Our Annual Summer Trip @NoGasWelcomeAboard

[NoGas]

Real time - In my last post above, I stated “coach is running beautifully”. Did I Jinx things? It still is and sorry I’m running about a month behind on my editing. However two days ago after nearly 12 years of Bird ownership, I experienced my very first road service call out…

This year’s 2 week stay at one of my favorite campgrounds had come to an end (Bogan Flats NF CG 15 miles South of Carbondale CO). While doing my pre-departure duties including a last mandatory step rubber mallet sound check of all tires, I discovered the inner right rear tire had NO AIR pressure! Naturally I was leaving near checkout time so carefully eased the coach over to another site that was “Available”, with no Reserved placard. Inspection of the “empty” tire revealed no apparent damage that I could see, but the outer tire was noticably bulging. When I tried to add air to the inner tire, I discovered why there was no air in it. The valve stem and TPMS flow thru sensor that I use as a small extension was loose and flopping around! Adding air was therefore impossible. So I decided to remove the tire, inspect it more closely and get it into Carbondale for a professional repair. However, my 1,000 ft lb rated electric HF impact that I have carried for years was unable to budge even one of the nuts that I had carefully torqued to spec (475 ft lbs) just before leaving on our trip. Now what? Thankfully, I have Good Sam Roadside Service. This campground is very REMOTE with zero cell service. However, once my Starlink was set up again, I was talking to GS. They took all my information and said they would contact me when someone was on the way. They kept asking for an address, which this campground does not have. It’s simply Bogen Flats NF CG on CR3. I told the GS rep to tell the repair company dispatcher tell their repair truck driver to enter the name of the campground in their mapping program and it should pop up. But I also gave them the exact GPS coordinates from my OnX off-roading app (accurate to within 10’). Finally, I told GS to have the driver/repair person call me if he has any issues or problems finding the place. Four+ hours later the driver shows up telling me he had gone to the wrong location first before calling his dispatcher. Then he coukd not find my location because there was no cell service for his phone’s GPS Google maps or to call his dispatch. Well duh!

So he gets to work, pulls the tire and discovers exactly what I told GS on my first call to them - a bad valve stem. The nut which secures the stem had come loose, which then let all the air out. An hour later the tire was reinstalled with its new valve stem. But by then it was completely dark, and I wasn’t going anywhere till morning. All I can say is Starlink and LOTS of patience to the rescue. All I could think of was the first thing I’m doing when I get back to Phoenix is putting my 48” Niko torque wrench in the coach. What an experience - one I don’t care to repeat for another 11 years!

Lastly while driving to my next CG yesterday, I found an excellent dump station located in a very nice rest stop along I-70. It’s in Edwards CO (GPS 39.646553, -106.591173) and is free with easy access, super clean facilities and fresh water to boot. There’s also 10 parking spots for big trucks at the rest stop and a new Super Walmart just down the street. All highly recommended!
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[StarChief]

Originally Posted by NoGas

Real time - In my last post above, I stated “coach is running beautifully”. Did I Jinx things? It still is and sorry I’m running about a month behind on my editing. However two days ago after nearly 12 years of Bird ownership, I experienced my very first road service call out…

This year’s 2 week stay at one of my favorite campgrounds had come to an end (Bogan Flats NF CG 15 miles South of Carbondale CO). While doing my pre-departure duties including a last mandatory step rubber mallet sound check of all tires, I discovered the inner right rear tire had NO AIR pressure! Naturally I was leaving near checkout time so carefully eased the coach over to another site that was “Available”, with no Reserved placard. Inspection of the “empty” tire revealed no apparent damage that I could see, but the outer tire was noticably bulging. When I tried to add air to the inner tire, I discovered why there was no air in it. The valve stem and TPMS flow thru sensor that I use as a small extension was loose and flopping around! Adding air was therefore impossible. So I decided to remove the tire, inspect it more closely and get it into Carbondale for a professional repair. However, my 1,000 ft lb rated electric HF impact that I have carried for years was unable to budge even one of the nuts that I had carefully torqued to spec (475 ft lbs) just before leaving on our trip. Now what? Thankfully, I have Good Sam Roadside Service. This campground is very REMOTE with zero cell service. However, once my Starlink was set up again, I was talking to GS. They took all my information and said they would contact me when someone was on the way. They kept asking for an address, which this campground does not have. It’s simply Bogen Flats NF CG on CR3. I told the GS rep to tell the repair company dispatcher tell their repair truck driver to enter the name of the campground in their mapping program and it should pop up. But I also gave them the exact GPS coordinates from my OnX off-roading app (accurate to within 10’). Finally, I told GS to have the driver/repair person call me if he has any issues or problems finding the place. Four+ hours later the driver shows up telling me he had gone to the wrong location first before calling his dispatcher. Then he coukd not find my location because there was no cell service for his phone’s GPS Google maps or to call his dispatch. Well duh!

So he gets to work, pulls the tire and discovers exactly what I told GS on my first call to them - a bad valve stem. The nut which secures the stem had come loose, which then let all the air out. An hour later the tire was reinstalled with its new valve stem. But by then it was completely dark, and I wasn’t going anywhere till morning. All I can say is Starlink and LOTS of patience to the rescue. All I could think of was the first thing I’m doing when I get back to Phoenix is putting my 48” Niko torque wrench in the coach. What an experience - one I don’t care to repeat for another 11 years!

Lastly while driving to my next CG yesterday, I found an excellent dump station located in a very nice rest stop along I-70. It’s in Edwards CO (GPS 39.646553, -106.591173) and is free with easy access, super clean facilities and fresh water to boot. There’s also 10 parking spots for big trucks at the rest stop and a new Super Walmart just down the street. All highly recommended!
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So…that fourth pic isn’t your toad, Van? Glad that was all it was. 12 years before needing to call Good Sam is darn good, especially considering all the terrain you encounter. That area has really grown since I worked on a friend’s ranch and hour and a half northwest of there back in the early 70’s.

[Steelwheels]

Of course he’s going to have a hard time finding you, you gave him perfect directions. Sometimes I feel like the more info you give them the harder it is, or the dispatcher just doesn’t input the info.

Why didn’t your TPS alert you ?

[NoGas]

New video just out. No connection to BB or Jeep. Just another fun hike-along on a trail I previously had never seen. Not as "OH MY!" as the Zion Angels Landing video but fun:

https://youtu.be/-pTZ7CsqU7U?si=bIN3ztpd06Wph63I

Originally Posted by Steelwheels

Of course he’s going to have a hard time finding you, you gave him perfect directions. Sometimes I feel like the more info you give them the harder it is, or the dispatcher just doesn’t input the info. Why didn’t your TPS alert you ?

I'm an Apple guy with a Garmin GPS dongle that ties perfectly into my Bluetooth. With that, any device that needs my position within feet has but to ask via BT. iMaps and OnX work perfect. Don't use Google Maps or anything Android so no clue there. Even without that, aren't all phones supposed to look at the sky for their GPS positioning signals? What do I know? His truck prominently displayed "I-70" so anything besides a mile marker location reference was likely greek to him.

TPMS - Only thing I can think of is that I had good tire pressure until AFTER we arrived at the CG. l only do mallet tire checks on the first daily departure and that was 2-3 hours earlier in Grand Junction. It is maybe a two hour drive from there to Bogan Flats CG. I suppose it's possible that the valve stem nut was just barely loose and it needed time to let all that air out. If so, it then had 2 weeks before it was checked again.My TST TPMS is an old B&W one and likely needs to be replaced, though it had new batteries as of early July. Until I can verify my old TPMS, will likely go to every-stop mallet tire checks.
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