2018 GSP Non-DIS Meet September TR

Ed,

I almost laughed when I saw the property taxes here. Another reason to move south. The first real estate agent we talked to mentioned Gulf Shores creating their own district. He tried to say that's why taxes would be lower in GS. I said that didn't make sense to someone that comes from an area where every town has their own district and over half of my $5,000 goes to the district.

j
 
I have a few more pics to tantalize everyone missing GSP. Apparently the park's reputation goes a long way. I just talked to a woman that drove down from Toronto.

Today we hit the beach until about 1. Waves were up considerably. It was fun. We did drive over to Pensacola Beach, Navarre and Gulf Breeze. None of it really spoke to us. Pensacola Beach was much smaller than I expected and Navarre, at the other end of e island, has a lot of homes and condos, but not much else. I counted 3 restaurants and 2 of them looked very new. You have to cross over the bridge to find any type of business. Not really our thing. Gulf Breeze was a nice suburban area, but we have those all over the Midwest. Not really anything that made you feel close to the beach. Downtown Pensacola was nice and there are some really cute historic homes along with some new beach row townhomes. I'm glad we drove over, but I think I'll cross the Pensocola area off.

Ian got up early and walked the new boardwalk to the beach to get some sunrise pics. Ian has a very good eye for photos, so I'll give him all the credit for these. I'm not sure how much of the boardwalk and pedestrian bridges were done in May. They are complete now and look really good.

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We got back to GS about dinner time and decided to try Papa Rocco's. Pizza and lasagna were both very good. When we pulled in to the lot, it was nearly full, but there were a couple of spots i could get into. There was a guy directing traffic that said "follow me." Apparently if you drive a big enough vehicle you get preferred parking.

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And since we were so close, we had to make another visit to Scoops. Much more crowded tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We will be leaving early Saturday morning. I'm sure we will hit the beach again and probably do a bit more shopping.

j
 
Have a safe trip home tomorrow, Teamubr. :car:

We'd love to claim you (and by extension DW and DS) as one of our own someday but whatever will be will be.

Bama Ed

PS - and if I need to get you up here to Titletown to go to a Bama football game and seal the deal, I'm willing to do it!
 
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Thanks Ed,

I found out that Alabama isn't terrible for retirement income. Social security and pension income is not taxed. 401k distributions are and the tax rate is 5%. That's as bad as Illinois. There is still hope. So far, we haven't found any place that is as comfortable as Gulf Shores.

And I haven't found any football team to get interested in since the Rams left StL. Not that they were that good, but they were the home team. I could probably be talked into being a 'bama fan. My friend from Knoxville almost had me turned into a Big Orange fan, but they really stink lately.

Baseball is my sport though. Nothing compares to the Cardinals.

Today was an easy, relaxed day. Spent almost all day at the beach. Came back to the camper about 4 and got cleaned up to get dinner. We tried Big Mike's Steak House on Canal in Orange Beach. It claims to be the #1 steak house in Alabama. It wasn't bad, but my little town of 25,000 people has two places that have Big Mike's beat.

We did manage to find the crowds. GSP has been slowly filling in all day and Big Mike's had a serious wait. The beach was actually crowded today. Not sure if it is just locals for the weekend or there is something else going on. I see signs and turn markers on the roads for the MS 150. This is a charity bike ride I've done a half dozen times. Looks like the local chapter is using the trails at GSP.

Well, all good trips have to come to an end. Most things are packed up. The truck tanks are fueled. We will be rolling out about 7am tomorrow. We are going straight through. It is right at 12 driving hours. With DW with me, I'll probably stop 3 or 4 times, but should be good on fuel unless I get into a head wind the whole way.

Thanks for reading along. This was a great combo Fort/GSP vacation. I look forward to seeing everyone here at GSP next May.

j
 


I have a few more pics to tantalize everyone missing GSP. Apparently the park's reputation goes a long way. I just talked to a woman that drove down from Toronto.

Today we hit the beach until about 1. Waves were up considerably. It was fun. We did drive over to Pensacola Beach, Navarre and Gulf Breeze. None of it really spoke to us. Pensacola Beach was much smaller than I expected and Navarre, at the other end of e island, has a lot of homes and condos, but not much else. I counted 3 restaurants and 2 of them looked very new. You have to cross over the bridge to find any type of business. Not really our thing. Gulf Breeze was a nice suburban area, but we have those all over the Midwest. Not really anything that made you feel close to the beach. Downtown Pensacola was nice and there are some really cute historic homes along with some new beach row townhomes. I'm glad we drove over, but I think I'll cross the Pensocola area off.

Ian got up early and walked the new boardwalk to the beach to get some sunrise pics. Ian has a very good eye for photos, so I'll give him all the credit for these. I'm not sure how much of the boardwalk and pedestrian bridges were done in May. They are complete now and look really good.

View attachment 350763

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View attachment 350765

View attachment 350766

We got back to GS about dinner time and decided to try Papa Rocco's. Pizza and lasagna were both very good. When we pulled in to the lot, it was nearly full, but there were a couple of spots i could get into. There was a guy directing traffic that said "follow me." Apparently if you drive a big enough vehicle you get preferred parking.

View attachment 350768

And since we were so close, we had to make another visit to Scoops. Much more crowded tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We will be leaving early Saturday morning. I'm sure we will hit the beach again and probably do a bit more shopping.

j

It's not just the big trucks that get to park there Jim. If you got a really cool, expensive vehicle you get there too. I got a pic at home of a metalic blue (it was dark, so not certain of exact color) 2017 Chevy Corvette in that exact same spot.

Pics look great.

By the time of this post I assume you are already on the road. Have safe travels. I'll be down there first weekend in October in site 60.
 
My friend from Knoxville almost had me turned into a Big Orange fan, but they really stink lately.

Lately!?

Only team where you can wear same clothes hunting on Friday, to the game on Saturday, and picking up trash on the roadside on Sunday.

Just kidding, I got several UT fans as friends (used to live in Knoxville) and they are really great people. Have great pregame tradition. I miss the days when the 3rd Saturday in October meant something national ranking wise.
 


I'll give a last quick update. Apparently, no long trip goes unpunished.

We pulled out of GSP at 7:01. Just as planned. Made it all the way up Baldwin Beach Express and 59. Jumped on I-65 and set the cruise on 72. About an hour on the interstate, DS announces we need to stop at the next rest area. No problem. He does his thing and we hit the road. No more than 20 miles later, I felt a shimmy in the truck. Looked in the mirror and I see the left rear trailer tire disintegrating. We are only 130 miles into a 785 mile trip. Changing the tire wasn't a big deal. Racing all over the country, I've changed many on the side of the road. Problem this time is the tire took out the LP line to the kitchen. (Snapped the line off at a "T") So no refrigerator the rest of the trip. But worse, the tire also tore the brake wiring out. I tried rewiring, but didn't have enough to get it all hooked up. Despite having over 600 miles to go, I decided to continue with no trailer brakes and no spare. I have no idea why the tire exploded. All were fine when we left and were aired up. They are 3 years old and the factory garbage tires. If it were a passenger side, I would have figured I curbed it at some point and messed up the sidewall. Or if it was a front, I probably ran over something, but this was the left rear.

I backed down and ran at or under the speed limit and kept a good following distance. No further problems and we rolled into the house at 8:30. Considering I sat on an exit ramp for an hour changing the tire and trying to rewire the brakes, we did ok.

Tomorrow i get to pull the cover off the bottom and rewire the brakes. One wire was torn out of the loom up inside and another wire was pulled out of the brake magnet on the wheel that didn't blow (LF). Not sure if that can be fixed or I'll have to replace the magnet. Then i get to start researching new tires.

Either way, we are home and nothing more serious happened.

j
 
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Glad you're safe. Hate the roadside complications.

I have always said that the RV industry would benefit from plating around where the tires are at. What I mean, is isolate the tires from the actual RV parts (metal above the tires and between them and water and gas lines) to keep this from happening. I used to help by BIL work on campers at his body shop since he had contract with local dealer to do their exterior damage work. The vast majority of time it was from the tires and I've seen entire water lines pulled literally pulled out of the campers, tearing up sinks, commodes, etc. Exposing the gas lines is a pure hazard if they run anywhere near the tires.

I hate that man, I really do. Tires just aren't as good anymore.
 
Sorry to hear about your problems but you have made it home safe so there is that. Hope repairs will not be too complicated and easy to accomplish
 
I have always said that the RV industry would benefit from plating around where the tires are at.
They actually did a fairly good job running things, but there is a T in the gas line below the kitchen slide. One line goes to the stove, the other to the frige. They could probably relocate the T, but it needs to be under the slide at the edge of the trailer. I'll take a look at protecting it better when I replace things.

The brake wiring has always been a risk. This time, it just happened that the main feed for the brakes dropped down within reach of an errant tire.

Part of owning these lovely things. At least it is all work I can fix myself.

j
 
They actually did a fairly good job running things, but there is a T in the gas line below the kitchen slide. One line goes to the stove, the other to the frige. They could probably relocate the T, but it needs to be under the slide at the edge of the trailer. I'll take a look at protecting it better when I replace things.

The brake wiring has always been a risk. This time, it just happened that the main feed for the brakes dropped down within reach of an errant tire.

Part of owning these lovely things. At least it is all work I can fix myself.

j

Well glad the damage was not any worse than it was. See more rear tires blow than fronts, usually the trailer is nose high when that occurs. There is a couple in florida that travel the country and weigh your truck and trailer by individual tires, tried to meet up with them last trip down to get our trailer and truck set up weighed. Just did not work out. Hope to get the chance next spring to have them do it at the rally we attend in the spring. And we need to look at changing out our factory tires also this is the end of year two.
 
See more rear tires blow than fronts, usually the trailer is nose high when that occurs.
I've read the same thing, but the trailer is nose down if anything. It could still be that there is more weight on the rears. Depends on where the center of gravity is. There are 3 slides on that side. 2 of them are over the wheels.

I'll probably never know. Unless there was a leak between leaving GSP and the blow out, I can't imagine heat was the cause. I had only been at highway speed for about an hour and had just stopped for 10 minutes right before it blew.

Oh. well/ Now to fix the damage. The gas line that broke off went to the stove. I have the stove and broken line out. Now I can't get the broken piece out of the T. They were good and used red thread lock. The internet says the only way to get it loose is heat... 550F heat, otherwise "the fitting will likely break before the thread lock gives." Seems a little weird putting a torch to a gas line, but here I go. :D

j
 
I've read the same thing, but the trailer is nose down if anything. It could still be that there is more weight on the rears. Depends on where the center of gravity is. There are 3 slides on that side. 2 of them are over the wheels.

I'll probably never know. Unless there was a leak between leaving GSP and the blow out, I can't imagine heat was the cause. I had only been at highway speed for about an hour and had just stopped for 10 minutes right before it blew.

Oh. well/ Now to fix the damage. The gas line that broke off went to the stove. I have the stove and broken line out. Now I can't get the broken piece out of the T. They were good and used red thread lock. The internet says the only way to get it loose is heat... 550F heat, otherwise "the fitting will likely break before the thread lock gives." Seems a little weird putting a torch to a gas line, but here I go. :D

j

Do I need to hold your beer while you do that?

My tire repair guy always made the statement "The front tire is just to stand the nail up so the second tire can sit on it". This was his theory on why the rear tires usually come out with short end of stick. Just his thoughts.
 
I've read the same thing, but the trailer is nose down if anything. It could still be that there is more weight on the rears. Depends on where the center of gravity is. There are 3 slides on that side. 2 of them are over the wheels.

I'll probably never know. Unless there was a leak between leaving GSP and the blow out, I can't imagine heat was the cause. I had only been at highway speed for about an hour and had just stopped for 10 minutes right before it blew.

Oh. well/ Now to fix the damage. The gas line that broke off went to the stove. I have the stove and broken line out. Now I can't get the broken piece out of the T. They were good and used red thread lock. The internet says the only way to get it loose is heat... 550F heat, otherwise "the fitting will likely break before the thread lock gives." Seems a little weird putting a torch to a gas line, but here I go. :D

j

I figured your trailer was either dead on level or maybe nose down. That is why I want to weigh our by each tire, kitchen pantry is on that side and my bet is more weight on that side than the opposing side on either axle. The pair that does the weighing is actually at the RV show, but they do not weigh while here.
 
Do I need to hold your beer while you do that?
Probably. If you see something on the news, it wasn't me. :-)

My tire repair guy always made the statement "The front tire is just to stand the nail up so the second tire can sit on it". This was his theory on why the rear tires usually come out with short end of stick. Just his thoughts.
I don't know. I can honestly say I've lost as many on the front as the rear. The race trailer had triples and we lost the middle, the front and the rear. Those were load range H and made a really loud POW when they let go. We ran them at 120 psi.

I figured your trailer was either dead on level or maybe nose down. That is why I want to weigh our by each tire, kitchen pantry is on that side and my bet is more weight on that side than the opposing side on either axle. The pair that does the weighing is actually at the RV show, but they do not weigh while here.
We had 4 corner plate scales to "scale" (dial in the suspension) on the race cars, but I'm sure they wouldn't handle 15,000 lbs.

I just looked them up. 1500lbs per plate. I wonder if you could do something on a Cat scale by setting each axle on a different plate. You wouldn't get side/corner weights, but would get front/rear.

j
 

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