The rest of the story

Apparently, W crew passed VN crew on the road as they were both returning from their outlandings. Fernando noticed that the other trailer was sagging a bit at the bow, and he signaled Phil to pull over.

The trailer tongue had suffered a major failure and was about to let go. Phil limped into a service station and was referred to a welder.  John Good and Juan Mandelbaum arrived from Chaves to assist.  They brought Juan's empty trailer in case it was needed. The welder arrived and declared that he could fix it - back at his shop. So the boys got to work and removed the trailer tongue, gave it to the welder to repair, and repaired to the local diner.

A while later (not sure how much later), the welder returned with straightened and reinforced part, and following its reinstallation, the crews were back on the road.

They arrived in time for dessert at the hotel.