Slow start out of the chute this morning. Normally on our travel days we get up and get on the road. But after the tire issue last night I had to be at the tire shop in Medway ME this morning at 0830 hrs with just the truck and the flat tire in the back. Before that, commencing at 0730 hrs I started making a bunch of phone calls to other tire shops in Bangor, Houlton, Presque Isle and Madawaska. As I suspected, the tire shop in Medway did not have any of the same size and type tire that was on my truck - LT235/80R17 Load Range E 10 ply. The good news is they were able to patch the tire that was pierced by the rock so that I could at least use it as an emergency spare until I could get it replaced. As heavy as the truck is on it's own plus the loading of the trailer it is not a good idea to use that patched tire with that sort of wound as a primary tire. As I waited for the repair to be done, my buddy Kirk Small stopped by since he was in town for a PT appointment, and we said our goodbyes again. Great to see him. So kudo's to Stanley Auto Center in Medway Maine. They got me right in on short notice and patched up my tire for a reasonable fee.
So I was back to the campground before 0930 hrs. Doreen had the trailer cleaned and ready for me to finish up closing it down, running in the slides and loading it up on the truck. We made our way to the campground dump station, downloaded the "nasty" and headed back through town to the interstate.
We traveled I-95 to Houlton Maine and then turned north on Route 1 to our destination. While driving along we made some hands-free calls to tire shops including a call to my trusted tire dude back in Ankeny for advise. Bottom line is we made connection with a tire shop in Presque Isle where we used to live, and they can order the appropriate tires to arrive by Thursday, and installed them first thing Friday, so we gave them the go-ahead. It is an hour south of where we are camping, but we did not have much choice. Tires are critically important on both the truck and the trailer. It's worth it to me to rise and shine and get on the road to Presque Isle so we can get this mess resolved.
South of Presque Isle we passed Mars Hill, a town just south and a huge hill now populated with wind generators and antenna towers.
It was a fun drive, cruising through our old stomping grounds today. As mentioned before, we lived in Presque Isle in the old base housing from when Presque Isle used to be an Air Force Base. When they closed it as a base it became the Presque Isle airport where we would fly in and out of, and the base house became part of the Loring Air Force Base housing. Since I worked at an off-base site, it was convenient for many of us to live there rather than on-base.
Before we lived in Presque Isle, we lived in two different apartments in Caribou. Our first apartment was where we moved in as newlywed's and just 18 years old! We were poor kids and barely made it from payday to payday as a one-striper in the Air Force! I'm sure our RV has more square footage than our first apartment LOL!
We were greeted by the owner and he quickly pointed us into our pull-through site. It's cozy, protected, but the privacy is not a bad thing! Length is just right. The power seems solid and we have full hook-up! It is a small campground and most of the campers appear to be seasonal. That's ok.
So this is kind of unique. They use old lawn mower chassis and mount portable campfire tubs to them. So we can move our camp fire as we choose! Plus there is an ample supply of fire wood a very short distance from our site!
Right behind the fire wood is a train track. I asked about the frequency and loudness, but apparently it only makes one northbound run per day and the return run each night. We will see if we notice!
No comments:
Post a Comment