April 15,2009
Took a shakedown trip Apr 5 and 6 weekend to highpoint. A very good trip. had a blowout on the trailer on the way up in Raleigh right on I 40 at exit 301 -very busy place. i stopped on the shoulder of the road to call good sam to change the tire since i am not too keen on changing tires on a busy freeway. While i was on the phone waiting for good sam to answer( at least 15 min) a worker from N.C. D.O.T. came and rapped on my window. he offered to change the tire for me for free. Seems that is his job to keep traffic moving on this road since any little thing causes big pileups. He did a terrific job and I was on my way very soon,-good sam never did answer- I hung up.
We had a very enjoyable time . visited Childress winery in Lexington. thought it was comparable to anything we saw in California.
On the way home , about 50 miles from home, I heard a thumping noise and a lot of vibration on the right rear of the tv. Pulled over to the shoulder and checked all the tires. Looked ok, but i decided to proceed to the nearest exit slowly for a better check. About 1/2 way to the exit the noise stopped. At the exit I examined the car and trailer very carefully and still saw nothing wrong,so i proceeded to go home slowly.
Tuesday morning i crwled under the tv and found about 3 ft. of tire cord wrapped around the right wheel, but nothing else seemed amiss. Today i took the tv in to have it serviced and the tires rotated and balanced. Surprise- when they took off the right rear tire, ther was a spot about the sixe of a hand near the edge of the tread where the tread had been pulled off of the steel belt, and around the circumference of the tire a section of cord had been pulled out fron the edge of the tire ( the piece i found earlier). Replaced the tire . Now Everything on the trailer and tv is ready to go.
Plan is still to leave early Monday morning Apr .20