"If you think you're having a bad day..."

May 11, 2010
New Orleans, LA

...there's always somebody worse off. The last couple of days were interesting, starting yesterday afternoon.

Most of the day yesterday was mundane. We putzed, did prep work for dinner (Cornish Game Hen), and started getting ready to hit the road today. Since we weren't going anywhere in the evening, I decided to hook up the Rover to save time in the morning. I pulled it up to the back of the coach and started getting ready to put the cover on the front and hook up the tow bar, when I noticed a hissing noise. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, the people next door must be running their water wide open". Then I realized that the noise was coming from the Rover. A little bit of investigation led to the conclusion that we had a leaking valve stem on the passenger's front tire. Now, how the heck did that happen? And why now?

Well, we still don't know why the valve stem failed, although I'm pretty sure that they should have been changed when we had the new tires put on last fall, and probably weren't. I did a little research and found that there weren't any Discount Tire stores in Livingston but that we'd pass right by one in Beaumont on the way to New Orleans. After a quick call to confirm, I changed out the tire for the spare. It's great to have the right tools: 20 ton air jack - check; impact wrench for lug nuts - check. This made quick work of the swap, and we were on to dinner (and DWTS)...

Today, we were up early, checked out and on the road. Although the cross-winds continued to be brutal, we easily rolled into Beaumont and had the valve stem repaired. One of the nice things about Discount Tire is that repairs and rotations are free and they have locations all over. We've had work done in AZ, Washington, and now Texas. Other than 45 minutes of our time today, no charge.

The drive down US-69 to I-10 continued to be uneventful, and I-10 was its normal bumpy self until Lafayette, when we ended up in a total stop on the highway. A quick switch from XM to CB yielded the info that only the left lane was open ahead. When we got up there, we found a semi on its side across 2 of 3 lanes. and, that's when we realized that we were having a good day.

Other than some rush-hour traffic coming into New Orleans, the rest of the drive was uneventful. We're parked at a place called the "French Quarter RV Resort", right in the city near the French Quarter and the Superdome. Other than being right in the shadow of the Interstate, it's a nice park. I'm sure we'll enjoy our short stay here; we leave on Friday morning.