![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/centennial-valley-5420b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"centennial-valley-5420b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI’m pumped. And a little bit nervous.<\/p>\n
I used to go wilderness camping regularly (I seldom stay in campgrounds – boondocking is my preference), often to the general area of southwest Montana’s Centennial Valley where Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is located. But I believe it’s been two years since I’ve been there because back surgeries, long recoveries, personal circumstances and life in general got in the way.<\/p>\n
But that’s about to change.<\/p>\n
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Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge with the Centennial Mountains in the background.<\/em><\/p>\n Later this morning I’m leaving for the Centennial, with my camping trailer in tow of course. My itinerary is flexible and so is the amount of time I’ll be gone but my expectation is that it’ll be 3-5 days, depending on weather and quite a few other variables.<\/p>\n I hope to post occasionally from the road but I’ll be using a hotspot to access the internet and some of the places I intend to camp don’t have a cell signal. So that’s one wild card but there’s another. I’ll be using a new laptop that I haven’t yet mastered. It’s showing quirks where I didn’t know quirks could exist, so we’ll see how that goes.<\/p>\n If I can post from the road, they’ll be short posts and possibly they’ll be travelogue as much as bird and wildlife oriented.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For my readers who are RV campers and safety oriented, I offer the following.<\/p>\n On a camping trip to the same Centennial Valley area back in 2011, the rough, rocky roads while hauling my heavy camping trailer caused me to have four flat tires!<\/em> – two on my pickup and two on my camping trailer. I had a 5th flat tire on that same trip but that was 380 miles north of the Centennial on our northwest Montana family farm. Both my pickup and trailer were relatively new and still had stock tires on them, so I paid a heavy price for using low quality tires on rough roads.<\/p>\n It’s up to a 50 mile drive, mostly on those same rocky dirt and gravel roads, to get to the nearest tire shop in Lima, MT so for much of that trip I was dealing with the considerable angst of flat tires and their aftermath. And that was when my bad back was still in pretty good shape. Having to change that many flat tires now would be an unmitigated disaster.<\/p>\n I have good tires on my pickup but I’ve learned that the tires that came on my new camping trailer are known as “Chinese Exploders”, apparently for good reason.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My camping trailer being fitted with new “shoes” at Discount Tire<\/em><\/p>\n So last week I bought new E rated (10 ply) Goodyear Endurance tires for my trailer. They weren’t cheap and trade-in value, even for nearly new used tires, is next to nothing.<\/p>\n But\u00a0peace of mind is worth a lot.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: <\/em><\/p>\n Getting this trip launched has been a nightmare. There have been multiple delays caused by unexpected changes in the weather forecast for that area of Montana, another delay when I decided to get new tires for the trailer and then two days ago the worst happened.<\/em><\/p>\n After 24 years of reliable use, the AC unit in my house died (corroded compressor). It was a miracle but within 30 hours of the unfortunate demise of my old AC unit I had a new one installed and working (as of 5 PM last evening). <\/em><\/p>\n My bank account took a huge hit but it had to be done. Thanks to Whipple Service Champions for a rush job well done, and for giving me an upgraded (more efficient) AC unit for the same price as the one I intended to get, when that one was unexpectedly out of stock (a $1500 savings).<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m pumped. And a little bit nervous. (2 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/getting-new-tires-for-trailer.jpg\" "\\"getting-new-tires-for-trailer\\"")
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