Tires and troubles

Five days into our full-timing adventure and we're having a blast. We've had no problems, just inconveniences like the ice in Virginia on our second day. That is until we reached Florida. We had stopped at the Florida Visitors Center to pick up some brochures since we'll be here for awhile. We were going to be staying with a friend outside of Jacksonville but she had to work so we had some time to kill. We had a brochure for the Pecan Park Flea Market, just off I-95. So off we go. Oh well, they are only open on the weekends, but we parked anyway since it was almost lunchtime. Lenny did a walk around and noticed one of the tires on the coach looked low, so he gets his tire gauge to check it. That tire was OK, but the inside dually was FLAT! Absolutely no air. Great, did we pick up a nail or something? Are we overweight? These are the questions that go through your mind. I called our road service company, Coachnet. This is like the AAA for RVers only better. Unfortunately, it would be a three hour wait for a truck to come with a new tire (if one was needed). Thank God it was only the valve stem which they fixed on the spot. Friends, I cannot express enough the importance of good reliable tires. Ours are only a few years old. Do you know there is a birthdate on them? Do you know they are only good for about six years? The last four digits of the DOT code on the tire will tell you when they were manufactured. We learned this information at a Life on Wheels conference years ago. Recently it was reported on 20/20. We had the unfortunate experience of a blow out on our coach shortly after we purchased it. Something we will never forget or want to experience again. Our daughter had to purchase tires for her car this past week. This is the first time she has done this and we were not around to help her, so over the phone, I told her the questions to ask at the tire shop. They were going to sell her four year old tires! I told her to be forceful and demand newer tires. Then I got on the phone with the manager and told him in no uncertain terms that we will not pay $100 per tire for tires manufactured prior to 2010. He found tires that fit the bill and installed those. A good lesson learned for our young adult. One that all should heed. We were lucky this time and plan to purchase a tire monitoring system in the near future. Not much else happened yesterday, just some laundry and re-organization of cabinets while we waited for road service. We still have to use the heat at night, as it seems the cold weather has followed us south, for that I am truly sorry to my southern family and friends, but at least I left the snow back in Jersey! You all have a good weekend. Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas' Trails...till next time.