I apologize for the brevity of this column because of being behind. In fact, the column is mainly about being behind! Running out of time, money and options seem to be the theme of this fall.

First, as I write this column, I am sitting in a KOA RV site in Jennings, Florida. We just wrapped up a very successful bull sale at the Phillips Ranch—Fenco Brangus Bull sale in Bunnell, and have another one Saturday at Herndon Farms in Lyons, Georgia 

On this trip, I left San Antonio Sunday morning bright and early to try and get as many of the 15+ hours of road time need to get to Bunnell. I don’t know if you guys have realized, but Florida is a lot like Texas in that it takes a long time to get there and then another day just to get where you’re going.

I encountered Sunday morning what many of us who have RV’s fear—a blown tire.  It’s not my first blown tire in an RV, but it is the first in this particular RV. First of all, my RV is what is classified as a Super C RV, which means the front is a Freightliner Truck chassis. Now, it wasn’t a front tire—what they call a “steer” tire. Blowing a front tire can proof to be tricky, depending on the driving conditions, etc.

This tire was an outside dual tire on the passenger side. I’m not saying I ever want to have a blowout, but that is the one out of all tires I would choose to blow is I had the choice. So, I had just passed a minivan on IH 10 when the person passing starts pointing to the rear of my coach. Of course, that is a tell-tale sign to find the nearest and safest place to pull off the highway to see what is happening.

For me, it was the Harwood exit on east bound IH10, about five miles east of the Buccee’s at IH10 and Hwy 83. The access road there was wide, level and little to no traffic at all.

The next step. I called Coach-Net. I have both road-side assistance and a tire replacement policy with them. As most of you know, I don’t usually talk about vendors good or bad in this column, but I had a very good experience with Coach-Net that I wanted to share. On my previous coach, I had a policy with a different vendor. I won’t mention their name but when I used them, I lost about six hours of driving time.

With Coach-net, I called the 800 number, and a lady took all my information down, and made sure she had my exact location and that I was at a safe place to park. She gathered all I info, then told me that a dispatcher would reach out to me shortly. About 30 minutes later, the dispatcher calls and they have someone on the way that would be there in 15 minutes. In exactly 14 minutes, the guy shows up. At 15 minutes, the dispatcher calls to make sure the tire repair guy had arrived.

This is not an exaggeration. The guy had the old tire off and the new one replaced in 30 minutes! I was back on the road in short time. Suffice it to say. I recommend Coach-Net to all my RV friends out there.

These days, it seems we are all just a little behind. And it isn’t just time. It’s money and patience and hay and a mountain of other things. I know these calves are bringing more, and I am grateful for that. But it just seems that with this inflation and economy that everything we buy costs considerably more.

Well, if you were around for the Carter administration, you have seen it before. We will make it though it somehow. Just remember, it can always be worst.