Another Blown Tire

We Are We Today

Pilot Knob RV Park

3707 Frontage Rd.

Winterhaven, Ca.

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On the road by 6:50 a.m. this morning, with a quick stop for fuel, we were back on I-10 west bound. Except for a few miles leaving Deming, the road was smooth. There are a few construction spots along the route, but no slowdowns.

Traffic was light going thru Tucson, so we sailed right thru. We made a stop at a Denny’s for lunch with our good friends Nancy and Ken. A once a year catch up.

We were back on the road just after 1:00 p.m. and shortly after merge onto I-8, cruising along for about an hour when all went to pot. We blew another tire on the trailer, same side but the back one. Damage to the fender skirt and ripped the fabric under covering. Didn’t break the plywood floor, but there is a lose tile on the kitchen floor inside.

The whole tread peeled off

Once again, I am on the side of the road for 45 minutes, lots of room, changing the tire. I had to use some tuck tape to secure the fender skirt until I can see if I can reattach it.

That's me. All photos are curtesy of Pat.

Carrying on, we reached our destination here at 5:30 p.m. Having travelled 463.6 miles on I-10 and I-8, which I will give both a rating of 8 out of 10.

Not much left.

Tomorrow we will head into Yuma for some shopping and a new tire. Thanks for checking in, until the next time, take care. Check out Pat’s blog HERE for a detailed story of our day.

 

Shorter Day

We Are We Today

Walmart

Deming New Mexico

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Today was a much shorter day of driving, leaving Midland Tx. at 7:40 a.m. and arriving here, 401.6 miles down the road, at the Walmart in Deming New Mexico.

It was easy to get on the 250 Loop in Midland and then onto I-20. This section of I-20 is not quite as smooth so I am down grading my rating to an 8 out of 10. There is some construction along the way, but today being Sunday, there were no slowdowns.

I-10 Scenery, curtesy of Pat 

I-20 merges onto I-10 west towards El Paso Tx. It was in this stretch of highway where we changed to mountain time, gaining an hour, and climbing to 4815 ft. in elevation.

Another I-10 scenery curtesy of Pat.

We stayed on I-10 right thru El Paso, again being Sunday, it was an easy drive. My rating for the entire stretch of I-10 will be an 8 out of 10.

We have one more short day of travel tomorrow and then we will sit for four nights.

Thanks for checking in, stop by tomorrow to see where we end up. Until the next time, take care and check out Pat’s more informative Blog HERE

 

Another Long Day

We Are We Today

Walmart

Midland Tx.

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After posting last night, we found out that we couldn’t stay at the Sam’s Club. So, after grabbing something to eat, we moved back a couple of miles to the Welcome Center.  

Up this morning at 6, we were on the road at ten after seven, heading west on I-30. For the most part I would rate this road at an 8 out of 10. Starting about 50 miles east of Dallas, we ran into construction which carried on thru Dallas. Traffic moved right along with one slow down between exits 49A to 47, this section is where my rating drops to a 7 out of 10.

Somewhere near Walsh Tx., I-30 becomes I-20, I think this has to be the smoothest Interstate we have been on in a long time. I am giving this interstate a rating of 9.5 out of 10. When opening up cupboards and the frig after we stopped, Pat said there was one thing out of place.

So here we sit In Midland Tx. 511 miles from our start this morning. It was another long day, with mostly clear skies. We started out at 379 ft. above sea level to top out at just over 2800 ft and down to 2782 ft here.

Thanks for checking in, until the next time, take care. Don’t forget to check out Pat’s Blog.

 HERE

 

Third Day of Travel

We Are We Today

Sam’s Club

Texarkana Texas

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Today is our third travel day heading to Arizona. We have had a great time for four days in Nashville, doing the touristy thing and visiting family.

We left Two Rivers Campground at 7:30 this morning getting onto TN 155 north and then west, to take us around the top of Nashville. Taking exit 27B to I-40 heading toward Memphis. I-40 takes you around the top and down the west side of Memphis where you cross the state line into Arkansas. About the last 5 miles in Tennessee and the first 10 miles into Arkansas, I-40 is rough enough to jar the fillings out of your teeth.

Carrying on to Little Rock where we took exit 159 to bypass I-440 to I-30, where we continued onto Sam’s Club in Texarkana, TX our destination for tonight. Making our total mileage of 503 miles for today. Yes, a long day on the road, which I did not mind after not driving for four days. We have a destination that we want to be at by end of day, Monday Oct. 28^th, so that is why the push on the miles travelled.

Pat mentioned in her blog about visiting my cousin and wife at their daughter and sons-in-law’s place in Nashville. For those who like the newer country music, Their SNL is Jesse Slack, who is a song writer and a great singer, who occasionally does gigs in Nashville. He also collaborates and records with a very talented Singer by the name of Robyn Ottolini.

For those of you who have Spotify on your mobile device, do a search and check them out. You can call me biased, because their family, but I think they’re great.

Thanks for checking in, until the next time, take care. You can also check out Pat’s blog.HERE

 

Second Day

We Are We Today

Two Rivers Campground

Nashville Tennessee

We were on the road by 7:50 a.m. this morning. The roads were good to great and beautiful clear blue skies. We travelled just over 400 miles in a little over 7 hours.

Our route today

 

Second Day, Wapakoneta Oh to Nashville Tn

 Be sure to read Patsy    Blog   for all the details. Thanks for stopping by. Until the next time, take care.

First Day

Where Are We Today

Wapakoneta, Ohio 

Today’s journey took us from CanAm RV in London Ontario to Wapakoneta Ohio via the 401 & I-75.

As we came off the Ambassador Bridge, we were directed to the transport processing area, this was a first for us. After showing our passports and answering a couple of questions, we were asked to pull ahead and stop so the Customs Officer go inside the trailer. I had to give him the trailer and truck keys and stay in the truck. He was in there for about 5 minutes, didn’t open the slides so don’t know what he all looked at, came out, locked the door, returned the steps to the travel position and gave us back our passports and keys.

With a good-bye and have a nice day we were “on our way.”

It was a pleasant day, clear blue sunny skies. There is road construction for probably 20 miles closer to the Michigan/Ohio State line. Slow crawl to stop and go.

We are parked for the night at the Walmart. Thanks for stopping by, until tomorrow, take care. Check out Patsy’s Blog and if you are reading this on your phone, go to the web version to see it better.

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Our route today.

Suspension Fix

Where Are We Today

CanAm RV

London Ontario

This is the old block, metal plates on each side. You can see in the middle , separation happening, also on the left side above the blot hole there is a crack.
 

As mentioned in my last post, we are here to have suspension repair done on one of the independent torsion bar axles.

Here the block is almost out. the left side is the bracket that is attached to frame. The right side is the torsion bar where the wheel is.

The trailer was taken into the shop promptly at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning. That’s when the struggle began, it took until 3:00 p.m. to get the old rubber block spring out. The rubber block has a steel plate glued to each side of it. This then fits between a metal bracket that is welded to the trailer frame and the torsion bar. The metal-to-metal parts were ceased due to rust making it difficult to get out. Persistence and a couple of hydraulic jacks finally got the part out.

Again, here it is half way out. The block of wood was used to put the hydraulic jack on for pushing against the frame. 

The new part slipped right up between the brackets but gave them resistance in getting the bolts in. There is a twist/offset in the rubber block that is needed to put the bolts in. Again, persistence and hydraulic jacks made this happen.

Here is the new block, ready to slide up into place.

Unfortunately, the trailer was not done by quitting last night and we did not have the trailer to sleep in. We were provided with another one for the night, which was greatly appreciated.

Here it is, all installed.

First thing this morning, the tightening of bolts to the proper torque, the wheel put back on and us returning the things that we needed for last night, it was brought back to the parking lot. I had it set up and ready for us to spend one more night here before crossing the border tomorrow.

Happy that you have stopped by for a read, until the next time, take care.

First Day of Our Winter Trek

Where Are We Today

CanAm RV Centre

 London Ontario

We have started our trek to Arizona, leaving “The Ridge” this morning at  9:15 A.M>     to our destination, here at CanAm RV just outside of London Ontario. Not a long day, but this is a necessary stop for a repair on the trailer before we go any further.

Set up the night

This trailer has independent torsion bar suspension with part of that being rubber blocks. One of them has started to separate so it needs to be replaced. This was discovered last fall but was not an issue then. When we came home last spring, we had it checked again and it was determined that it should be replaced, so the appointment was set up to have it done at this time. Tomorrow it will go in the shop for the repair. We plan on staying here until Saturday morning, at which time we will cross the border and continue on our journey.

Thanks for stopping by and following along, until the next time, take care. Be sure to check out Pat’s blog HERE 

Our Route Today

Spring to Fall

Where Are We Today
The "Ridge"
Priceville, Ontario

Here we are days from leaving the Ridge to head south and I haven’t done my Spring wrap up of our trip home and winter mileage. If you recall from Pat’s blog, we had a little excitement on the way home in blowing one of the trailer tires. I did change that tire on the side of the road, not something I would want to do again anytime soon. The rest of the trip home was uneventful. There was little damage to the underside of the trailer and I was able to fix it while sitting at our dealers when we stopped there before returning to the Ridge.

Shredded tire and the arms that hold the electrical and water lines repaired.

Our winter mileage was 14129.8 kms. / 8779.8 mi. The actual miles per gallon I don’t have because, I accidently hit the reset on the trip meter. I can say that it was between 10 and 11 miles per gallon, which is normal for our winter travels.

Someone was asking how our new batteries that we bought for the trailer were doing. I am pleased to say that they are performing well and we have had no issues.

I did go back to work this summer with a few different projects. The one that I am most excited about is the last one, a huge deck, over 700 square feet.

Huge deck, over 700 Sq.ft.

Hobby wise has been up and down, flying most weekends. I did lose two airplanes this summer. One being my Stinson Reliant, pilot error. This was the 6^th time that the landing gear has been torn off, and the last time I was going to fix it. There was other structural damage also.

Stinson was one weekend and the Cub the next weekend.

The second one was my Piper Cub, technically it was pilot error also. One of my fellow flyers had lost control of his plane and it was coming towards me. As I stepped back to get out of its way, I took my eyes off of mine, which was in a left aileron turn and at the same time, must of moved a control stick. When I finally looked back to it, it was out of control and going down. I could not recover and it went nose in. Too much damage to repair.

Our hot water heater relief valve was sticking, so water was continuously dripping from it. After procrastinating far too long, I drained the tank and replaced it. I also replaced the anode rod, though it didn’t look bad, it’s been around a year since it was last changed.

Top Right-old and new relief valves, Bottom Left-old and new anode rods.

So, we are wrapping things up here at the “Ridge” for another year. The motorcycle got put away today, the car and truck get oil and filter changes tomorrow and then the car will go into storage until spring. There will be a few last-minute things to take care of, which you can read about in Pat’s blog as they happen.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I have to say. I’ll try to keep you updated on our trip route as we head for Arizona. Until the next time take care and stay safe.