Tag: travel 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: Campground Review, Exploring Florida, Rest Stop/Welcome Center/Visitor Center, Sightseeing

Florida’s Welcome Center and A Stone’s Throw RV Park

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Florida’s Welcome Center and A Stone’s Throw RV Park

The drive from New Orleans to Florida was pretty long. The panhandle always seems small on the map; I think because it is so thin compared to the rest of Florida, my brain tells me it’s smaller, but it took a long time to drive!

We average stopping every 3-4 hours for diesel and/or bathroom breaks. Some of the truck stop bathrooms lately have been rough, so we stopped at the Florida Welcome Center on I-10 near Pensacola, Florida. It was huge! The boys got a kick out of the plane by the parking lot. Nick loves turtles and was happy to find the turtle sculpture by the doors.

There were vending machines that sold both drinks and candy and the Sun Pass for the toll roads. You could activate your pass at another machine. It did take several minutes to go through all the screens and to get the pass activated.

We then went into the main room. They had an astronaut suit behind the desk, along with free grapefruit and orange juice. We all tried the orange juice. The side wall was covered in tourist information and was broken up into the sections of Florida for ease of use. There was a kid’s corner with a cartoon playing on the TV. The front desk had welcome bags already made up with maps, some of the information pamphlets, and a set of masks!

We decided to stop near Tallahassee for the night. We were tired and had been on the road for almost 10 hours. We stayed at A Stone’s Throw RV Park. It was very conveniently located with quick access on and off the highway. They did have bathrooms and an entertainment room (looked like a pool table). The park offered pull-throughs with full hook-ups and WiFi, but we were tired and planned on leaving early, so we only hooked up the electric. The spaces were tight together and so were some of the turns on the interior road. I was glad it wasn’t completely full as it would have made some of it challenging to move in a large rig.

We didn’t get a lot of pictures, as we arrived when it was dark and left when the sun was just coming up.

When we booked online, you could pick your spot and it would show how long the site was. We managed to get one that fit both the RV and the truck. The site wasn’t level, so we did have to disconnect to raise the front. However, the site was long enough that if it had been level, we could have stayed connected up. It wasn’t bad for around $30/night for full hook-ups, but I think it is more of a stay a night or two kind of place. There was some noise from the highways and some frogs.

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