Our departure day was a Saturday. I had fueled up the night before (ouch) and the propane tank was full, water and holding tanks serviced. An early morning departure with 6 on board is tough. especially with 3 young children in the picture but we managed to get rolling an hour after the planned time. Our drive from San Diego to Grand Canyon should take about 9 hours.
The route I had layed out took us up the I-15 nortth to I-10, then jump across the 177 and 95 north to I-40. I chose 60 mph for interstate driving which seemed like a good compromise on speed, fuel consumption and handling. We had done a couple of smaller trips in the new to us Pace Arrow including a trip to Desert hot springs earlier in the summer. Entering palm springs on the 10 it is very hot and we have all the windows open with a blast of dry summer 105 degree heat drying us out like kindling. Water consumption by the occupants is very high and ice is flying out of the freezer at an alarming rate.
Driving long distances dulls your senses and lulls you into a false feeling of security. I can maintain alertness but something out of the ordinary still snaps the senses. The air temp is extreme and the pavement temp is higher than I care to think about. My concerns of tire age seem like distant memory, I am driving through the hottest desert and 16,000 pounds of 60 mph force doesn't seem to be any problem. Then all of a sudden BANG, like a shotgun an explosion on the left side of the rig and a very slight pull to the left. Slap slap slap. It was so loud I am convinced I had a blowout on the front left. Over to the shoulder, off the side and stopped, my heart rate doubled from seconds ago. Visual inspection finds a rear outside dually blowout. 12" of tread missing, a 6" long hole and a 8" flap of tread hanging loose.
Back in the rig I am only 1/4 mile from an offramp directly into palm springs. 10 mph limp it on the shoulder and see a discount tire on the right, right off the freeway. Quite sure they can't handle 19.5s but try them anyhow, maybe they can recommend someone. As expected the service advisor tells me they can't help. Recommends Parkhouse truck tire only 3 miles away. I ask him how to get there. 'Take the 10 one exit down, get off, turn left it will be on your left'. Sir, how do you get there without getting on the freeway. 'You can't, the freeway is the only way to go'. really? 'yes sir'.
So, I had to consult my own map. Didn't believe that the freeway was the only way to go and certainly did not want to do 15 mph on the shoulder of the I-10 for even one exit. Map confirmed it, easy to go around just about a mile farther when using the sidestreets. Does that guy live here?
Arrive at parkhouse tire and they are closed up tight, it's saturday, surprised my discount service advisor hadn't known there were closed. They are right next door to a truck wash/service center but they don't do tires. hmm. what next? On the cel phones find a mobile tire guy who will come out. He has no new tires, but has some excellent used ones he tells me. $160 mounted and installed and he would bring them out for me to choose the one I like. He can get new ones but wants $250 /ea and he has to charge an extra $100 to go to banning to get them.
After 30 minutes he shows up with three very old, very sad looking tires, DOT codes are pre new style so they are really old. I'm not paying anything for those dinosaurs! I send him away. Didn't he tell me he could get new ones in banning? If he could, why couldn't I? Thats only 24 miles away.
On the cel phones again. Find a truck tire shop that has 8 double coin 19.5s in stock, brand new. I'll go buy two. Need to put the spare on to get the 24 miles. Dig it out of the hold and realize I don't want to change the tire in 110 degree heat with basic tools and no easy way to air up the spare which was low of course. Sure I could have done it I have a bottle jack and a tire iron, but thats what I bought AAA RV service for right? While I am waiting for him to show up I see a parkhouse service truck show up with a semi truck and is doing some tire work. Maybe he can help? I walk over and ask him. "Sir, can you sell me a tire today to get me going?". He looks at me with, with a tire sales invoice in his hand, in the middle of selling a tire to the big rig owner and says 'No, we are closed, come back on Monday'. OK, nice to know buddy, odd how you sell tires to big rig guy on a Saturday and your truck says 24/7 service on the side. On my walk back to the RV I ask the guy at the big rig oil change/detailing shop if he could put my spare on for me, he says he can do it for $10. While I ask him, the AAA guy shows up to do it with a service truck compressor and a 1" impact wrench has the tire changed out and aired up for me in 10 minutes. Nice.
I go slowly, the spare is causing the rig to vibrate. It is really old. I make it to the tire shop with no issue and I check out these double coin tires. Made in china. hmmph. Anything else available in 19.5 today? No. Anything else would be on monday. OK, I'll take two, put them on the front and put the fronts on the back. The rears had 4 11 year old discount tire brand tires. The 'new' ones and my best tires were up front at 8 years old. The double coins are the same load rating, but are all steel belts as opposed to my poly belted discount tires. That seems like a good thing to me. 110 PSI for max load on the front.
After they remove the 'good tires' from the front I inspect them. I had done so before we left, but now each tire has a good crack between each row of tread that wasn't there before. Only 6000 miles and these 8 year old tires are shot. I fear more blowouts. Which is worse, brand new chinese tires or 8 year old cracked tires? I talk to the manager, what kind of deal can he make me on 6 tires? $1230 out the door. My entire 'emergency' bugdet plus a bit more. Banning is cooler than palm springs but still plenty hot. I agree and one coke, two quarts of water and three hours later I am riding on brand new tires with balance bead balancing which I have never heard of. The double coins squat a lot less than the discount brand did. The ride is firmer and much more solid feeling. The rig is affected by wind and other rigs windblast more than before but otherwise it handles a lot better. The balance beads seem to work fine and 60 MPH interstate driving is nice and quite a bit smoother than before.
I drive on into what is now the late afternoon on the I-10. Turn off as planned at the 177 towards the 95 junction. Wow, this is a remote highway! Sure glad I have new tires. Very little traffic and easy going. Much better than the constant blast of 18 wheelers flying by at 75 mph passing me every few seconds on the I-10. Lots of water on board for the occupants just incase, there is NOTHING out here. It is becoming obvious that we aren't going to make it to grand canyon today, the 5 hour tire delay put that out of reach. 20 miles into the 177 I see a lot of police lights ahead. As they get closer I see 3 CHP driving like they are drunk down the highway swerving from side to side at 45 mph. I pull as close as I dare to the shoulder as I pass 'soft shoulder' signs and see the soft desert sand. The CHP loudspeaker says 'get off the highway, wide load coming through'. The first patrolman comes up beside me and I protest the sand entry and tell him I will probably get stuck. He says I have no choice. I ask if they will pull me out if I get stuck, and he says they will make sure I get out. I pull into the sand, all 16,000 pounds. I complain to a company lead truck driver as he goes by, he assures me they'll help me if I can't get out. The 19' wide load flies by at 50 mph.