch up and start towing eastward, heading for Montrose, CO where I arrived about 6PM.  I spent the night with hookups at the Elks Lodge, then left early the next morning for Colorado Springs.
   But my trials had just begun.
   Between Montrose and Colorado Springs, there are at least four steep descents, and today the umbilical cord for the trailer kept coming loose from its connection with the truck, meaning that I would lose brakes on the trailer!  Not good.  Even though my medium duty truck has extra heavy disc brakes, I one time found them to be smoking after I had come to a stop to let them cool.  And I still had Monarch Pass to get over, at 11,312 feet.  All the way down the other side I was sweating while calculating the location of the next ramp for runaway trucks with failing brakes!
   But I made it all the way in to Colorado Springs and my home Elks Lodge.
   The following week, I took truck and trailer down to Canon City, where I'd had the truck engine rebuilt last fall, as I trusted these folks implicitly.
   They found all brakes on the truck were cracked and warped from the intense heat of the heavy braking I'd had to do, plus they found a blown wheel seal and bad bearings.
   While all that was being worked by one craftsman, yet another was working on the trailer, where they had to replace both brass nuts that are the designed failure point for the slide out, plus they then had to replace the motor that operated the slide.
   But now all seems to be working correctly, and I'm ready to depart on Monday, June 4th, for Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I expect this to be a 4-day trip, stopping at Ellis Lakeside Park in Ellis, KS, just off the Intersate; then at Fleming Park, Blue Springs, MO; followed by Timber Trails RV Park in Mulberry Grove, IL; and finally, Johnny Appleseed Memorial Park in Fort Wayne, IN.  Each park has electricity, so I shouldn't be bothered by the expected heat or humidity, and the parks are about 300 miles apart, so I shouldn't have terribly long driving days, either.
   After spending about 10 days there, visiting family, I expect to return to Colorado for my annual Doctor and Dentist appointments, and then be on my way to Leadville, CO to visit boondocking friends I've met the last couple winters in Arizona and Califormia.
   And after that, who knows!?!