Gila Cliff Dwellings - Not Meant to Be!

Well, some things just aren't meant to be.

When I checked the tire pressure this morning, as I always do before we drive off anywhere, I found the passenger side outside rear tire was completely flat. I'm not sure at what point it lost air - I hadn't noticed any change in handling when we drove into the KOA yesterday afternoon.

Anyway, long story short: we found a tire shop that sent a very nice man out to our campground site and he found nothing wrong with the tire. All six tires are new with less than 4000 miles on them. We agreed, he and I, that the #$%@ valve extender must have worked the valve stem loose so the air leaked out. So, a couple hours and $25 later (Coach-Net picked up the $35 on-site service call charge), the tire was remounted and inflated and the valve extender carefully tightened. We then had to drive the Trek to the tire shop itself so the tire man could tighten the lug nuts properly with a torque wrench.

While the cost was not terrible and, more importantly, we had not careened off the mountain at Cloudcroft, the tire issue caused a three hour delay and so we couldn't visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings without rushing around like crazy people to get to our next stop: Holbrook, Arizona to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  Remember, we had already lost a day by having to hunker down in Carlsbad because of the desert winds.

So, with a new found go-with-the-flow attitude, we shrugged off the Gila Cliff Dwellings as something we were just not destined to see, ate a couple tasty home-made burritos I bought from a Mexican man at the tire place, and hit the road for Arizona.

Life throws you lemons? Eat burritos!