Dispatch from the Road 2013: Fun in Florida

Fun in Florida

Time flies when you’re having fun and our 14 day stay here in Orlando has flown by. Tomorrow morning we travel south about 60 miles to the other park here in Florida that is part of the Thousand Trails membership.

The campground has had entertainment several nights this past week and we have enjoyed going to the dances. Our friends Clay and Rebecca have joined us there on two nights. There was a community yard sale here this morning and I sold a lot of the excess RV stuff I had after replacing the old motorhome. Unfortunately I recently spent a lot more than I made because of the tire blow out we had on our way here.

Last Wednesday we took the motorhome to a truck service center in Orlando where I replaced all six tires. In my 60K+ miles of RV driving I’ve had 3 tire failures, 2 of them being sidewall blow outs. I (and lots of others) think these RV tire failures have two main contributing factors. First RV manufacturers almost always send new rigs out the door weighing close to the rating of the chassis. There are only two manufacturers of tires designed for motorhomes and each (IMHO) tries to balance weight carrying with smooth riding. They do this by making the sidewalls more flexible than a similar sized truck tire. Sidewalls flex from the weight, heat is generated faster than it can be dissipated= BOOM!
It sounds about like a shotgun blast when a 100 PSI tire blows the sidewall out. Anyhow, I hope I have reduced the chances of this happening to us again by installing truck tires with 14 ply sidewalls. We ran on several different roads and up to turnpike speeds on the way back to the campground and neither of us noticed any difference in the ride from the old RV tires.

We have a lot of traveling planned and I need the motorhome to be as safe as possible.

While we were waiting for the tire installation we walked the dogs around the property and came upon a guy loading used truck tires. We asked him what he did with them and learned he exported them to many overseas countries. Many other countries don’t have minimum tread regulations and they just run them till they disintegrate. That’s something to think about next time you’re on a tour bus in some third world country! He said he ships as many as 1000 tires per month. When we paid the bill I was told that besides the instant rebate they were cutting me a break by not charging for tire disposal. Hmmm, I thought, probably because he was going to make some decent money selling my old tires to the exporter.

One last useless but intriguing story. This morning at my yard sale a man and wife whom I knew neither rode up on a golf cart. While looking over my stuff he saw the Myrtle Beach License plate on the front of the motorhome and said “You're from Myrtle Beach, do you know Bernie?” Without thinking I responded “No but I know Elvis” because I do know one of our local Elvis impersonators. He said I though everybody in Myrtle Beach knew Bernie, she’s a feisty old gal. “Oh, Bernie Wells” I said “Of course I know Bernie!” We then exchanged Bernie stories and when we last saw her. Now what are the odds of that happening? It boggles the mind, but then most anything boggles the old mind nowadays!

See you down the road!