US Corporations

While the left rear cargo door was being replaced on the Holiday Rambler at Crown Coachworks

Eric noticed that two of the Michelin tires showed a few very large cracks in their sidewalls at 37 K miles (60km). I then called
Purcell Tire Company

in ABQ and spoke with Cindy. She determined that each new tire would cost around 500 dollars US installed. She then asked about the DOT number on the side of the tires. It is a four digit number within an elongation. The number was 4103. That meant the tires were manufactured in the 41 st week of 2003.

I told her to order two new GOODYEAR

tires in the 235/80 R 22.5 XRV size. The original tires were MICHELIN

but I thought they cracked prematurely, so I was going to gradually replace all of them with Goodyear brand. Later that evening, I e-mailed my cousin in California's Bay area, telling him my plans. He mentioned that his Michelin tires had also cracked prematurely, he called Michelin and they offered him a new set at 1/2 price. He was happy with that, and now has new Michelin tires on his camping trailer for their trip to beautiful Yellowstone National Park. His latest e-mail said they are seeing LOT's of animals this trip :>)

The next day I called Cindy at Purcell and told her what Michelin had done for my cousin. Cindy gave me the phone number of the Michelin Rep servicing this area. I then called 'Josh', repeating my cousin's story. At that time he gave me the Michelin customer service number to call. After speaking with the national Rep and filing a notice of premature failure, I was told to call Purcell Tire again. Cindy then called Michelin to confirm their intentions. They wanted more information.

Well dressed, Amazing Cindy then came to my home during her lunch break, crawled around on the ground beneath the motor home, measuring tread depth and writing numbers on her note pad. All of this while dressed in attractive, office suitable clothing and raised heels. While drawing me a map to Purcell Tire in Albuquerque, Cindy said it would take another phone call to Michelin before we would know what they would do. A day later, she informed me it was a 'GO' for my complete set of new tires at 1/2 price. This meant that instead of over 3 K dollars US for 6 tires, We would pay around 1.6 K dollars US, for a complete new set of six.

Cindy had the new tires in stock at Purcell Tire. I drove the HR down to Purcell Tire on Bogan NE in ABQ NM. Within an hour and a half, all six were installed and balanced. Now our next trip will be free of concern for tire failure. Pretty nice of Michelin to do that for us, to say nothing of Cindy's help. I guess they will have us as customers for a while longer, seeing as the Jeep has Michelin tires also.

One other good developement occured when I turned in the claim to AAA

auto insurance for the cargo door replacement. I had damaged it myself due to not being watchful as I was pulling it out of our gate while preparing for our previous trip to Colorado. That bill, that I had already paid for, was settled satisfactorily and quickly by AAA. We received our check quickly and that helped pay for the new tire set.


Several years ago we had iron security bars installed on the front of our home. They did their job very well. My wife figured that maybe we should complete the job after an intuition of 'need' came into her thoughts. I learned long ago to heed her intuitions. We called the same company Artistry of Iron inc

and found them to be still in business. The woman stopped by and measured the windows and back door. the cost of iron has risen dramatically since the last work done, but the price was very acceptable considering the excellant quality of the workmanship.

We agreed on the installation date and they finished the job just as they said they would. They even keyed the locks on the new security door to match, and also fixed one old lock that was always sticky. The new security door is of the type that also incorporates a set of interchangable glass panels and screens. It now does double duty as a weatherproof, edge sealed storm door. A very nice touch recommended by Artistry In Iron. I did change the round ball knob, to a Gateway brushed stainless, lever set from Lowes. Now it's easier to carry out the trash and just bump down on the lever.

Their work is very good and the artistry is as it should be. Most things really work in the USA, no matter what people say. This corporation is now down to the owners doing all of the work. Due to some laws that are beginning to affect small businesses, they let go the other employees and trucks. With the owners now doing all of the work themselves, they earn the same money for themselves at years end, with far less hassles and even time for vacation. That is an early sign of laws that are starting to become oppressive to business. Not good..

With the complete security system, we feel better leaving home now, even though our family, video monitored alarm system and great neighbors are in 'hyper-watchful' mode when we leave for trips. Too bad we pay taxes for the public defenders to quickly release the 'Bad Guys', so they can get back to their trade. Which, sorry to say, is preying on others. Signs of the times I guess. I have read the quote, "An armed society is a polite society". Makes sense to me. Hope we all keep heading back in that direction, it has worked well in the past.


I truely hope that CHANGE

the new political buzzword, does not mean that things will no longer work as well as they do, because of 'un-called for' laws and financial pressure being put on corporations in the name of 'Fairness' and 'Equality' for all. Those words are of great concern to a freedom lovin' Capitalistic person like myself. I hope readers of this blog see my point. Fairness and Equality of Zimbabwe

under 'young' Robert Mugabe

made a disaster out of prosperous Rhodesia

while the rest of the world cheered it on. Sound familiar? "People that forget history are doomed to repeat it". Our well known saviour "One Nation Under GOD" is still standing.