I want some coffee!

We both have been layed low by a bug of some sort which gets in the way of getting back on the road. In the interim I applied some aluminum wheel polish to try to protect the new wheels (it’s my impression aluminum wheels have a more fragile finish than chromed steel) plus applied some ‘dressing’ onto the sidewalls of our new Michelin tires. Buoyed by having gone 6 hours without an urgent trip to the bathroom and sorta-protected tires we opted for a Sunday drive on Saturday afternoon. I’m still totally lost why the new tires seem to have done everything I had expected only from a properly done wheel alignment. I can only assume there was an internal issue with the right front or with the right rear duals. All those old tires were properly inflated and had seemed to have near-new tread depth. So it would have to be internal to those Firestone Transforce HT casings. Whatever the issue, it wasn’t visible while the tires were on the RV. So off we went at about 2pm to the town of Safford, A...

True to his word, Shannon got the wheels & tires (early I should add!). The Vegas is now whole again: The ALCOA wheels look fine as do the 'hub caps' that cover the hubs. Oddly the hub caps are held in place by the chamfered rim of the lug bolts. I'd been quoted 'about $4,500' for everything which was a little vague. I suspected the final price might grow a little. Instead of growing it was almost $400 less. And the wheels look great with all valves accessible using a 'truckers tire gauge'... the one with an additional valve that's angled at 45° to the rear. Oddly my complaint about the steering pulling strongly to the right has disappeared. Not sure how that's possible but I'll take it. The Admiral would probably say it's because I was an altar boy for a couple years but I have a hunch that ship already sailed!

Just heard from Shannon Auto Parts here in Benson. They tell me our wheels and the tires have arrived (early!!) and we have been invited to show up 20 Sep (Monday) at 0830 to 0900 to have everything installed. Well done Shannon Auto Parts!

Tim-the-fixer seems to have done a good job resolving the leak- looks like I didn't get the strainer cover seated properly. The pump was on a few nights with no apparent water anywhere and no sound of the pump while one of us was there during the day.  And the leaky drain pipe on the bathroom basin was apparently resolved with the new tightening-nut. The old one had been over-tightened which cracked the nut. Tim repaired the damage to the base cabinet caused when I nearly ripped the counter extension from its mount. Easy-peasey if you know what you're doing. He got some liquid 2-part epoxy and squirted it into each hole to repair the damage. After it set 24 hours it was ready to have the screws run back in. The Admiral went on a buying mission to Walmart to find a different shower head. The one installed on the Vegas uses a plastic hose that lacks the flexible wound-metal covering. Plastic hose by itself defies gravity and insists on mimicking a coil spring. But text messages s...