Smokey Gets New Shoes

Today was new tire day for Smokey. We had an appointment for 9 a.m. at Les Schwabb Tires in Eugene OR. Using our handy Garmin GPS, we made it just on time from Sutherlin. Smokey's old tires have 40K miles and are six years old already. The maximum accepted age for RV tires is 6 years. There was plenty of tread on left on them, but the sidewall chords wear out from the inside over time. The Michelins that Smokey came with have provided good service, but there has been some controversy about "zipper failures" with them. Apparently in an attempt to make soft-riding tires, Michelin built weak sidewalls which tend to fail prematurely.

The new tires are Toyos - which have an excellent reputation and happen to be $700 cheaper. This dealer specializes in truck-sized tires, and the service men readily attacked Smokey. Interesting. In San Diego, tire places are always whining about the size of the motor home and how hard it is to work on. They act like they are doing you a favor by working on it. Here they act like its just another car, rolling jacks under Smokey and using giant sized air wrenches.

Smokey at Eugene Elks sporting new tires

Meanwhile, Mimi and I went to the local Elks Lodge, which just happened to be one block down from Les Schwabb. Many Elk Lodges have RV parking for members. This one has four spots with hook ups, so we reserved one for two nites. There was a morning "social" going on, so we settled in for free coffee and doughnuts, swapping stories with some local members. This lodge is a nice one, offering lunch and dinners daily. Their speciality is fried chicken - Mmmm.