Tag: move day

Posted in: Broken/Damanged Things, Maintenance, Newbie Tips

Our First RV Flat Tire

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Our First RV Flat Tire

On our move day to Vermont, it had been going pretty well. The sun was out, the kids were occupied, I had some music playing. I’ve made it a habit to check the truck and the RV TPMS sensors during our drives.

We were about two hours from our campground when I noticed the rear passenger tire was at a lower pressure than the others. It was in the shade, so at first I was hopeful it was just the sun making a difference (which it has before). I kept my eye on it and noticed it was slowly, but steadily losing pressure.

The shoulder of the highway was pretty narrow and we really didn’t want to pull off on the side of the road. We managed to find a nearby exit that had a Bass Pro with a larger parking lot. It even had a Walmart next door. Ben was amazing and was able to change the tire with the jack from the truck, our separate scissor jack, and our trusty Lynx orange leveling blocks*.

Once we were in Vermont, I brought the tire to a tire store to get checked out. We didn’t want to drive to our next campground without a spare tire. When I called the store, they had one matching tire in stock and would hold it for us. The boys and I headed over. Once we arrived at the store (Tire Warehouse), they checked the old tire first to see if it could be fixed. It turned out that the rim was the problem! You couldn’t see anything wrong looking at the tire/rim, but when a soapy solution was applied, you could see bubbles forming on the rim itself. They did not have the right sized rim in stock, but were able to get one for us. It was a white rim, but it was more important for us to have a spare than to have them match.

As it happened 1 day after our year anniversary of buying the RV (bought 6/4/20 and tire happened 6/5/21), the dealer said it was not covered under their warranty. I was told to contact Keystone and they told me to contact the tire company (Load Star) to see if it was covered under their warranty. I’m still in process of dealing with the tire company to figure this out.

We bought our TPMS sensors through TechoRV.com. I would really recommend having these sensors for your RV!

*Affiliate link

Posted in: Newbie Mistakes, Newbie Tips

Tips for Leaving A Campground

Written by tepetravels

As crazy as pulling into a campground can be, leaving can be just as bad depending on the campground layout.

Some campgrounds have a very specific exit path that is well marked, while others have it as a free for all. We like to walk the campground the night before we leave to scope out our path. If we are leaving later in the morning or early afternoon, we will walk it again in the morning. Campgrounds change frequently; you may have gotten some late arrival new neighbors, someone may have parked too close to the street, a toy hauler’s balcony may be overhanging into the street and you will not fit by them. (All of which have happened.)

Campground map with exit route marked by campground

I would recommend having an A and a B exit plan. Sometimes your first choice doesn’t work out. For example, at our last campground, we had the route planned the night before with us turning to the left at the end of our row to get out of the campground. However, our neighbor parked really close to the corner with their car and there was just no way I was going to make that turn unless they moved their car. It was early in the morning and I didn’t want to wake them, so we ended up going right. The boys ran ahead and checked the rows for me to make sure they were clear. There were a couple of spots where the trees made it a little snug, but we made it out safely.

Our exit plans

Above is an example of our planned exit from the last campground. Plan A was the red line. The turns near the office could be tight, but there were empty sites we could cut through to make it an easier turn. Plan B was the yellow line, which would be great as long as there were not a lot of cars parked in the side lot by the office. However, the morning of, our neighbor in C1 parked really close to the road and we ended up taking the purple route, which wasn’t even in our original planned options.

When we first started this adventure, we didn’t plan our departure route, but now it has become part of our routine. I would not worry about planning it until the night before (and double check it in the morning), as you just never know who could have arrived (or left) really late and how it could affect your route.

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