Travel Journal – March 1, 2016

This morning I got up excited, yet a feeling of impending stress in the air. Yes the day was here that I had to give up the security of staying in one place for months and go back on the road again. My wintering was over and Spring has begun in the desert.

Once I am on the road, the excitement and newness of each place I visit takes over and I can’t wait until I move each time traveling a few hundred miles in another direction.

I finished packing up by 9 am and added air to my Westlake tires for the last time. They had served me well. I then said my goodbyes to my wonderful neighbors I met while here. Finally Jagger and I move out on the road once again. My next stop was only two miles away.

More Coach Maintenance!

The maintenance expenses I’ve had this winter for both the Coach and the Workhorse has been more than I had expected, leaving a huge hole in my pocket. I’ve tried to shop and be as frugal as I can, but things just keep coming up. Today my Westlake Tires will be replaced at Discount Tires in Mesa Arizona. After many hours of research and stress about which brand to buy and where to buy them.

I babied the first set of tires, the Westlake’s along and reached 12,792 miles plus the delivery from Indiana to California. All that in just over two years of full time travel. I had a little wear on the outside of the street side-rear tire and inside of the curb side-rear tire, which means I now need to consider an alignment. If anyone out there has suggestions for an alignment specialty facility here in Mesa or on the way to California I would appreciate a comment here or email me.

I chose Carlisle tires due to the cost and my slim full time budget. They still had a healthy price tag, almost as much as my Michelin’s for the Workhorse. I will post as time goes along, hopefully they hold up as well as the Westlake tires or better. When I arrived at the Discount Tire store, I was impressed by their courtesy and speed removing the old tires and installing the new Carlisle’s.

Two young men did the new installation on the Coach and gave me helpful information while they were going about their process. I left the Workhorse hitched up, with Jagger wondering what was going on, while they worked together jacking up the axles simultaneously lifting 11,000 plus pounds, two jacks on each side. Then they removed the tires, rims and put the new tire on the rims doing a spin balance on each tire. Finally replacing the rims on the Coach with the new tires. An hour and half later Jagger and I were back on the road and headed to Usery Mountain for a couple of nights in the desert.

As a side note I asked the techs to inspect the old Westlake tires for potential problems, inside and out. None were found, which was good news to me. I was careful traveling the last couple of years, keeping the tires inflated (every move when electricity was available). I don’t have a tire pressure monitoring system for the Coach, so checked heat every stop along the way using a handheld infrared sensor.  Most importantly I drove at 55-60 mph – a real slowpoke. This is especially important do to the heat and potholes I encountered along the way. [four_fifth_last][/four_fifth_last]  Until Next time, Safe Travels…Gary