Bad Tire Mojo

~Monday, October 3, 2022~

Day 841

First things first…getting the tire fixed. Jeff drove into town to drop off 2 tires at a Big O’ Tire, one that we had patched early on in our trip in McCarthy, and the other being the more recent tire with the nail embedded in it. The one we had done in McCarthy just didn’t look like it was done 100% correctly and even though it’s a spare tire, we just wanted a second opinion about it. They said it looked fine and that they didn’t feel comfortable trying to re patch it anyway being so close to the sidewall of the tire. The tire that had the small nail in it was an easy fix. In the end, they didn’t even charge us for the repair. Wow! Never had that before.

Next…..to take 2 of our tires that are on the bad axle to Big O’ to see if they can reverse the tires on the rims so that the wear doesn’t occur only in 1 place. These tires are wearing heavily on the inside due to the axle being bent somewhat, so we’re trying to level out the wear. The idea is to get as much life out of these tires as possible so we don’t have to unnecessarily buy another set before we get the axle repaired in Indiana. The plan is that once we have a home base, we’ll have an open ended amount of time to just drop her off for needed repairs. We’re hoping the axle manufacturer, Dexter, can at least inspect the situation and hopefully repair or recommend someone reputable to do the job. It’s the perfect scenario to get this nagging thing fixed once and for all!

By the time Jeff made the 2 trips to the tire shop, and shuffled all the tires around, it was getting too late in the day to drive to the Cascades. There’s no one here at the farm (they’re only open Thursday thru Sunday), though you’d think there’d be someone working around here with all the things that are screaming to be done. We knew Tina and Tom would understand our situation and not mind a bit that we extended our stay. It was a bit strange, however, to be the only ones out there, but enjoyed the tranquility of the farm.