Up on the rim

The Mogollon Rim, that is.  Pronounced "muggy-awn" if you care. Arizona's Ponderosa pine forest country.

The view from site 21

I'm at Sharp Creek National Forest campground, about 20 miles east of Payson, AZ.  I got in yesterday afternoon, after an enjoyable drive up from Tucson, skirting Roosevelt for much of the way.  I've been in this part of the state several times before, but never taken this route.  Scenic, huh?

Roosevelt Lake

It's gorgeous up here: sunny, breezy, warm days, cool nights.

It's late spring/early summer, and things are neat even on a small scale:

Yesterday was not without its drama.  I pulled in and was getting set up, and I noticed that the outside R rear tire looked soft.  Soft, hell!  It was flat. The other tire only thing keeping the rim  from hitting the ground. You know how when you press on the little pin inside a tire valve it goes “pssst” and lets some air out?  No “psssst.”  No air. 

I said some bad words.  I get out the compressor, start up the generator, and air it up so it goes pssst. OK, I can get air in it.  Then I settle in and in 15 minutes get it up to about 70; half an hour later it was down to 20 and looking very very sad.  So was I.

I got out the jack, chocked the wheels, and took the jack up to the point where it was **just** taking some weight.  If this thing was gonna go flat again, I didn’t want the other tire to get any more stressed.  

I spent some time on the phone this morning, and my new best friend Steve showed up.  Here's what the problem was:

The tube thing is a valve stem extender, part of the setup for the "duallys" on the Beast's rear axle. It had gotten damaged when the new tires were put on the vehicle a couple of weeks ago.  Words will be had with the installer!  

We'll see how much of that my AAA Super Duper RV+ will cover!  I was pretty frazzled last night and this morning, and the rest of the day has been mellow.  On the road tomorrow... headed for Gallup NM.