We had a week and a half between coming back from our Midwest trip and heading to Death Valley. Lots of things needed to be done.
Kevin discovered the shackles and bushings on an axle we’re broken, so he did get that fixed the day before we left again. State Trailer Supply in Salt Lake City did a fine job. They replaced all the shackles and bushings on both axles, fixed some marker lights we didn’t know we had broken, and adjusted the brakes. It was something we would have had checked before the big trip to Alaska next year, but I am glad Kevin found the problem before heading up and down the mountains like we have been doing.
We also ordered a cover to put over the bicycles on the trailer back. It also arrived just in time and covers both of them. Sadly it also covers part of the tail light and the license plate! Kevin tried to move the lights, but couldn’t figure out where to run the wires. This task will take a bit more thought. We still used the cover and hope we don’t get caught.
For my stuff, I got all the pieces cut out for the king sized quilt I am making for our bed. I even started the piecing. I brought the fabric and my sewing machine with me, but I haven’t pulled them out yet. There were just too many nice things to do in Death Valley!
One other thing in DV was that Kevin discovered one of the tires was completely bald on the inside edge. These are relatively new tires, and we were worried about brakes or alignment problems. He changed it at the campground just before we left. Just as we pulled out of the campground he realized it was almost certainly caused by the shackles issue putting a twist on the axle. Thank goodness! Oh, and we discovered our 3 year old batteries weren’t charging fully. Further checking identified that one cell was really bad, so we are going to replace them when we get home. Since we are staying in campgrounds with electricity the rest of this trip we don’t need to rush. We are pretty sure the damage was done by the OEM cheap power converter that Kevin replaced last year. They just don’t charge well, and that puts stress on the batter. Batteries plus a new tire plus a new tire and wheel (an extra spare for the Alaska trip) will put some pain in the budget.
Luckily all of these things are not frequent costs. For us the trailer means we travel pretty much any time we want and where we want. Still worth it.