Back home safely

[greatbear]

Jeff and I are safely home after our first camping trip of the year. It's also become the way Jeff and I celebrate his birthday. He's 47 now! Doing this one relatively close to home is a way to start off easy, make sure we have everything in order and iron out any sort of problems that might crop up. The latter did make a showing and really could have been serious.



This is one of the trailer tires. It's not supposed to look all bulging and rounded. It should be flat across. These Chinese-made "Mission"-brand tires are pure evil. There are countless reports of blowouts and tread separations causing expensive damage to trailers and causing accidents. If you or someone you know have these tires on anything, get rid of them. I thought since the trailer is fairly new will low mileage, I could extend the time a bit before replacement. Not at all. At least I noticed this when we had gotten set up. It would not have survived the trip home. How this kind of unsafe garbage can be sold, seemingly with impunity, really pisses me off. Yet another example of how the U.S. has sold it's safety to the lowest bidder all in the name of being cheap. And these tires are on campers, trailers and RVs everywhere, including high-end models. I had planned on replacing these tires just from all the horror stories last year, but made it through without any problems. I inspect the tires at every stop we make.



But, me being me, being more prepared than an entire Boy Scout troop (these days the Scouts seem only to be prepared in religious extremes anyway), I had The Garage of Mayhem Remote Edition, complete with a floor jack, a complete line of tools and even an impact wrench to take care of the tire in no time. Only issue was I had to remove the stairs from the chassis to be able to work the jack. It was raining, and was not impacting (heh) our enjoyment of the day at all.

Though it rained on and off on Friday, Saturday was absolutely perfect, and exactly what I had ordered for Jeff's big day. Though our 'mystery guest (sounds like 'camp caddy') could not make it, Jeff and I along with a remarkably well-behaved Kodi had a most enjoyable day.



This is our spot, same as last year. There were more people camping this time than the previous two years. Surprising, but makes sense, since camping is still one of the cheapest and most fun getaways that can be had. We love camping, and do so several times a year. We are on tap for P-Town again this year, plus three trips to Hillside. We can't wait.

A Flickr photo Set of the Deep Creek trip can be found here.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

You should!

[2stroker.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a nice time.Sure hope I can get out into the woods again soon.It always seems to put you in a really good frame of mind doesn't it. Chinese tires? We should round up all the executives that sold us out to those dirt bags along with every politician that helped make it possible for this whole mess to take place and march them out into the desert where we can then force them to build a wall with Chinese bricks so we can line them up and shoot them all as an example for the next generation of "policy makers"

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. Past recourse for people with this problem was limited to getting new tires, and in very few cases, repairs of damages. You're on your own in so many cases like this. This is what happens when people shop based solely on price. And this is also what happens when companies and CEOs, etc strive to maximize profits by using every possible means. You might have read where I have been upgrading and expanding my workshop and garage lately, buyinig some machinery in the process. I've been having a tough time finding suitable machinery made in the U.S., even if the company itself is U.S. based. Almost all the machinery meant for home or small shops is no longer made here, shifted instead to Taiwan/China. Now, not all of these imported machines are of bad quality, but I prefer to do my part and buy locally, so to speak. I did manage to buy a nice Baldor two-speed buffer last month, made in the U.S.. I could have gotten an import for about one-fifth of the price. No import I have found, however, offers the 3600/1800 dual speed, and even if there was a model, I gave my bucks to the sole (at least as far as I know) maker of buffers and grinders making them here. Now, I wanted a big 12 inch 2HP grinder, and could have bought one from Baldor. The problem there was I would have to have shelled out over 2800 dollars for one of theirs. I simply don't have that kind of coin. The imported one was less than 600. It's well made, and will probably outlast me, given the usage cycle I would put it through. Now, if I had a professional shop where things get beat on every day, I'd spring for the top of the line. Baldor could do a lot of us a favor and lower their prices on some of their grinders. They are simply riding high on the fact that many government and industrial contracts often require US made machinery. They price the stuff accordingly now. I also have read where Baldor, a maker of electric motors of all types and sizes as well, has slipped on their quality in the last few years. Motors that would ordinarily last under decades of hard use without any fuss are burning out, mainly because of cheapening the enameling process used to insulate the windings. What used to be a long, two-step repeating process of enameling and baking the windings twice has been taken down to a single treatment. Apparently, this is not enough, and it's starting to show. I used to dread the imported motors on imported machinery, they often ran hot and lacked power. Now, that is no longer the case. The stuff is looking better and better, and it's going to become the norm soon if the US companies don't step things up in quality and keep prices in check. No huge salaries for the CEOs and the rest of the board. There are way too many companies ready to eat our lunch.

Delta just came out with their new Unisaw. I've been waiting for this machine, and it looks good. Thing is, it's about 2800 dollars, or not quite double what the current model goes for on average. I was willing to pop for the difference on the machine, especially if it's as good as they say it is. But then I hear that Black and Decker, now the Delta parent company, might have given money to help pass Prop. 8. If that's the case, I am really thinking of reconsidering the deal. And given the sheer amount of Delta, B&D, DeWalt and Porter-Cable tools and machinery I have already and the fact that B&D owns all these brands (and has been offshoring more and more production), I am really in a quandary. I am not about to toss out what I already have, but do I give them any more of my business? The last power tools I bought recently were from Bosch.

[2stroker.livejournal.com]

Bosh is good.I bought a Bosh hand held jig saw about 10 years ago to use in my work(I do home improvements) and it has never once given me a problem.I paid 3 times what a B&D would have cost and I don't care.The Bosh is well made and can stand up to the kind of service I give it where the cheapo B&D made in China would have been a distant memory by now.Wait until you go to buy boots! I searched high & low for American made boots.I finally found them I had to drive to a store 50 miles away and I paid 180 dollars for them .I could have gone to the local work clothes store and bought the same exact boot made in China with the same name on it for 89 dollars but I don't want to give them my money.Fact is that they are trying to fulfill Nakita Kruschev's dream of burying us. If you ever listened to that speech where he was banging his shoe on the podium at the UN in the early 60's that's exactly what he was going on about."We Will Bury You" and then it goes on to say economicly,politicaly bla bla bla .The Chinese are commies and we seem to have forgotten all this or just decided their cheap shit is worth more than our own economic well being.Now they even own our national debt ! Every time we fork over money to pay taxes a whole bunch goes to the same dirt bags who wanted to nuke us less than 25 years ago just to service the debt we now owe them!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Yes it does, but only for about half the circumference. You'd have a hell of a ride with this donut on your bike. lol

Lookin' forward to seeing yas again!

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Yeech. The whole idea of failing RV tires is a really sensitive subject with me.

I don't know if I ever told you, but at one point my parents discovered that the Michelins on their motorhome had their ratings overstated - that is, the ratings were right for their RV, but the tire didn't live up to them. Unfortunately, they discovered this when one of them failed without warning, sending them across the road pretty much head-on into a minivan. The two people in the minivan were killed instantly, dad wound up with all his ribs broken and in ICU for quite a while; mom had a broken leg and assorted lacerations and bruises. If it hadn't happened so near the Yuma Proving Ground and the military paramedics - dad wouldn't be here today. I won't even go into the emotional trauma.

Dad is - like you - a regular tire-checker, and he definitely knew what to look for. I'm glad you caught this in time!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

No, you had not told me the story. I'm so sorry it happened, I can only imagine the emotional pain not to mention the physical. :(

I have always been one to fuss over the mechanical condition of so many things, especially cars. Several years ago I had a tire blow out on my old truck. Granted, they were up in age, but had good tread and very little in the way of visible weather damage. Usually a tire will give some sort of warning before it lets go, usually thumping or vibration, or have outward visible signs of impending disaster. Not in this case. The warning came a split second before all hell broke loose, the tread and steel belts peeled off, bashing the hell out of the fender and stripping trim off the truck sides, and sending me from lane to lane before I got the thing gathered up and off on the side of the road. Luckily there was no one in the lanes next to me or oncoming, or things would have really been bad. Also, I was on my way to hitch up our (old) travel trailer for a camping trip, had this occurred with the trailer attached, and in the traffic I normally encounter on that route, it would have gotten very ugly.

It was after this that not only did the truck get new rubber, but so did the Stratus, which had servicable but aging tires, as well as Jeff's truck. It sems that once you go more than about 5-7 years on tires these days, despite taking care of them (rotating, pressures, keeping sunlight off of them, etc) the heat and rotational cycling take their toll internally, not to mention the tread compound hardening and becoming slick in all sorts of weather. This is also why I feel tires with outrageous tread life of 80k or more are a liability, unless you can make that number of miles in a time shorter than, say, 4-5 years at most. The tires will look fine for a decade or more, but will actually be time bombs ready to let loose at the worst possible time. I've seen it happen on the road, it's not pretty. Luckily, I did not see anything terrible happen as a result. At worst it was bumping into adjacent cars or sliding off the road without hitting anything else.

[dougoros.livejournal.com]

Glad you're a tire shecker! Even more glad Kodi didn't encounter any killer squirrels....or chipmunks.....LOL

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Kodi has learned to ignore the chipmunks. They scurry about all over, and are fun to watch. They keep Kodi's sniffer well used. LOL

[champdaddy.livejournal.com]

Other than the tire thing, sounds like a great weekend. I'll bet your mystery guest is sorry he didn't make it.

Happy Bday, Jeff!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I sure hope said mystery guest makes it out for at least one of our trips. ;)

[woofytexan.livejournal.com]

And not even one gratuitous shirtless picture. *sigh*

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

Looks like you guys had a good time. I'm glad you discovered the bad tire before it blew.
WHEW!

[rockybear02.livejournal.com]

sorry to hear about the tire - but glad it wasn't worse...

BUT I WILL SAY - that looked like an awesome time!!!

Maybe next year we'll tag along - after chatting with Jeff - Carmen actually sent away fora guide book on that place