New axle, tires and personality for The Red Writer

   POINT RICHMOND, California - The wizardry of Sean Keown, master mechanic at Vogel's RV in Ukiah was clearly demonstrated Wednesday.

Waaaaaay higher off the ground

     He skillfully - and quickly - installed the new axle and boondock-style tires on The Red Writer, boosting the trailer's ground clearance dramatically.
     The new tires and higher ground clearance make the trailer look, well, much beefier.
     But an unexpected outcome from the retrofit was that the rig is much more comfortable to drive. Bumps in the road are just bumps and no longer feel like craters. On the test drive on a bumpy section of Highway 101 outside Ukiah, I hardly felt anything.
     Just amazing, really.
     The one downside to the whole change is that because the trailer is higher, I need a taller stepladder to put on the trailer cover when The Red Writer is in storage.
     Maybe the solution is to keep traveling and not put it in storage at all.
     Now there's a thought.

New axle installed...

Tougher tires, too

The day before leaving to get The Red Writer retrofitted

Home the next day with new tires and axle installed

Spring renovations & maps for The Red Writer

   UKIAH, California - For the last few seasons, The Red Writer has occasionally gone where no T@B 320 probably should go.
     There was that rutted goat trail in Oklahoma and then 'W' Road in Tennessee.

Thank you CSAA for the maps... And the rest I will order

     And so it is that next week The Red Writer will be handed over to a mechanical magician named Sean at Vogel's RV to swap out the axle and tires on the trailer with those normally used on a more beefy unit called the T@B Boondock model.
     With the modification The Red Writer should be about 6 inches higher off the ground - a ground clearance boost that should make my off-roading less stressful.
     Theoretically.
     Pix of that axle-swap operation and the finished install will be posted sometime after Wednesday.
     The other innovation for this spring/summer/fall travel is the addition of paper maps to the navigation department.
     Yes, paper maps. You know, those things that used to fill up your car's glove compartment because you couldn't get them folded back the right way.
     While my Rand-McNally Road Atlas (Big Print Edition, thank you very much) is useful, it lacks sufficient detail for, well, the boondocking I have inadvertently done and some that I want to do - on purpose.
     Today 14 maps arrived from the California State Automobile Association, a good start on the hardcopy map library. Already I spotted some less-traveled roads in the Midwest and East that are likely candidates for this season's travel.
     Two of the maps are for Canada, by the way. Brrrrr...