Nov 24-26 - on the way

Another day, another tire.  Damn.  The trip was going so well ...

Yesterday, on the I77 express lanes just coming into Charlotte, the tire pressure monitor dinged.  Dang.  Checking, it was just over 20 and falling.  Quickly moving out of the express lanes and then off at the upcoming exit, we watched the pressure drop to about 10psi  as we pulled into a gas station.  A big bolt was stuck in the center of the right rear tire.  Damn.

So ... out came the donut again.  I can't believe that this is the 3rd time using that thing.  Run flats have gotten me out of the traffic but I won't drive a long way on them.  Nor will I drive from Charlotte to New Smyrna Beach on the donut.  I resigned myself to paying for a misc replacement tire of the same size, knowing that it wouldn't be a snow tire; wouldn't be run flat etc etc.  I called Tire Kingdom, which in this State is NTB (National Tire and Battery) and lo and behold, they did have a Michelin of the correct size, non RF. 

A couple of hours later and we were back on the road.  Last night I ordered a new tire, on a rim.  I'll keep this old rim and Michelin tire as a spare.  Seems that I need it.  I don't know if it will fit into the area where the donut goes; that would be perfect.

While I was waiting for NTB to do their work on the tire, I called Tirerack and they verified by talking to the NTB fellow that yes, this was the tire that they sold me last December; yes, it was practically new (these are the snows that were on for three weeks last year); and therefore I could leave it for NTB to dispose of.  They'll pay for a new tire but of course not for the new rim that I decided to buy at the same time.  Keeping that Michelin will only be useful to me if I have it on a rim.

So that was the trip from Winchester VA to Columbia.  We were originally going to go further but with the couple of hours lost and the fact that they hotel in Orangeburg had sold its last pet room, we opted to stop earlier. 

Backing up a day, we had left Hemmingford around 8:30 am and made it to Winchester VA.  That night we ate at an Outback, which was ok.  Here in Columbia there was another Outback ... let me put it this way, had we eaten at the Columbia Outback first, there's no way in H that we'd have eaten at another Outback until amnesia set in.

Backing up another day ?  On the 24th we had the gathering at the cemetery in Huntingdon and then everyone went back to Sheryl's other than David, who left from there heading home and Jeffrey, who had left earlier for PA.  The gathering at Sheryl's was family, both sides, plus Sheila and Marvin who are like family.    Wayne/Mary/Mark left Sheryl's heading home just before us on the 25th.

So there you have it. Hopefully today will be incident free but I'm having a heck-of-a-time with tires !

Southward ... soon.