At the beginning of this summer travel season we intended to go on a trip throughout the south and swing back through the midwest. We mostly followed that plan with a slight modification. We went to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee as planned. Then we took a bit of a detour.
Back in Denton Texas when we had the fifth wheel inspected they told us our axle was bent and should be replaced. This bent axle is the reason our tires have been wearing weirdly. Replacing them would cost around $8K. We had previously debated getting an independent suspension installed which would replace the axles and give us less jostling on the road. The MORryde independent suspension costs about $10K. So we decided to upgrade. Which meant that instead of heading back west after Tennessee we headed north and went up to the MORryde factory in Indiana. We spent a week in Kentucky then made it to northern Indiana to get the independent suspension installed. This took us relatively close to Chicago so we decided to stop in for a quick visit there before heading down to St Louis area, back across Kansas and to Colorado by October.
This shift in travel allowed us to visit one more national park, the Indiana Dunes, two more states (Indiana and Illinios), and a much needed fix to the fifth wheel.
Unfortunately we are also having an issue with our kitchen slide and we haven’t been able to find a mobile tech who can help us. We first noticed this in Arkansas and have had two mobile techs come out to take a look. They said it’ll need to be re-welded and perhaps the bar replaced which most mobile techs are unable to do. I’ve been in touch with Lippert, the company that makes the through-frame hydraulic slide mechanism and they said they can get a mobile tech to us once we are in Colorado. We just need to get there!