We just finished a terrific month in Lake Havasu City, as part of our quest to go places and stay a little longer. It really gave us a chance to relax a little more and enjoy the little things; something that we haven't taken advantage of for many years.
However, it wasn't all relaxation and enjoying this trip as luck really wasn't on our side. On a high note though, we have learned a lot about buying tires! But with that said, let me start at the beginning.
The night before we were leaving for Lake Havasu City, we had planned on going to Fort Collins to visit our youngest daughter. As we headed north, we got a little too close to the shoulder, and Pop! Pop! Not one, but two tires hit a pot hole. We got out to assess the damage and quickly realized that we weren't going to make it home on one spare tire, so we called a tow truck, who graciously (and for a small fee, of course) towed our car home and put it in the garage for us. As Steve looked further, the rims were also badly bent, so we would also need two new rims. Not great timing since we needed to leave for Lake Havasu City the next day, but we decided we would make it work.
The good news in all of this is that our youngest daughter decided that if we couldn't come up to see her, she would come down and see us. So we got to spend an wonderful evening with both of our girls before we left for our little get away.
Steve got up early the next morning and headed to Costco because that's where we originally purchased the car tires. The guy at Costco said that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that Costco has automatic road hazard warranty on all their tires, so he gauged our tires and said that there was 75% tread remaining. That means that we would only have to pay 25% for the two tires that hit the pot holes.
The bad news was..... They no longer carried the tire that we needed, and since our car is all wheel drive, all four tires have to match, so we were going to have to get four new tires, not just two. But then the guy at Costco continued and said he had more good news..... since they no longer carry our tires, they would cover the cost of the other two tires that have to be replaced as well as the mounting and balancing. The bottom line, we paid $88 for four new tires. Crazy! A huge shout out to Costco Tire Center!!!
So at this point, the count is four tires and two rims. Not what we had planned on, but not so bad.
So the next day, after stopping off with our oldest daughter to look at the progress on her house (see our post from Saturday, April 9th), we headed out for Lake Havasu in the truck, leaving the car behind in the garage, to wait for some help once we returned home.
We left our daughter's new house in the afternoon, which meant that we would be driving late into the night, so we took the well traveled route of I-25 south to I-40, and I-40 west to the Lake Havasu City turn off. The entire trip was uneventful, as we like it, until we got just past Flagstaff, AZ. As we were coming down the hill west of Flagstaff, we noticed that the truck was starting to shimmy. I was driving so that Steve could rest a little bit, so I decided to change lanes and see if it was just the road, but unfortunately, changing lanes didn't help. So we got out and looked, and sure enough, we had developed a bulge on one of the rear tires. We had a spare along, so we decided to lower our speed and see how far we could make it. To our surprise, the tire made it clear into Lake Havasu City and didn't leave us changing a tire on the side of the road in the middle of the night.
Shortly after we got into Lake Havasu City, Steve headed to Discount Tires (where we had purchased the truck tires), to see what they would do for us on this tire. Unlike Costco tire road hazard warranty isn't included in the price so Steve had elected to not get it. This just left the manufactures warranty. The manufactures warranty gave us about 20% the price of a single tire and of course we needed at least two to keep the tire size the same on a given axle so Steve purchased two tires. He complained a bit (he's not a complainer!) and Discount ended up giving us the mount and balance price off of one of the tires. In contrast, if we would have purchased these tires from Costco we believe the second tire would have been totally free!!! We wouldn't have purchased from Discount Tires and gone to Costco but the closest one is in Henderson, NV about 2 hours away and we just couldn't face the drive!
At this point, the count is now six tires and two rims. Again, not what we had planned, but at least this tire didn't strand us on the side of the highway, in the middle of no where, in the middle of the night, so that was great!
A few days later, we took the boat out for a few hours and then put it back in the garage for the night. We had friends coming to visit (see our post from April 19th), so after a few weeks of sitting in the garage, we just wanted to make sure that the boat was running well for our friends. And it was.....we love our boat! No problems at all.
So the next day, after a morning of hiking with our friends, we got the boat all loaded up for an afternoon on the lake. We started to pull it out of the garage, and quickly noticed that one of the tires on the boat trailer was flat. No way, are you kidding? Another flat tire?
So we aired it up, threw the air compressor into the back of the truck, and headed to the lake anyway. We weren't going to let this stop us! We had a great day out on the lake, and when I walked up to get the boat trailer, the tire still had air in it. I was so excited! So I pulled the trailer down and we loaded up the boat, and made it clear back to the house on that silly tire with no problem!
The next day, Steve started pulling the boat tires off, and realized that they were starting to crack and had chunks of rubber coming off of them. They still had great tread, but we think the heat and dryness in Havasu must have taken a toll on them. They were just rotting away.
Then, as Steve started looking at the wheels, he noticed that although the outside of them looked great, the insides were really rusted and were corroding. That's not good. So once again, it looked like we were going to be replacing more tires. The more he looked, the more problems he found. And since it is a tri-axle trailer, it requires six tires plus the spare, which makes seven.
At this point, the count is now thirteen tires and nine rims. Again, not what we had planned, but at least we had a great time with our friends, and the one flat tire on the boat trailer didn't ruin our day!
We went through the rest of our time in Havasu without any more tire problems. We took time to enjoy the small stuff like sunset and lightening storms, and truly enjoyed our stay.
As we got ready to leave Havasu and return home, Steve started getting our utility trailer ready for the trip home. We are bringing it home so that we can help our kids move once their new house is ready. Steve checked all of the tires on the utility trailer and surprising, they all looked great, no cracks, no chunks falling out, and the rims looked good too. But since our luck so far this month had not been great, we ran out and picked up a bottle jack just in case. Steve threw the bottle jack in the back of the truck, and off we went again. Pulling the trailer behind us, back to Colorado.
Our entire trip home was uneventful, until we got just past Trinidad, in southern Colorado, and poof! There went one of the trailer tires. So we got to the side of the road as quickly as we could, and sure enough, it wasn't only flat, it was shredded. Steve mumbled a few choice words under his breath, but managed to stay impressively calm. He pulled out his brand spanking new bottle jack and jacked up the utility trailer and put on the spare. We still had about 170 miles to go to get home, so this wasn't good. Once again, we reduced our speed (since we no longer had a spare trailer tire), and continued on our way, as everyone whipped by us on I-25. Steve didn't talk much the rest of the trip. The only thing he said was. I'm not kidding around this time! I'm replacing all of the tires on this trailer when we get home. I'm not taking a chance of another flat tire while we are moving the kids.
Since the utility trailer has dual axles, it requires four tires. So at this point, the count is now seventeen tires and nine rims. Again, not what we had planned, but at least we got home safe and sound. And shortly after we got home, we bought four new tires for the utility trailer. And the best news....we've replaced every tire on every vehicle we own, so we can't have any more flat tires, Right?
Well, you've probable figured out from the title of this post that there must be one more tire somewhere.
A few days after we got home from Havasu, our son (in-law) moved back home with the help of his dad. They made it all the way from Georgia to Colorado with no problems. But as our son (in-law) and daughter were heading out for their first dinner date in almost a year, it happened. Tire number 18 decided to give out. Our son (in-law) quickly changed the tire and they were once again off to their much deserved dinner date. Unfortunately the tire was destroyed so it also needed to be replaced!
The count is now eighteen tires and nine rims. Again, not what any of us had planned, but at least our son (in-law) and his dad made it home safe from Georgia before that last tire decided to blow. We didn't want to replace 18 tires in less than a month, but sometimes life isn't fair. We're just glad that no one was ever stranded and our son (in-law) didn't have to unload all of his worldly belongings on the side of a lonesome highway, in the middle of no where, to get to his spare tire as he was trying to get home to Colorado. Life is good!
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