Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Exploding tires.... Visit with good friends

Well I thought we were done with our rv problems. I guess I was wrong. We got ready to leave Friday morning. When we disconnected from shore power, the 12 volts lights went out....battery dead on the trailer. Oh well, we are going right by a Wal Mart, they sell batteries. We pulled out and headed for the Wal mart. Battery bought and installed, everything working fine.  Off we go. We got about 20 miles from Bushnell, BAM!!!! middle tire on the right side of the trailer blow up. I called road service, they said they would have someone there in one hour. The hour passed, I get a call from the man coming to change the tire that he is stuck in traffic do to an accident. Another passed before he arrived. He got the tire changed in 15 minutes. When the tire blow it wiped out the fender skirt but no other damage. By this time it afternoon so we headed back to Bushnell to get a tire and stay the weekend. 

Got the new tire installed and ready to roll. Monday morning we took off for Fort Walton Beach. Lo and behold we got within 2 miles of where the tire blew...BAM!!!! the front tire on the right side blew. Called road service, the same guy shows up. He said "this is a bad stretch of road for you isn't it". This time the blowing tire bent up the bottom of the slide. I took channel locks and bent everything back. Not pretty but it worked. The tire changer man told me where I could get a new tire close by. We decided to replace all the tires. The tires we had on were all the same age and mileage. I figured after 2 of them exploded the rest couldn't be far behind. New tires on, we headed up the road to get some lunch. After we ate and returned to the truck, the tire alarm was going off.  One of the new tires was down to 58 lbs from the 80 lbs. that was put in at the tire shop. We were only 5 miles from the place where we bought them so back we went. They found that the valve stem would not seal against the Pressure monitor so they replaced the valve stem. Problem solved. With all new tires on we decided to head on down the road. We were able to find a Passport America park about half way to Fort Walton and pulled in for the night. No more problems!!!!!

Tuesday we arrived at a rv park we had called the night before and were told they had plenty of room. They were full. Ok, we headed on down the road to the Elks Club. They have 4 sites, 2 open ones. After getting hooked and paid up for the night, I gave our friends Sheryl and Jeff a call. They were the reason for us to at Fort Walton. We found out that we were two doors down from there campground. We were glad the first park was full. We met up with our friends at the beach. We first met the Brights in New Mexico and again in Arizona. They are Harley riders and really nice people. When we first met, Jeff encouraged me buy my first bike.  We meet the best people in our travels.


Jeff and Duane solving the problems of the world.

Sheryl looking for shells on the beach

As the sun went down we headed to McGuire's for dinner. We enjoyed some really good hamburgers and fries and even better company.  Thank you Jeff and Sheryl for a wonderful afternoon and evening and a big thanks for buying our meal.

Wednesday morning we headed for Summerdale, Al. and the Escapees Plantation rv park. We only had about 90 miles to travel and everything went great.
Til next time
Duane and Louise

3 comments:

Paul Weaver said...

Now TWO tires blowing in close proximity is something I can relate to! Did you replace them with the same make tire?

Nice to see Jeff & Sheryl. Didn't realize Jeff is the one who got you on a Harley.

Where are you guys heading? We're in Houston, if you pass this way.

Have a safe and trouble free trip!

where's weaver said...

So sorry to read all this bad stuff. We are so happy though that you two are safe.

See if you can connect with Paul and Margery Zeller. They are at the Escapees park. They are so nice.

The Bright's said...

I didn't know you got any pictures. Im glad you did! I wish we had one of all of us. I had my camera but I guess that headache kept me from using it! Thanks for taking the time to come see us.