Pass the soap.

It was hot and humid in Branson, MO.  We still had a couple of vacation days left, so on a whim, we pointed the motorhome North and ended up here:

We were amazed at the power and beauty of Niagara Falls.

Being the thrill seekers we are, we had to get close to the falls.

Still wasn't close enough, so we took the trip down to the bottom of the American Falls where you can walk on a wooden deck right up to the cascading water.

You are provided with a raincoat and a pair of rubber slippers for a small fee before you head up the steps to the falls.

You still get a little wet.  But there was more bathing to come.  We couldn't let all that nice water go to waste.

So we boarded one of the Maid of the Mist boats that run right up to the bottom of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the falls.  They actually run right into the rising mists at the bottom of the falls.

My favorite red head.  Get the blow dryer ready!

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First flat on the road and it wasn't even my fault!

We have a list of places we want to visit and things we'd like to see.  We fiddled around with our schedules until they clicked at the same time and we were off to Branson, MO. for our first visit.

I always get the motorhome ready the day before, bring it home from the storage lot and plug it in to cool down the 'fridge.  I also check over all the fluids and the last thing I check before we pull out is the tire pressures on both the motorhome and the toad.

We left after everything was checked and tires were topped off to the correct pressures.  It was going to be a great trip.

Several hours later, we stopped at a Flying J to fill the gas tank.  There was a long line to get to all the fuel pumps and this Flying J was an older one, with no separate RV pumps like most of the newer ones have.

We didn't care, we were not on any schedule, there was no time pressure for a change.  It was a nice feeling.

I pulled up in line, picked the farthest lane to the right to try and make it easier for the many cars needing gas.  I waited as the two RV's in front of me filled up and pulled away.  Finally it was my turn, so up I pulled.

My gas tank fill was on the left side.  I hopped out the right side door and walked back around the toad and then up the left side to the pump.  There was a line of cars at each pump and a couple behind me.  The car right behind me had a bunch of college aged kids in it and they were complaining loudly about the wait, probably for my benefit. 

I moved as fast as I could and as soon as I finished I climbed in my driver's side door.  I always do a walk around and look at all my tires and tow hitch, but I didn't this time because I was trying to be considerate and drove off  to not delay any of the cars behind me.

We just started down the road and a car pulled up along side us beeping their horn.  I looked over and the passenger was pointing to the back of our motorhome.  Not knowing exactly what was wrong, I quickly drove off to the shoulder and got out to look.

The right rear tire on the toad was almost flat.  I was glad the nice people in the car had alerted me, because I might not have noticed it was low on air until it blew out and did real damage, or even caused an accident

We slowly pulled off the road at the next exit and found a safe place to change the tire.  I put on the tiny doughnut spare.  We checked in our Next Exit book and found a Super Walmart at the next exit  (no pun intended) where we could get the tire fixed.  I looked and couldn't see any reason for the loss of air.  No nails, screws or holes.

We got to the Walmart and I took the tire into the Tire shop.  The tech put the tire in a water tank after filling it with air and with both of us looking at it, we could not find any hole or leak causing the flat.

I was quite puzzled and didn't know what to think.  As I looked out at the motorhome and toad, I noticed the right front tire was low, too.  I went out and checked the tire with my gauge and it had only about 15 psi in it instead of the correct 35 psi.  I was really puzzled for a couple of seconds until it dawned on me.

When I had been fueling up, the kids in the car behind me let air out of my tires to get back at me for taking so long and causing them a short delay. I couldn't see them from where I was pumping the gas and Marti never stepped out of the motorhome.

 I should have ignored their loud complaints and done my normal check, I would have caught the low tire before I pulled out.  But since I was trying to be the nice guy and rushed my routine, I drove off and almost had a real problem.

I proved my theory by filling my tires to the correct air pressure and checking them repeatedly for the next hour to be absolutely certain before we pulled out.  I checked them again and again the whole way to Branson and had no further problems.  In fact, I never had to add air to them again right up until the time they wore out.

Now, no matter what, I double check everything every time I stop and before I roll again.  It boggles my mind that those kids, because they were impatient, would vandalize my tires like that to "punish" me for taking up a few minutes of their time.

It was a minor issue that could have been very bad, but we didn't let it ruin our trip.  We had a blast, saw a bunch of great shows and really enjoyed the show put on by Yakov Smirnoff!

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Having your cake and eating it too.

Today's post has absolutely nothing to do with RVing.  Once and a while, you have to break away and do something different and what Marti and I did I wouldn't have missed for anything.

Today we attended the Change of Command ceremony for Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, who after serving in that capacity for four years turned over the helm to Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr.  The ceremony was held in Washington, DC at Fort McNair.

The reason I went was because I had been on Admiral Allen's staff for two years and traveled throughout United States and all over the world with him on official business.  It was one of the best jobs I've ever had.

Over 3000 people attended and it was quite an occasion.

The really cool thing was the specialty cakes, carefully hand crafted by some of the Coast Guards finest chefs.  The following pictures are all items that are cakes.

All good things must come to an end, Admirals Papp and Allen cutting the cakes.

Afterwards, we went to Admiral Allen's retirement picnic.  There was one more cake there.  Note the figures of Admiral and Mrs. Allen on the bow.

I wished my former boss the best of luck in his retirement.

No uniforms, picnic attire!  I never did eat any cake, they were just too beautiful.

Now I better go read an RV magazine and get back on track! ;c)

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