Tuesday, 1 January
Beaver Lake Campground — Quincy, Florida
Temps: Lo 54F at NS Mayport / Hi 73F in Quincy (12C / 23C)
We left NS Mayport today and are en route to our next destination — Pensacola, Florida. We would have preferred to extend our stay at Pelican Roost RV Park by one more day and have just one night on the road en route, but it wasn’t meant to be. So we pulled up stakes this morning and made an uneventful 220-mile (352 km) trek west via I-10 to land at a campground near Quincy, Florida (west of Tallahassee).
We made the 220-mile (352 km) drive in about 5 hours — two rest stops included.
We debated staying at a campground with amenities, but decided instead to take a chance on Beaver Lake Campground. This is a Passport America park with a 50% off rate of $20/night (including tax; cash only) for a 50A FHU site. First impressions notwithstanding, it’s a decent park for an overnight stay at this reduced rate. Since we plan to spend the day in Tallahassee tomorrow, that’s all we needed — a place to sleep, albeit for two nights. We’re in site 6, which is a pull-through with plenty of space behind and in front of us — the campground sites are located along two sides of a huge field. We have no neighbors on the passenger side, and there are two empty sites between us and the neighbor on the driver side. This makes our site feel especially spacious. If those sites were occupied, it would be a different story.
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Site 6 (left) and our view out the windshield.
Since I have nothing exciting to report from today, I thought it would be a good time to write about the TireTraker Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) that Mui installed last year. After all, we got to see it in action today. In this case, it was a false alarm because Mui has yet to re-program the baseline for a replacement sensor, but it was good to know the system was doing its job.
A tire blow-out is a major safety concern for every RVer, so after debating the pros and cons of having a monitoring system, and researching the various options, Mui settled on the easy-to-install TireTraker. The TT-400C is a “full-time wireless electronic tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) designed to monitor and display tire pressures from 0 psi up to 145 psi, and also to monitor tire temperatures from 14°F to 185°F.” The system he purchased monitors not just the Phaeton’s tires, but the ones on the toad as well.
These sensors are mounted on the air valves on the tires.
The display unit is programmed with tire pressure information for each tire
to ensure accurate monitoring.
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Verifying that the monitor is displaying accurate pressure (left) and temperature
Information for the front driver-side tire. (THe black box for the tire being tested blinks.)
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System installed and operational.
This is not a Phaeton mod per se, but I’m posting it under that category for anyone interested in such things.
We have had a tire pressure monitoring system since we first got the Phaeton. We now transferred it to the Cameo. Paul would not be without it. We have seen too many accidents from blow outs that the driver didn't even know he had.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year.
That's a very good idea. We got the "Tire Minder" system, which is exactly the same unit with the same sensors, just from a different distributor. The Tire Tracker website was very informative about where these units come from I checked that out after I had already gotten this unit from Camping World when they had it on sale. Tire Minder is a registered trade mark of Minder Technology, but the unit itself is made in the same place as your Tire Tracker system is (as far as I can tell). Whatever it's called, it's a great thing to have, and certainly adds to peace of mind on the road. That in itself is priceless. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great idea and a necessity that is for sure! Peace of mind is priceless!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed information about the Tire Monitoring System Mui installed. We have one that is similar but doesn't monitor the toad. I have heard scary stories about folks not knowing they had a blowout on their toad, so that is a really good idea. Love the bird photos as usual--enjoy Pensacola.
ReplyDeleteI've been following and enjoying your blog for some time. We are currently at the Blue Angels Rec Area at Pensacola. Would like to say "Hi!" if you stay nearby. We are doing the snowbird thing for the Winter, but planning to go fulltime by next summer. Both retired and also from the DC area.
ReplyDeleteRon, we don't have a way to reach out to you, so hopefully you'll see the reply here. We'll be at Ft Pickens, but plan to drive to Pensacola NAS to visit the museum, lighthouse, and catch the Blue Angels in action before we leave. If you can provide contact info via email (ours is in our profile), we can arrange to meet for coffee or lunch.
DeleteI can't seem to convince Mo that we should have a tire pressure monitoring system. This particular system looks really good to me. Kids with the truck had a different system, and it caused them nothing but trouble till they took it off. I'll keep trying, though, or maybe it will take a flat to convince her!
ReplyDeleteoh good gosh, Erin, I was looking at the photo of Mui installing the goodies when I saw your Pinterest logo to the right, for the first time. I had just pinned your campground and wondered if this was a link somehow where I could pin stuff. Wow and whoopdedoo! You have pinned everything already for me....oh my....I have lots of pinning to do from your campgrounds and all sots of other stuff. sheesh.
ReplyDelete