Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post - Florida-Georgia-North Carolina -- From Texas

padredw · 05-27-2007, 04:01 AM

Just a few comments about our recent trip through the Southeastern US from our home in East Texas.

We traveled a total of 3015 miles (on the pickup) including local travel at the various stopovers. We used 227.376 gallons of diesel for an average MPG (towing and local) of 13.265 MPG. The least price we paid was $2.659 and the highest was $2.799. We often saw higher prices, but we able to avoid paying them--with some care and a lot of good luck.

We avoided disaster on our last day of travel on the way home. Just outside Lake Village, Arkansas, I noticed a slight rythemic noise which became louder after I first noticed it. We were on US 82, at that point a 2 lane roadway with no shoulders and with 18 wheelers driving at maximum speed. My first opportunity to pull over was at a little gravel lane. I won't go into detail, but it was not pleasant. I first checked the trailer tires which showed no problem, then found embedded in the right rear pickup tire a piece of metal--thin but stiff--about 3 inches wide and 6 inches long. With pliers and screwdriver I was able to extract (like pulling a big tooth) the piece of metal. Since I had lost no pressure in the tire, I decided to try it for a while. 230 miles later we pulled into home port. The steel cords of the tire deflected the metal--you can see them and feel them in the gash. I have ordered a new tire, but this one is still holding.

05-27-2007, 04:01 AM	#1
padredw Montana Master Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ore City Texas Posts: 1,648 M.O.C. #2224	Florida-Georgia-North Carolina -- From Texas Just a few comments about our recent trip through the Southeastern US from our home in East Texas. We traveled a total of 3015 miles (on the pickup) including local travel at the various stopovers. We used 227.376 gallons of diesel for an average MPG (towing and local) of 13.265 MPG. The least price we paid was $2.659 and the highest was $2.799. We often saw higher prices, but we able to avoid paying them--with some care and a lot of good luck. We avoided disaster on our last day of travel on the way home. Just outside Lake Village, Arkansas, I noticed a slight rythemic noise which became louder after I first noticed it. We were on US 82, at that point a 2 lane roadway with no shoulders and with 18 wheelers driving at maximum speed. My first opportunity to pull over was at a little gravel lane. I won't go into detail, but it was not pleasant. I first checked the trailer tires which showed no problem, then found embedded in the right rear pickup tire a piece of metal--thin but stiff--about 3 inches wide and 6 inches long. With pliers and screwdriver I was able to extract (like pulling a big tooth) the piece of metal. Since I had lost no pressure in the tire, I decided to try it for a while. 230 miles later we pulled into home port. The steel cords of the tire deflected the metal--you can see them and feel them in the gash. I have ordered a new tire, but this one is still holding.