Donna sent me a text message at 12:49pm yesterday, telling me she boarded the light rail at the airport. I walked out to the rail stop on the corner of Redwood and North Temple to meet her. She had a great trip to the NAPO conference in Phoenix, but she was exhausted by the long days and short nights while she was there.

We talked for awhile and caught up on each other’s activities. I told Donna that playing guitar every day while she was away really helped. I even remembered how to play a few songs I haven’t played in over a year.

I watched the Moto GP race while Donna unpacked. It was an epic race. I won’t spoil the outcome. We decided to have take-out for dinner. Donna phoned in an order to a Chinese restaurant called East Sea. It’s about five blocks away from here. I rode the scooter and picked up our dinner, which we enjoyed outside at the picnic table.

After dinner, we took a walk through the RV park. I noticed a guy with a travel trailer at the dump station. His trailer tires looked low. I don’t like to interrupt anyone’s routine when they are setting up or dumping tanks, but I felt like I should mention the low tires. The guy said he would make a stop when he left the park to fill the tires.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll repeat it again. Low tire pressure is the number one cause of tire failure. When tires are under-inflated, the sidewalls are subject to excess flexing which causes heat to build up. The overheated tire can lead to tread separation or sidewall failure – this means a blowout.

When it looked like the guy was finishing up at the dump station, I walked over and told him he could stop at my site on the way out. I offered to fill his tires with our Porter-Cable portable compressor.

He stopped by. I checked his trailer tires and found them inflated to 30 psi. This is very low, they should have been inflated to 50 psi. Driving down the highway at 30 psi surely would have caused a tire failure. We’ve seen numerous trailers on the side of the highway with blow-outs during our travels. I can’t help but think that many of these were avoidable, with proper tire maintenance.

Today is Monday and I have work to do. Sometimes it’s hard for me to keep track of the days. Clarke Hockwald (What’sNewell) calls Monday first Saturday. Tuesday is second Saturday and so on until Friday become fifth Saturday. Saturday is just Saturday and Sunday is Sunday to mark the week. This is too complicated for me to keep up with. I have enough trouble without numbering the days.

I’ll begin preparation for travel today. I need to go up on the roof and check our plumbing vents. The gray water tank drained a little slowly when I dumped it yesterday. There might be an obstruction in the vent. Then I’ll check the tire pressures and adjust if necessary. The windshield and mirrors need to be cleaned. We had a few raindrops the other day, just enough to mess up the mirrors. Then I’ll start loading the trailer.

The weather yesterday was near perfect with the temperature in the mid 70s, light wind and clear skies. I think it was the best weather day we’ve had in Salt Lake City. Today, the heat will return as the forecast calls for a  high temperature of 89 degrees.

Tomorrow, we’ll pull out of here. First stop will be the Pilot/Flying J fuel station I checked out on Saturday. Then we’ll head north on I-15. There are three Super WalMarts between Pocatello and Idaho Falls, Idaho. We’ll probably choose one them for an overnight stay and restock our food supplies while we’re there. On Wednesday, we’ll check in at the Buffalo Crossing RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana. This park is a few hundred yards from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We plan to stay there for three nights and make a couple of day trips into the park.