 TUESDAY |
TRAVEL DAY |
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After a near 200 mile travel day we arrived at Big Biloxi Rec Area in the De Soto National Forest outside of Gulfport, MS.
We have been in this campground before, in fact we even got the exact same campsite (#14) that we had nearly two years ago while we were here getting our awning repaired.
Campsite #14 at Big Biloxi Recreation Area in the DeSoto National Forest near Saucier, MS.
Our spacious corner campsite in a nearly empty campground.
But before we arrived at the campground we first went to a big truck repair business in nearby Vancleave, MS. They work on big trucks like 18-wheelers, street sweeping trucks, school busses and motorhomes. They are well equipt to work on 5th-wheels and travel trailers.
When we arrived they took one look at our trailer and knew it indeed would require a brand new axle. It seems the idea of realigning an axle only works when it requires fractions of an inch adjustments, like maybe 1/8 inch. Ours is out by a solid inch or more.
They crawled under THE POD and took a photo of the serial number plate which shows the needed stats required to order the correct replacement. The axle was ordered late in the day on November 10th and now all we can do is wait!
This is actually something I've wanted to do for quite some time. The idea is if we ever find ourselves once again towing THE POD two miles down a single lane dirt road with nowhere to turn around, then reach an obstruction like a downed tree or another mud bog, we will now have options.
Our new hitch receiver tucked neatly out of the way under the front license plate.
I also purchased an extra draw bar and hitch ball to install when needed, instead of removing our rear monster-sized sway control/weight distribution hitch to use on the front receiver.
I now have the option to unhitch THE POD, turn the truck around and rehitch up. Then by using a simple 12V-fuse to jump 2-pins of our 7-pin electic cord, my back up camera and two side view cameras (just recently upgraded and installed) will become available to see "behind us" while driving forward. I can now safely push the trailer, using the three camera angles, backward up the road to a point where we can turn the trailer around, unhitch and spin the truck around, rehitch and be on our merry way.
Having the pivot point between the truck and trailer closer to the steering axle will make this scenerio much easier to maneuver in tight situations when trying up back up several miles.
You may remember we first met them on Padre Island National Seashore in Texas back in February of 2020, just before COVID-19 became a worldwide name. Then in April of this year they drove their brand new Airstream over to a Kansas State Park where we were camping to spend a weekend with us and show us their new trailer.
This time around we may not be camping together, but we plan on visiting them at their campground and possibly going out to dinner later in the week.
I believe Katherine picked the restaurant, a BBQ joint called Murky Waters, located 10 miles from camp in downtown Gulfport, MS and just a stones throw away from the Gulf of Mexico's shoreline. The BBQ was tasty with large enough portions even I had food left over to take home.
P.S. - Sorry Dewey, no photos! Whenever someone puts food in front of me my first thought is never to take a photo of it, but I'm working on that.
So we have been online this week ordering some much needed items like a battery-operated pump that fits our 3-gallon water bottles and items to better secure our GPS and new Backup Camera monitior to the dashboard in ROVER.
Over the next few weeks we each have a couple of small projects to tackle around the truck and trailer. Stay tuned for the exciting details.
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Until next time
