There is a science to this

On Interstate 35, between Buda and Goforth Texas, Team SteelSports weekend adventure began.  At a speed of 70 mph, a man drove along beside us, waving for us to roll the window down.  Rodney and I had flashbacks of the flying canopy fiasco that took place only a few short months ago.  Same interstate, same scenario.  So, we immediately thought we lost something.  The man said "Your tire looks bad.  Those ball bearings don't look good at all."  We smile, wave and say thank you.  We pull over at the next exit, for gas, and to check out the tire.  Turns out the tire is worn down below the steel belt, to the soft mushy stuff.  Or, as Rodney said "the cream filling was coming out", and Chris says "it was worn down to the nub."  

After we established where we were, I used my happy birthday to me gift, my iPhone to find RV Centers near Buda.  The first place, I called, Camper Clinic II, told me we were close and gave us directions, but she didn't know if they sold tires.  She transferred me to the service department, where I had to hold for the guy who knew this info.  He was on the phone with a customer.  I'm impatient, so we decided to just drive there.  We made our way in the direction of the store, and found 2 other RV places.  We stopped at the closest one,  Crestview RV Center.  It had a nice parking lot and exterior.  Inside were tiled floors and a large, tiled, front desk area where a nice lady directed us to the service counter, where we were told someone would be with us shortly.  This fancy place, had a popcorn machine in the lobby.  Chris helped himself, then Leslie, saying, she "didn't want to be the first", nabbed some for herself.  Eventually, Rodney was able to explain the situation to a very well dress man, who looked like he was just the service department boss and didn't get his hand dirty.  He told us that they'd have to "get it in here and take a look at it" to know exactly what was wrong with it.  When we asked if that could be done quickly, he responded with "we're swamped today, there's no way".  They were no help to us, but they did have free popcorn.

We made our way to our next stop, Camper Clinic II, the location I had called first.  They had a gravel parking lot and the office was a double wide trailer.  Leslie and I decided since this place was not as fancy, they probably didn't have popcorn.  She said they might have suckers, though.  Maybe only Dum-dums, but a free sucker, none the less.  The service department was in another double wide trailer behind the office, connected by a wooden deck.  When Rodney opened the door we were greeted with an overwhelming scent of moth balls.  Mmm...looking good so far.  The man behind the service counter, looked like a man who had been working on motor homes and was wearing his service shirt.  He was surrounded by several staff members.  Rodney explained the situation to him.  He told us they wouldn't be able to look at it today either.  Rodney asked if they sold tires and he said no, that Discount Tire did.  After weigh in from other employees, they gave us three locations for Discount Tire.  We thanked them and left, but not without noticing the large box of Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops by the cash register.  Indeed, they did have suckers...and not just Dum-dums, but we chose not to take one.  Another bust, but luckily, there was one more RV Center down the service road a bit.

Our next, and final, stop was Marshall's Traveland.  They had a paved parking lot and didn't appear to be busy as there were not many cars in the parking lot.  This place was nothing fancy, but not a trailer, more like a big metal building.  Inside we made our way to the service counter where a friendly lady asked what she could do to help us.  Rodney started the story and she turned to a man who was sitting at a desk eating and said, "Let me see if the service deparment can help you?"  He just looked at at us for a minute, then asked what kind of RV we had.  After Rodney explained the situation in a little more detail and asked for some advice, the man reluctantly got up from his chair and came over to the counter.  Rodney told him the tire was practically brand new because we had it replaced recently.  He offered his advice and Rodney asked if they sold tires.  He said no and told us about Discount Tire.  We already know that story.  He asked what size and how many lugs there were on the tire.  When Rodney answered, he, again, reluctantly said "Well, I've got a 15 inch here."  Rodney said "I'll buy it!" We went outside to make sure that was the correct size.  It was actually a 14 inch.  Coincidentally, he had a 14 inch, too.  He said he kept them around for spare parts.  He informed us that it wasn't part of inventory, so he'd take $80.00 cash, no tax, for it.  While Rodney was paying him he asked "Are you going to put that on yourself?"  Rodney said, "I can, unless you want to do it."  He (we'll call "he" Vido), said "Well, I'm really bogged down right now, got a man out, so I'm short handed, we're just really busy today."  Uhh...hmmm....really?  We took our tire and said our thanks to Vido.

In the parking lot, Rodney and Chris jacked the trailer up and investigated the axel.  Rodney can interject more details later, if he feels the need, because I have no clue what any of these parts are.  Ball bearings, lugs, axels...I don't even know how to tell what size tire we have.  All I know is I heard Rodney say, from the other side of the RV, "There's a science to this."  He asked Leslie if she was good with physics, to which she responded...no, with a smile.  But, all three of them took a look at the axel to decide what would be best.  We found some tire removing tools, and yes, I know they have a name, and they were able to remove the old tire.  After it was off we were able to get a good look at it.  There were frayed metal strips hanging from one side and the whole tire was worn at an angle.  The boys did some mechanical work on the axel, that made perfect sense to them.  They decided this adjustment would keep it from bending, which is what caused this problem in the first place.  Leslie propped the old tire up against the trailer and the boys put the new tire on.  After the tire was on and they released the jack, Leslie and I realized the old tire was now wedged under the edge of the trailer.  I mean, that sucker was STUCK.  It was not budging.  Rodney released some of the air pressure and pulled it out.  Leslie decided that was pretty smart, because her idea would be to jack the whole trailer up again.  The only air pump available was the bike pump, so that what was used to add 50 pounds of pressure into the tire.  Needless to say it took a few minutes.  Chris, Leslie and Rodney took turns and eventually it was ready.  We moved a few of their gear boxes from one side of the trailer to the other, incase weight distribution was causing some issues, too.  We loaded up the tools, bike pump and the old tire and were ready to go.  We cruised down the road a tiny bit and checked it.  The tire did not appear to be bending out of place anymore, so we headed back down the interstate to finish up our trip.  You may be wonder...What was I doing during all this?  You know I was snapping photos!