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

Bushnell, Florida

After our stay on Jekyll Island in Georgia, it was off to Florida for a doctor stop to renew our meds. The day after we got here, I went out to go to the store in the truck, dead battery !! I put the charger on, got it going and headed to the Advanced Auto store to have the batteries checked. Ended up replacing both batteries.

When we got here I contacted a rv service man that does a lot of work in the Sumter Oaks RV Park we are staying in. We have been having a lot of trouble with the main slide. We have had it two other repair places look at it with different ideas on what needed done to it. Vern Penner, the rv tech on wheels, found two teeth broken on the main drive. I also had found some separation  in the flooring of 2 of the slides. Vern came up with a way to keep the floor from separating any more and ordered a new gear for the drive. I wish I had taken pictures of the before, but didn't think of it until the job was done. The manufacture had put end caps on the bottom of the slides that did not wrap around under the slide. What was happening was the water, during a rain, would run down the side of the slide and under it onto the plywood flooring causing it to separate. We put aluminum angle iron on the edges and sealed it. Now the water will run off before it gets to the wood. We installed the new gear on the drive and aligned the slide. It now runs in and out like it is suppose to. We hope that this fix will be the end of our trouble with this slide....we shall see.

Next problem..... We have been having a problem our 12 volt system that runs all the lights in the house. I thought it was the converter/charger but was going to wait to fix it till we got to Texas. Guess what.... it quit working last evening. I called all over this area and along our path of travel for a replacement, no go. Called Tampa Campers World, they could have one in late today. I guess we stay here a couple more days as we don't travel on the weekends unless we have to. So.... the bank account is whole lot smaller then it was.

Now for the good things we have been doing. We have a lot of friends staying here. Louise has been playing cards almost every day and I have been playing pool almost every night. Three mornings a week we ride the bike to Leesburg to play pickleball. Last Sunday, we rode the bike with friends, Paul and Sharon, to Sleepy Hollow Bar and Grill for a $6.00 rib dinner. We have really enjoyed our stay here, except for all the repairs we had to do. As they say" such is life".

We hope to be in Kilgore, TX by Thursday next week.

Oh, the doctor visit went well, all is good.

Till next time
Duane and Louise