holy smoke - sorry for not updating this thread. We've done 2 round trips to Iowa since the last update.
Had our first breakdown on the side of the road this trip. The 'hubcap' (simulator) on the rear wheel came off and took the valve stem with it.
But the stem stayed in for a couple hundred yards until I turned toward that tire and WHOOOOSH. 356 miles of drive that day, and lost a tire with < 4 miles to go. Fuck me. I just heard the whoosh and figured I rolled on something nasty, needed a new tire.
But it was literally at the beginning of bridge construction, and I had a giant concrete pad behind orange barrels that I could pull on to and get out of traffic flow on this 2-lane state highway near Tucumcari, NM. Felt safe there, but getting a mobile tire repair out to us at 430PM on a Saturday WITH a right-size tire is a hassle. (Note: most RVers don't carry "spare tires" because of space/weight, and you don't want to be doing it on the side of the road. Pro-Tip is to carry just the tire - no rim - so any tire service can hook you up.) Eventually, after many phones calls and begging, found a service. Guy came out, we kind of had a non-verbal 'tech check' where I asked him I could help by doing anything except getting out of the way. He laughed, but later when he changing the valve he said "reach in that truck box and grab me a tire bar".
Still, $200 to put a valve stem in so it wasn't like we bonded.
Then late that night the blower fan on the heater started to whine, not a big deal to fix if you have one handy. Otherwise you're camping the next night without running the heater.
So we decided to sell this RV and Build Back Better. I'll let you know how the fix up and sell goes. Market is supposedly still pretty hawt right now, hopefully I don't lose all my ass on this. Wife says that this sale money plus my COBRA reimbursement money will be the budget for the next RV. Hopefully that gets me in a custom Super-C
Had our first breakdown on the side of the road this trip. The 'hubcap' (simulator) on the rear wheel came off and took the valve stem with it.
But the stem stayed in for a couple hundred yards until I turned toward that tire and WHOOOOSH. 356 miles of drive that day, and lost a tire with < 4 miles to go. Fuck me. I just heard the whoosh and figured I rolled on something nasty, needed a new tire.
But it was literally at the beginning of bridge construction, and I had a giant concrete pad behind orange barrels that I could pull on to and get out of traffic flow on this 2-lane state highway near Tucumcari, NM. Felt safe there, but getting a mobile tire repair out to us at 430PM on a Saturday WITH a right-size tire is a hassle. (Note: most RVers don't carry "spare tires" because of space/weight, and you don't want to be doing it on the side of the road. Pro-Tip is to carry just the tire - no rim - so any tire service can hook you up.) Eventually, after many phones calls and begging, found a service. Guy came out, we kind of had a non-verbal 'tech check' where I asked him I could help by doing anything except getting out of the way. He laughed, but later when he changing the valve he said "reach in that truck box and grab me a tire bar".
Still, $200 to put a valve stem in so it wasn't like we bonded.
Then late that night the blower fan on the heater started to whine, not a big deal to fix if you have one handy. Otherwise you're camping the next night without running the heater.
So we decided to sell this RV and Build Back Better. I'll let you know how the fix up and sell goes. Market is supposedly still pretty hawt right now, hopefully I don't lose all my ass on this. Wife says that this sale money plus my COBRA reimbursement money will be the budget for the next RV. Hopefully that gets me in a custom Super-C