One of the things that has surprised us since we started fulltiming is how difficult it is to get air for the tires. It's something we never had to think about as weekenders: Our storage spot had an air hose near the entrance. If we needed to air up before a trip, it was within easy reach. On the road, however, it's another story. We've found air hoses that were everywhere except anywhere we could be. They're frequently "around back" or right in front of a line of delivery trucks waiting to drop their goods at the station.
We decided to take matters into our own hands and carry our own air. Having never owned or shopped for an air compressor before, we were in uncharted territory. We took every chance we could find to research the subject online. And, these days (as our faithful readers know) the very act of getting online has proven to be quite a challenge. At last we had the information we needed to make an informed decision. With that, we went shopping.
The winner, for us anyway, is the Porter Cable 6 gallon 150 psi "pancake" portable air compressor. It weighs in at 30 pounds and has all the capacity we need to top off the 10 tires we travel on whenever they're running low. The Home Depot in Missoula had it on sale, so we brought one home.
Paul put the cute (but really loud) little red thing through its paces this morning and got it properly "broken in". Then, he went to work on checking and topping off the tires on the moose. (We'll check the squirrel tomorrow!) It's really great to be able to do this chore in the comfort of a campsite, instead of in a remote corner of a gas station. An added bonus is now we can check the tires when they're cold, like we're supposed to. Turns out this is one of those nifty things we didn't know we needed before we hit the road, but we're sure glad we have it now.
We'll miss searching in vain for accessible air hoses at every fuel stop. Really, we will.
OK. Maybe not.
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4 comments:
That Porter Cable is a good little air compressor - I have one in my workshop. I probably should bring it along with me when we travel!
Sounds like you found a great compressor. We loved it up at Glacier and spent about 4 weeks there and could have stayed longer... Where are you staying? It is beautiful and I know you'll love it!
Have Fun & Travel Safe!
Donna
M&P,
We found the same before full timing...our storage area had no air available and it became obvious that we needed a plan.
Sounds like you did just fine despite the marginal WiFi.
You may find that some of the communtications issues will begin to clear up a little after peak summer travel season ends...depends on where you stay of course.
Safe travels friends,
Da Godfadda and Juanita
We too discovered early on that having easy access to an air compressor was one of the "necessities" rather than a luxury. And so we bought the Porter Cable pancake compressor. It has made our life much easier on the road and Denny checks the tires more frequently because of it. Now if I could only get him to check the water in the house batteries more regularly....
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