Go West Young Man

Monroe, NC

Preparations are getting into high gear for our pending trip to Texas.  We are looking forward to getting on the road again.  We will be leaving sometime early next week for our ultimate destination - Big Bend National Park.

Along the way we will be stopping in Austin TX for a long awaited visit with some dear friends of ours that we have not seen in nearly 3 years!  Then we plan to stop in Fort Davis Texas at the Davis Mountains State Park for a few days before making the final journey to BBNP. 

No pictures as of yet, but we do plan to keep the blog up to date while on the road. 

There has been quite a bit of catch up work around the house and the RV to be sure we are happy campers.  (For you civic minded readers, this included early voting in the upcoming elections since we will be away on November 6.)   A thorough cleaning (inside and out) of the Bounder was done.  This included unloading some "non essential" items that had accumulated in the basement storage areas. 

The biggest single item was the replacement of the Bounder's tires.  We still had the original Goodyear RV tires that came with the coach.  While there was plenty of tread still on them, they were 8 years old.  They may look fine, but old tires can be broken down by weather and use causing dry rot and internal cracking.  This could lead to possible structural failure and cause a blowout.  Not what you want in West Texas, or anywhere else for that matter!

We replaced the original Goodyears with Hankook truck tires.  These tires get very good reviews in the RV community and are used widely by trucking companies too. And the cost is less than the RV tires from Goodyear.  So far, on the drive home from the shop, I could tell a difference in that the ride was smoother and tracking seemed to be a little straighter.  However, we will see when we get on the interstates headed west.