On the Road from NC to OR

[homeguy]

Oh the joys of traveling. We got the call this past Saturday that I had to be in Oregon for our next project. Closed up our house for the summer and headed back to the camper near Rockingham, NC. Left Sunday at noon and got to Lebanon, traveling thru a bad storm in near Asheville and again at the end of the day in Lebanon. Woke up Monday and got a call from our postal lady that part of a tree in our yard fell on my wife's car. Luckily, some dents and a broken windshield is all. Insurance notified but we couldn't turn back. Stop for fuel about noon and notice part of the roof at the front was sticking up. Pull into an abandoned station and go up and look. The membrane was coming out from under the cap and acting as a sail. Repair it with some screws and emergency repair tape. Luckily had a little bit in the camper but had to find a camping store that had more to complete the job. Did I mention that it was 95 and sunny? Find a camping world and get 2 rolls of that wide roof repair tape that is extra sticky. AND IT IS STICKY! Do not put it anywhere you don't want it as it does not come off. Go to a truck stop and finish the repair job. STILL HOT! Traveling thru Arkansas at this time and have a blow out. Some damage to the driver side of the rv, nothing major luckily. Had installed the TST507 sensors that everyone raves about. Watching the monitor the entire time and everything was fine right up until the time of the blow out. After we got pulled over and stopped, the sensor then notified us of an issue. Repair service pulls old wheel off and puts on 1 of my spares. This brings us to Tuesday. Traveling in Kansas now and another blow out, no warning from the sensors. AS we are sitting along the road for 30 minutes, the sensor is reading normal. At that point, we pull off the sensors and toss them into the trailer. My 2nd spare was then installed and then we went to a TA truck stop and bought 5 new tires and a new rim. So now we are back to 2 spares and will start again in the morning. Spent today visiting with family in Colorado and calming our nerves. No we did not have the Marathon bombs on but we also didn't have the good Goodyears on either. We listened to a tire salesman convince us that the tires we were buying were comparable. They were only 1 1/2 years old with about 500 miles on them. The tire on now are what TA had available. Can't remember the brand but seem like stout tires. We are hoping for a calmer 2nd half of the trip and begin shopping for a class A.

Thanks for listening, it feels good to vent to a computer!

[spindrift]

Good gawd! 🤤 Here's to smoother waters ahead. I'll lift a glass of bourbon to you a little later today. 👍

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by homeguy

We are hoping for a calmer 2nd half of the trip and begin shopping for a class A.

Class A's aren't immune to blowouts or roof issues. Shop for a Class A because you think you like the RVing style of a Class A, not improved reliability or you may set yourself up to fail.

We have had almost no issues with our Class A and it's built like a tank compared to a 5er, but I still read about a lot of issues with Class A the same as the rest of the RV types.

[travelin' texans]

We saw 2 class As yesterday behind big tow trucks. The higher price doesn't mean higher quality, the same people that don't care how your 5er was thrown together don't care how they throw your class A together either, just as long as they get their quota out the the door.
Question on your TPMS, did you not notice any temperature rise leading up to your blowouts? Did you still have the crappy E rated tires? G rated tires should be the absolute minimum on any RW.

[homeguy]

sorry for the mislead you. Looking at switching to a class a because my wife can't take 10+ hours in the truck. I can drive 12 or more with no problem but not her.

[homeguy]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

We saw 2 class As yesterday behind big tow trucks. The higher price doesn't mean higher quality, the same people that don't care how your 5er was thrown together don't care how they throw your class A together either, just as long as they get their quota out the the door.
Question on your TPMS, did you not notice any temperature rise leading up to your blowouts? Did you still have the crappy E rated tires? G rated tires should be the absolute minimum on any RW.

saw no indication in temperature. As I said earlier, the monitor on the 2nd blowout continued to read the same after the blowout.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by homeguy

sorry for the mislead you. Looking at switching to a class a because my wife can't take 10+ hours in the truck. I can drive 12 or more with no problem but not her.

Ah, that's a big reason we switched. Quick access to the bathroom (1-1/2 bath), a place to lay down, and a reasonably quick and easy setup. She loves it and I can drive forever in it. The queen chair is a full recliner.

[travelin' texans]

Originally Posted by homeguy

sorry for the mislead you. Looking at switching to a class a because my wife can't take 10+ hours in the truck. I can drive 12 or more with no problem but not her.

Wow! We are fulltime also & about 200-300 miles we're both ready to stop, but there's no where we have to be to travel 10-12 hours a day. Once stopped we spend at least 2 nights so we have a chance to sightsee the area.
A few years back on one of my other SOBs we lost all the tread off the front left 5er tire & it wouldn't have triggered the monitor either as it never lost air & I have no idea how long we traveled that way, the steel cords looked like chrome, 2 days later when we were ready to leave I found the tread had taken the sewer dump line with it all the way back the the first dump valve, thank goodness for duct tape I got to dump.