Everything happens for a reason

We had a great trip to Lake George, NY this weekend but as I was pulling out of the campground I realized I forgot to gas up. Now I had to look for an RV friendly station. We get about a half our away and I missed a turn. Nothing major but now I'm on an unfamiliar road for a while. As luck would have it, a good sized station showed up a few miles later. The pumps were angled and the end spot was open but I would still have to back out when done. I also had to maneuver around 10-12 bikers that were on a break. As I'm pumping gas, my wife says one of the bikers told her we have a low tire on the camper. Yup, sure enough it's down to 30 lbs for some unknown reason. Hey, the station actually has a free air machine...trouble is it's only got about a 25' hose and it's right on the front of the store where everyone is parked. I manage to back out and swing around the lot but have to block everyone in. The machine was painfully slow but I got it aired up and only pissed off one person who almost backed into me while executing a 15 point turn with his Corolla to get out of his parking spot.


So, thank you to the biker with the keen eye! And another expression to Mr. Impatient!


And I have no idea what happened with the tire - I checked it 3 more times on the way home and it held air the whole way. Maybe I just popped the bead a bit backing into the campsite or something. I'll keep an eye on it.


Just wanted to share.  ;D

Makes me appreciate having ARB On Board Air on my Jeep, a Craftsman 150 PSI Portable Compressor in the storage bin, and the on-board air on the coach. You see you would have ruined my outing had you blocked me in. I'd have been "How dare you?!?" I come prepared to the game, low air no problem for me or anyone.

As for your "expression" to Mr. Impatient, perhaps a little humility would have gone a long way.

I am sorry, but you were wrong, In MY humble opinion.

Wow, must be nice to be perfect.


As for the guy in the car, had he simply said to me, "hey I need to jockey out of here", I would have been perfectly fine with it. What ticked me off was the fact that he simply jumped in the car, started it up and backed up to within inches of me with no warning. I was physically squatting between two parking spaces, not directly behind him, for safety reasons but the movement of the car sure woke me up quickly.

So, thank you to the biker with the keen eye! And another expression to Mr. Impatient!

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;D

I had a tire that would go low every couple weeks or so on a car years ago.  Fine for several weeks and then low in the morning.

Turned out the rim of my wheel was bent and it only leaked when sitting in a certain position.  I put in an inner-tube and all was fine. 

Joezeppy said:

Wow, must be nice to be perfect.


As for the guy in the car, had he simply said to me, "hey I need to jockey out of here", I would have been perfectly fine with it. What ticked me off was the fact that he simply jumped in the car, started it up and backed up to within inches of me with no warning. I was physically squatting between two parking spaces, not directly behind him, for safety reasons but the movement of the car sure woke me up quickly.

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Yea, I know...It's all about you.

Wow--that's positively shocking and a bit hard to believe: FREE AIR?!? 

Guess that dates me 'cause I can remember when virtually all gas stations provided free air. I suppose next thing you know someone will come up with the bright idea to sell water by the bottle...

You guys are kinda rough on 'Zeppy. It's easy to rake someone over the coals, but put yourself in his place. It would have been different if he had got all up the the Corolla driver's face, and started getting belligerent, but he didn't do that. The most negative thing he did was call him Mr. Impatient. I'm sure neither of you guys ever did anything that was an inconvenience to someone else.

My only suggestion to Joe would be this.  Figure out a way to provide your own air.....12VDC compressor, or small generator and 120V compressor, or even one of the portable air tanks that you fill before you travel and requires NO power of any kind....just carry it to the tire, unwrap the hose and fill away.  When I leave the house with the truck and Toy hauler, I have an onboard 12V Viair compressor in the truck and a DeWalt 120V 6 gallon pancake compressor that I could use even if the tank was empty by firing up my generator and letting the compressor fill the air tank.  The cheapest way is of course the portable air tank if you are a bit strapped for money at the time.

kdbgoat said:

You guys are kinda rough on 'Zeppy. It's easy to rake someone over the coals, but put yourself in his place. It would have been different if he had got all up the the Corolla driver's face, and started getting belligerent, but he didn't do that. The most negative thing he did was call him Mr. Impatient. I'm sure neither of you guys ever did anything that was an inconvenience to someone else.

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I for one go out of my way not to be a bother to someone else, thus my preparedness. Have I gotten in the way, I drive a motor home, of course I get in the way on occasion, but not to the extent that I would block a group of folks in...no way, no how. I think of it this way, Mr. Impatient might have been running an errand for a sick wife, child, or just got off work and had a bad day, I wouldn't have done it.

So much for what was supposed to be a lighthearted story. My point: had I gassed up the day before and not missed my turn I never would have pulled into this station I may have never known about the low tire. I'm grateful for how things worked out. Get a TPMS, get a compressor, get a high dollar rig with a generator and on board air and a new truck to pull it...problem solved. Silly me.

Joezeppy said:

So much for what was supposed to be a lighthearted story. My point: had I gassed up the day before and not missed my turn I never would have pulled into this station I may have never known about the low tire. I'm grateful for how things worked out. Get a TPMS, get a compressor, get a high dollar rig with a generator and on board air and a new truck to pull it...problem solved. Silly me.

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) )  Too bad people now days are so quick to criticize and offer "advice".  This forum used to be populated with fellow RVers who would offer constructive suggestions without placing blame.  Then again, there have always been the "my whatever is bigger/better than your whatever" members.  Goes with the territory I guess.

Joezeppy said:

So much for what was supposed to be a lighthearted story. My point: had I gassed up the day before and not missed my turn I never would have pulled into this station I may have never known about the low tire. I'm grateful for how things worked out. Get a TPMS, get a compressor, get a high dollar rig with a generator and on board air and a new truck to pull it...problem solved. Silly me.

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I thought your story was light hearted and I got your point. I think most people are willing to overlook a little inconvenience to help someone. 

Tom and Margi said:

) )  Too bad people now days are so quick to criticize and offer "advice".  This forum used to be populated with fellow RVers who would offer constructive suggestions without placing blame.  Then again, there have always been the "my whatever is bigger/better than your whatever" members.  Goes with the territory I guess.

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Agree Margi.  The Smart phone and Internet are changing the way we interact with one another.  It allows us the opportunity to express ourselves with impunity.  Today we can go mano a mano with a man that is 6 inches taller and out weighs us by 100 lbs.  Just not face to face. 

Really...sounds like the tough guys are speaking... Just because I have strong feelings about being prepared, all of a sudden I'm a rat, and this from folks who haven't said a word to me since I joined some several years ago.

Personally I would be willing to stand man-to-man with any of this bunch and discuss this or any other issue you care to discuss.

Maybe you need to get a hat ;D 8)

Joezeppy said:

So much for what was supposed to be a lighthearted story. My point: had I gassed up the day before and not missed my turn I never would have pulled into this station I may have never known about the low tire. I'm grateful for how things worked out. Get a TPMS, get a compressor, get a high dollar rig with a generator and on board air and a new truck to pull it...problem solved. Silly me.

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Joe, did you overlook my simple, cheap, yet effective solution?  "The cheapest way is of course the portable air tank if you are a bit strapped for money at the time."  You don't have to have onboard compressors, new trucks, blah, blah, blah!

John Beard said:

Really...sounds like the tough guys are speaking... Just because I have strong feelings about being prepared, all of a sudden I'm a rat, and this from folks who haven't said a word to me since I joined some several years ago.

Personally I would be willing to stand man-to-man with any of this bunch and discuss this or any other issue you care to discuss.

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There is nothing wrong with being as prepared as you can be, I try to be like that too.  That is why I offered a suggestion of several different ways to possibly help the O.P. with his rig......some that cost a lot more than others....all the way down to carrying a portable air tank.

One other thing to consider is the possibility that Joezeppy might be fairly new to the whole camping thing and doesn't quite have everything figured out just yet as to what he needs as far as the necessities to be basically self supporting.  It is, after all, somewhat of a learning curve for most everyone when they endeavor to do something new.....and we've all been at that starting point at one time or another.  I've only been at it myself for about a year and a half and even though I've learned a lot about what to do and what not to do, I certainly don't consider myself an "old hand" at it.  Hopefully, it's a lesson learned and one of the things that will make him closer to being an old hand at it.

Well said, xrated. A little helpfulness and kindness goes a long way. And, not only will this be a lesson learned for the OP, it just might be a lesson for a lot of us reading this. 

I agree with the various comments about being prepared. We bought our first RV in 2003 but I'm always learning new stuff. Luckily this is the first time I've ever experienced a low tire on the road. I always check pressures before leaving home (including the spare) and had the station not had air, I was prepared to change the tire. I've had a surge protector on my Amazon Wish List for a few months and I'll most likely add a TPMS after this experience.

I hated the thought of blocking people in but I did what needed to be done. I am not always the most patient person in the world but I'd like to think that had I been blocked in (barring any emergency that would require stopping at a convenience store), I would have understood. I was using the poorly placed air station, not just double-parked to run in and grab a couple of 40's for the road.

xrated said:

Joe, did you overlook my simple, cheap, yet effective solution?  "The cheapest way is of course the portable air tank if you are a bit strapped for money at the time."  You don't have to have onboard compressors, new trucks, blah, blah, blah!

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I did see that - I was just being dramatic.  ;D  Actually your post reminded me that I do have a little portable 12V compressor that I have not used in years. Might be a good idea to make sure it still works and toss it in the camper. It takes a while to air up but it's better than nothing.