Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - Paducah KY

Searching for tires in Paducah KY, November 25, 2009

A traditional LD holiday

Makes me twitch, a looming holiday does. This wonderful Lazy Daze, LD, where I make my home is teaching me great respect for her holiday tradition of breaking down in her inimitable "you-ain't-going-anywhere until-I'm-fixed" way.

My first holiday on the road, Thanksgiving 2007, was spent in the driveway at Pro 1 Automotive in Sissonville WV having arrived the day before on the hook with squishy brakes. Then there was the installing of a new throttle position sensor before Christmas in a parking lot in Brenham TX. And the biggy - the blown transmission seal at Guadalupe National Park last New Years Eve. Keeps me anxious, it does, when we get this close to a holiday. Makes me twitch.

This year I thought I was ready. I delayed my winter departure from Red Rock to fix a bunch of problems before I hit the road. Well, in my haste to get going I skipped one, one I thought I had plenty of time to deal with. Yeah, right, about 5 days.

Tires shouldn't bounce

LD's right front tire has felt a little out of balance for a very long time. Not a lot, just a tiny bounce at about 60mph - not enough to get me to take immediate action. But while I had the opportunity I had Bill Shipp's crew balance it back in December of '08 when I had them rebuild and align the front end. A story in itself that was, finding a shop that could/would do an alignment on this too big / too small rig. Anyway, the balancing didn't help and I blamed their work. Erroneously it turns out. Sorry guys.

Coming down through PA and WV I was increasingly aware of this out of balance problem and started keeping an eye out for a tire shop. But it didn't seem worth taking seriously enough to get off the interstates so I could actually 'see' tire shops. Yesterday morning, who knows why - one of those intuitive gestures I guess, I reached down and felt all around the tread. Wow! There's some serious cupping developing here. This tire is going to need replacing. Soon. Soon enough to start me researching what tires my fellow Lazy Daze owners like. The new Michelin LTX M/S2 seemed to be what I wanted. I started looking for Michelin dealers en route.

I'm beginning to twitch

Approaching Paducah today I realized this was the last city of any size I would see for a while on my intended route west and that this bouncing tire was not going to let me get much farther - it was wearing fast now. A few inquiries at the tire shops I passed turned up none in stock - but what with the holiday and all we can't get them for you until next week. Right. I smell a traditional LD holiday coming on. Twitch.

Thanksgiving looms

Now it's after 3:00pm on Thanksgiving eve and it finally sinks in that I have a crisis here. If I don't get a move on I won't even get tires ordered until Friday and with all due respect I don't feel like spending the next few days sitting here waiting for tires.

Googling "Michelin tire dealer paducah ky" turned up quite a few dealers but oh lordy this ain't gonna be fun - traffic here is going nuts and I don't relish driving from dealer to dealer in a city I don't know. That was motivation enough to do something almost unheard of in my world - I started calling around. It's like magic, this telephone thing. The first shop I called, the one at the top of Google's list, Paducah Tire Service Inc, didn't have the new Michelin LTX M/S2 but did have some of the older version of that tire on hand. I made a quick decision to go with what they have and asked if they could install them today. "Sure, if you get here by 4:00 - we close at 5:00." Done. Phew!

I need a nap.

Night camp

Wal-Mart Supercenter in Paducah KY

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #491, 5130 Hinkleville Road, Paducah, KY 42001 - (270) 444-0066

• This is the Walmart Supercenter off US60 west of town
• Good level parking
• Verizon cell phone service - very good signal
• Verizon EVDO service - very good signal
• Locate this Walmart on my Night Camps map
• Find other Wal-Marts in the area
• Check the weather here