Finally, I Can Tell the Story!

For over three months my sister has been planning a surprise party to celebrate our mom's eightieth birthday. Everyone in the family; including distant relatives, were informed. How precocious great grandchildren (and others), could keep such a secret remains a happy mystery. There were some stumbles along the way but the secret remained intact. One of the biggest secrets was our attendance at the event(s). Along the way pictures and other memorabilia were" taken" from my mother's house (so that a scrapbook could be made) and a lot of stories were fabricated. We arrived the Wednesday before the big weekend and passed a couple of days in Homestead, Florida running around with my sister, before we all headed to Naples for the celebration. Adding to the difficulty of keeping the secret was the fact that a lot of us are active on social media sites; including this blog. Happily everything worked out. Well deserved kudos go out to all who were involved; especially my sister and niece, who did a yeoman's job of putting everything together.

 

Part of what I wanted to pass along to my dear readers could not be disclosed till now, for fear of disclosing the aforementioned secret. I can now share the story of our preparation for our vacation and the 2700 miles it was composed of. Tales on the internet and other media have made me very paranoid about a blowout. So we looked into and finally bought a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) for the 5ver. The $200 we spent for it couldn't have begun  to buy the peace of mind it brought us; much less the damage it can prevent. We also invested in a programmer for our diesel engine in hopes of both improving performance and fuel mileage. Our results have been mostly positive. In order to gain the maximum benefit from the programmer we really need to improve the intake flow and modify the exhaust; all of which are in future plans.

All in all we had a great time in Florida and were pleased with how our new (to us) truck pulled our 15000 pound 5ver down the highway. Speaking of weight, you should at least weigh your truck and trailer, or motorhome wet once. Wet means full of fuel and other fluids plus whatever "junk" you carry around. It tells you a wide variety of things, especially the weight on each axle. With a TPMS and the proper tire, blowouts should rarely happen. Here's .hoping some of this may save you grief on the road