VA to NV Move

Good Day all,

Well, the big day is approaching. Sharon & I are moving across country. This will be the longest trip in the TM so far and we are looking forward to how it & we hold up.

Our itinerary will be down to FL, then LA, on to MO, OK & then NV. We hope to be able to post info along the way.

We are currently staying at the City Campground in Newport News, VA. It is very nice, very shady. Lots of spaces. Elect/water no sewer, but they do have dump station. $18 nitely. Exit 250B off I64. Boat & bike rentals available.

We will be leaving on Sun, hopefully we will spot/meet other TM's along the way.

Dan

[B_and_D]

I hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip!

Keep us posted.

It has been a very rainy trip so far.

Left VA on Sunday, blew a TM tire just north of Fayetteville, NC, on I-95, only 143 miles from home. Had to open TM & change tire during heavy rain from approaching TS Gaston. TM very hard to open on shoulder tilt, but managed to be back on road in about an hour.

Didn't want to travel without spare so stayed at KOA just north of Fayetteville, setting up in the heavy downpour.

Monday contacted Goodyear dealer, he couldn't get Marathon tires till Tuesday. Asked him if he had D rated tires which would fit, & he did. Bought two Goodyear ST205/75D14, Model HMG2020, had them mounted & balanced. Total $164. These tires say Property of Uhaul on the side, but dealer says he buys their overproductions. He sells a lot of these to the local Army units. These tires are used by Uhaul on their heavy trailers & car carriers. They are rated for 2040 lbs at 65 psi. They sure do look heavy duty. I'm not sure if Goodyear sells these retail or not.

Next stop was KOA in Myrtle Beach, SC, very rainy stay. We cancelled plans to go to Orlando, turned right instead.

Wed we camped at AH Stephens State Park, GA. Just north of I20, Exit 148. Very nice park, level gravel sites, E&W hookups, some pull thrus. $18 nite. It looks like it was newly renovated. But watch out for the ants. Woke up the next morning & they were all over the floor.

Thu we camped at Maxwell AFB Famcamp, Montgomery,AL. Got one of the last overflow sites. Military campgrounds are filling up due to Frances. You see a lot of FL rv's & cars on the road & rest areas.

Last nite we arrived at the Famcamp on the Gulfport, MS SeaBee base. Very nice, & now full. Our refer door opened, & had to replace all our food which we just purchased at Maxwell. Our refer is a small homestyle unit, no lock on door. I've never had it open before, but will make somekind of a lock before we leave here.

Have seen many accidents on the road due to very heavy rain showers. Many folks don't believe in slowing down.

Have a nice Labor Day weekend.

More later.

[G-V_Driver]

It must be a great source of comfort to know your new tires were built for u-haul rentals and the government In the 50's my Dad worked for USDA building dams in western OKlahoma. Plymouth won the contract to supply the sedans for the high-ups (Dad was a field guy, so he had a pick-up).

For some reason, he was driving a Plymouth one day and the speedometer quit. Since he was close to the dealer (you're close to everything in Elk City, OK) he stopped to get it repaired. When they pulled the original unit, it had a sticker that said "DEFECTIVE. SAVE FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACT" We had great fun showing it around town. I think my Mom (now 91) may still have the sticker in a box somewhere.

Welcome to Nevada! Where in Nevada are you moving? We moved to Las Vegas from Maryland around 10 years ago. We have used our Trailmanor year round in this part of the country.

You will not have to put up with many downpours in this the Southwest. We have had our TM for about a year and have taken many a trips. We just got back from 9 days at Bryce NP. We have slept in our TM around 70 days since last January.

What size were the Marathon tires you replaced. Your new tires seem to be one size smaller than the Marathon's on my 2619. My tires are ST215/75R14C. They have a weight rating of 1820 lbs at 50 PSI.

Gosh Wayne, I haven't seen Defective on the tires yet. Hope the dealer was truthful when he said these were over production tires. Time will tell.

We are moving to Mesquite, NV, about 80 miles NE of Las Vegas. When I arrived in early Aug with our household goods it was 116 Deg F. But Sharon keeps telling me it is a dry heat. I guess I haven't quite grasped that concept yet.

The tires on our TM were not Marathons, but Titan. The size was the same I replaced them with. I did have a Goodyear Marathon as a spare, same size. But since the spare was made in 1995 & the other Titan was of 2000 vintage, I kept the Titan for the spare.

Sharon is out re-aquainting herself with the area today, we were stationed nearby from 1984 thru 1989. Everything has changed & grown since then.

I've been working on the TM today. Replaced the wiring for the inverter which runs the fridge with 10 guage. Had to replace the inverter & it wasn't working well with the 12 guage I had before. It seems ok now.

Also installed a new propane detecter. The original, 1993 model, was not working correctly. I added an on/off switch so I can turn it off when we leave Gizzy alone. We always turn the propane off when we leave her in the TM. Last year when we returned to the TM Gizzy was acting real strange. Couldn't hardly walk, & now her hearing is real bad. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the propane detecter sounded off for a long time, even though the tanks were off, and this damaged her nerves.

Talk at you later

Dan

[G-V_Driver]

Whether it's steamed (clams) or baked (meatloaf) the meat always ends up cooked; or so I remind those who tout dry heat. But if the choice is high altitude and low humidity vs. the opposite matchup, I'll take high and dry every August as long as we live in Dallas.

I woudn't worry about the tires if they were on my trailer, but every time I think about something being made for the government I remember the USDA Plymouth and this was a good opportunity to tell the story.

I'm coming to Vegas October 10-13 for NBAA convention, hoping for good weather then.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by DancinCampers

When I arrived in early Aug with our household goods it was 116 Deg F. But Sharon keeps telling me it is a dry heat. I guess I haven't quite grasped that concept yet.

Dan -

We move back and forth from the Sonoran desert (Scottsdale, AZ) to the Maine coast every year. One is hotter and drier (usually), and the other is cooler but wetter. After a bit of acclimitization, we have concluded that the "dry" part of "dry heat" is worth 15-20 degrees of temperature. In other words, 95 degrees and dry in Arizona feels like about 75 degrees and more humid in Maine.

But as you point out, hot is hot. So 116 and dry in Nevada feels like 95-100 and humid in Houston or Miami or Louisiana.

It works in winter, too. Dry and 0 degrees is actually more comfortable than humid and 20 degrees.

That's why I don't stay in Scottsdale in the summer. I'm not tough enough.

Bill

[B_and_D]

Gosh, sounds like it's been sort of a stressful trip so far. Sorry to hear about your blowout, when we had ours we were at a real tilt too and that made it even more difficult. We had heat instead of pouring rain, though. That just sounds awful!

Hopefully the rest of your trip will be better with less rain and no more tire/vehicle problems.

With AZ as a home base, you should try to come to CA and see some of the sights around here. Winter camping isn't bad here as long as you do it in between the winter rains and stay out of the snow!

Take care -

D

Originally Posted by DancinCampers

Gosh Wayne, I haven't seen Defective on the tires yet. Hope the dealer was truthful when he said these were over production tires. Time will tell.

We are moving to Mesquite, NV, about 80 miles NE of Las Vegas. When I arrived in early Aug with our household goods it was 116 Deg F. But Sharon keeps telling me it is a dry heat. I guess I haven't quite grasped that concept yet.

The tires on our TM were not Marathons, but Titan. The size was the same I replaced them with. I did have a Goodyear Marathon as a spare, same size. But since the spare was made in 1995 & the other Titan was of 2000 vintage, I kept the Titan for the spare.

Sharon is out re-aquainting herself with the area today, we were stationed nearby from 1984 thru 1989. Everything has changed & grown since then.

I've been working on the TM today. Replaced the wiring for the inverter which runs the fridge with 10 guage. Had to replace the inverter & it wasn't working well with the 12 guage I had before. It seems ok now.

Also installed a new propane detecter. The original, 1993 model, was not working correctly. I added an on/off switch so I can turn it off when we leave Gizzy alone. We always turn the propane off when we leave her in the TM. Last year when we returned to the TM Gizzy was acting real strange. Couldn't hardly walk, & now her hearing is real bad. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the propane detecter sounded off for a long time, even though the tanks were off, and this damaged her nerves.

Talk at you later

Dan

Welcome to Nevada. Mesquite is a great 'little' town. I say it that way because Ican recall when it was 'little'. Nothing like now. We live a bit north of you up in Lyon County; on the way to Reno. And yes, getting used to the dry is going to be quite a change for you. But, after living in the state now for 40 odd years, once you acclimate, you won't go back to the former. Heck, just this week we went to San Diego, to look ... and wound up buying ... our TM. While there, literally went 'crazy' wanting to get out of that mess. They can take California, expecially S. California, and ... as the old country singer sang, "Shove it!!"