Saturday the 20th we were with many NJ friends at a Birthday party for Risa and one of Chas’ friends Tim. We all met at the Memphis Pig Out restaurant in Atlantic Highlands and then after dinner we went to karaoke at Bahr's in Highlands NJ. Then after Bahr's Patty and I stayed the night in our old rental house with friends Michele and Tom. Patty and I were just a bit hung over the next morning but we made it back to our RV in time for a nap :)
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| Bahr's entrance |
Tuesday the 23rd I washed the RV for the first time since we were in Florida 2 months ago. The RV really doesn’t get very dirty unless we pull it on wet roads which we did a lot in the past couple of months. For me washing the RV is about a 4 hour job.
Wednesday the 24th I played some golf with Rob who’s driveway we are parked in. It was a great weather day for golf with low humidity and moderate temperatures. This is only the 2nd time I have played golf in the past year. I still shot a sort of respectable score of 105. At least for me it was respectable.
Wednesday evening my daughter Jennifer and her husband Christian came over to the RV for dinner. This was their first time seeing the RV. I didn’t realize that Jennifer has worked at the same company now for 23 years! I’m not sure but I think that makes me feel old. Not really! It does make me feel proud that my daughter has stuck with something that long. We had a very good visit and called it a night around 10:30 as Jennifer works in the morning :(
Thursday the 25th we just did odds and ends and just chilled most of the day.
Friday the 26th Chas and Lisa came over for breakfast as it was the last visit Patty could have with hi. We also went out for dinner with friends Michele and Tom. We went to a restaurant they recommended in Shrewsbury NJ. It was a small Italian place called San Remo. It turned out to be very good and we had a great time again with our friends.
Saturday the 27th was our last full day in NJ and we had a lot of things to do. In the morning we needed to attend a viewing for one of my work friend’s, Tom, whose wife died this week. I didn’t know his wife Carol too well but we had met here a couple of times over the past 20 years. After the viewing we headed to the beach to be with a large gathering of our beach friends.
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| Way out in the distance you can see the crowd at Gunnison Beach on Sandy Hook. Yes, we walk that far! |
We saw so many people at the Luau that we would not have seen if it wasn't for the party. Writing this makes me just a little sad as I think of all the memories of past events and trips we have taken with this group and Mike and Dale over the years that will not continue. However, life goes on and we all have new adventures ahead of us yet. One of which will be when we meet up with Mike and Dale next year at their new place when we are planning to travel the East coast.
Sunday the 28th we packed it in and left NJ around 11:30 am. We said our “see you laters” and thank yous to our hosts and good friends Cindy and Rob. So bittersweet.
All was going well until it wasn’t on the trip from NJ to Elmira NY. At 2 pm on I 380 just 3 miles south of Scranton PA the Tire Pressure Monitor started to sound off. This was our first real alarm from this system. It was the first tire on the passenger side of the RV that was losing pressure quickly.
The tires are inflated to 80 psi and were probably around 90 psi due to the heat of traveling. The monitor started when the pressure was at 71 psi. As I was looking around to get a quick check on traffic around me to start to pull off the road the monitor was giving readings of 71, 69, 60 so the pressure was in fact going down but not enough to cause real damage.
By the time I was stopped and off the road the pressure was 50 psi. We went back to check the tire and we could hear the air going out and I could feel the spot where the air was coming from. It seems that this was a puncture and not a tire defect, I think. I will find out more when I have Goodyear look at it.
We called our roadside emergency service company, Coach-Net to have the tire changed and the spare put on. We felt that the service was a little slow as we were just a few miles from a population center, Scranton PA. It took the service people 75 minutes to arrive and 30 minutes to change the tire. We were back on the road in just under 2 hours. I had the tools to do this and it would have taken me an hour. However, that hour is me already knowing that there wasn’t something else wrong. Anyway, we pay for the service and we were in no hurry, so why not have them do it.
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| Passenger side RV tire has a pin size hole in the side wall. |
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| The service guy getting the spare tire down. |
Just a few words about the tire pressure monitoring system. The system cost us around $500 with me doing the install last year. After reading all of the horror stories about tire blowouts and the testimonials about having a tire monitoring system I knew we needed this. If nothing else it would be for peace of mind knowing that the tires are not in trouble while we are running down the road. This incident was one of the scenarios that I bought the system for; a road puncture. Having this system allowed me to get off the road and stopped before the tire catastrophically destroyed itself. From the truck I don’t think we would have known the tire was leaking until either I happened to look back and see smoke or another driver came up and started pointing back. The tire would have shredded and damaged the rig as well as over loading the other tires. That $500 was one of the best investment we made!
We arrived at our site, Newtown Battlefield State Park, in Elmira NY around 6pm. The site has only electric, but it is 50 amp service. We didn’t realize that the site didn’t have water so we were not prepared with having our fresh water tank filled before got here. There were no rangers around and the map didn’t show any water stations. The park does have a dump station with non-potable water. We backed the rig up to the non-potable water and put a few gallons in just get us through the night.
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| This is our site at the Newtown Battlefield State park in Elmira NY. I thought this was a great picture that I took our first morning here. The battlefield monument is to the left. |
Our longtime friends Sandy and Jim came over while we were still setting up. They waited as we finished setting up and then we had a good night of catching up.
Monday the 29th I made a call to the nearest Goodyear tire dealer to get a replacement. The dealer didn't have one but would get one in the morning for a cost of $175 installed. Installed means on the rim, not on the trailer. Once I get the installed tire I will install it on the rig. I plan to use the hydraulic levelers to install the wheel. We will see how well that goes. I am planning that job to take about an hour from removing the spare, installing the old wheel with the new tire, and putting the spare back under the rig. Next Blog I’ll let you know how that goes. Braking news, I am just finishing this Blog after I finished the tire change. It took me 40 minutes to complete the job. It is really pretty easy.
Patty and I took a 2 mile hike on one of the trails later Monday morning. This State park is the site of the Newtown battle during the Revolutionary war. It was fought between the Americans against the British and the Iroquois Indians. It’s a very peaceful park on a hill overlooking the Chemung Valley to the south. The park is just south of the Finger Lakes.
We will be here in Elmira until the 30th Wednesday. We then head up to the Buffalo Area and specifically North Tonawanda to Colton RV to have some warranty work done. We are having our outside steps replaced and an arm on one of the recliners replaced as well as some other adjustments. The RV dealer has an onsite area to camp while we are there so we are planning on 2 nights. Then we will stay at a commercial campground on Grand Island NY for 10 days and visit with Patty’s family.
Stay Tuned!
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