It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Between all the fun stuff that @mrsbozz and I have been doing, we also have a lot of prep work to get our travel trailer ready for the summer camping season. On top of that we have been helping her parents move and it's amazing how much stuff people can acquire over a 45 year period.
Let's get back to the trailer though. During the Winter we store our trailer at my parents house. They have a nice little spot on the side of their garage where their trailer used to sit when they weren't using it. Now that they no longer have one, we have taken over the parking spot. The ground tends to get a little mushy over there with the Spring rain though, so I usually have to wait a little bit before I can get it home.
Once I get the trailer home, the first order of business is pulling the wheels apart to clean the bearings, inspect them for damage, and then re-grease them and put it all back together. I've written posts about it in the past if you are interested in going back and looking for them.
Usually things go pretty smoothly and I have the process down to the point where I can do a wheel in about twenty to thirty minutes. On a two axle trailer that means it takes me about two hours to get the job done. This year, as I was pulling apart the second to the last wheel, I noticed this little mark on the bearing you see in the photos. At first I thought it was just some extra grease that I didn't get cleaned off with the diesel fuel.
I rubbed it a few more times and used my old toothbrush to scrub away at it, but the mark wasn't coming off.
You might think it doesn't look like much, but as I was looking at it I remembered that I have a couple spare bearings that I keep in my truck just in case, so out of an abundance of caution, I decided to replace it. With the new bearing in place, I just had to do the last wheel and I was finished up. Bearings aren't that expensive, so as long as you don't have to replace the race that it sets into, it's not too big of a deal to swap them out.
However, things like this are the main reason that I do this each year. A lot of newer trailers have an EZ Lube feature where you just pull a cap off and you squirt some grease into the hub and you go about your merry way. If you aren't pulling them apart and inspecting them, things like this can get missed and cause you bigger headaches down the road (pun intended).
For a job well done, I decided to treat myself, so right before I started the last wheel I fired up the Weber Kettle and threw some wings on.
They turned out fantastic, probably one of my best cooks yet with wings. The skin was nice and crispy without being deep fried and the flavor was totally on point. I have been buying some rubs from Dizzy Pig seasonings lately and this one in particular was called Tsunami Spin. It's an Asian inspired rub that has a nice sweet and savory flavor with just a bit of heat.
When you take away the cost of the rub, the wings were less than $3 per pound, so when you figure I bought about 2.5 pounds of wings the total cost for this cook was about $10. I should also point out, those 2.5 pounds of wings were enough for me to get three meals out of it. Yes, I could have eaten them all in one night, but I tried to exert a bit of self control. It was hard given how amazing they were.
If @mrsbozz ate chicken on the bone, I'd be cooking a batch of these once a week for us.
Along with my wings, I cracked open this bottle of bourbon that I picked up when we were over in Grand Rapids the weekend before. I've seen ads for Wilderness Trail in the past, but I have never tried it before now. It was deliciously smokey and for the $50 to $60 USD price point it is a really good bourbon. I'd totally buy a bottle of this again. If I were the sort of person who kept a constant stock of specific brands, this would probably be one of them.
If you ever get the chance to try it out, I highly recommend it. If I ever make it back down to Kentucky, I am going to make a point of visiting their facility.
Believe it or not, that's only a fraction of the stuff we have been doing lately. Check back for more excitement and fun with my wife and I!
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Nice catch on the bearing. It may be a small problem now but those small things can become big problems quickly. Best to swap it out I agree!
Chicken looks awesome, I'll have to try that rub out sometime. I really need to find a bottle of that bourbon though. I love smoky flavor in bourbon and scotch. The hunt is on!
The rubs are from Virginia. It's crazy though how many different brands are out there.
It is nice to be the part of your summer camping preparations through your posts. Summer camping would be an exciting time for not only you but for your audience too. Since I am the first timer to your summer camping, so I don't know if you'd be sharing the posts during it or...
What would be the duration of the camping and when will it start?
We take trips all through the summer. Our first one is coming up this weekend.
It’s always smart to do the routine maintenance! It’s good that you found that defect before it became more of an issue. That kind of work is strangely satisfying. The wings look delicious! I’ve yet to do those in the ninja woodfire but need to try wings soon!
You gotta get it screaming hot. Otherwise the skin is just rubbery. I get my kettle up to 600 degrees or so.
Preventative maintenance is my favorite kind of maintenance. We are running so lean at work they are all reactive and it breaks my heart to see the equipment I designed break because no one is greasing bearings. Also that chicken look great! I can’t wait to break out the Weber this weekend.
My dad always did it when they had their trailer, so I grew up helping him as a kid. Back then they didn't have the easily accessible zerg connections, so we just always did it this way. It's messier, but hopefully it makes a difference. That sucks about your work. I'm probably a bit reactive versus proactive at my job too though.
They have effectively laid off or run off all the maintenance guys so it’s pretty said. Wild to think management can’t figure out why they don’t got numbers!
That is sad. It's only going to get worse I think.
Better safe than sorry! I'm glad you caught it.
Those wings look delicious! I'll have to keep my eye out for that bourbon!
!BBH
!PIZZA
!ALIVE
I'm glad too! The wings were amazing. I'm already dreaming about my next batch. They are so easy to make too with the right equipment.
Sometimes you can save a lot by stitching in time,however the chicken prices sound like nothing I know in East Africa.My appetite goes with food affordability.The more the price the less the appetite .
It's one of the cheapest options available to us right now. I'm sure it's still more expensive than it was five years ago.
Looks like they sell this bottle for $73 at our local QFC supermarket, but right now it is on sale for $45, maybe I should pick one up...
It's a bit smokier than some other bourbons I have had, so if that isn't your think, you might not like it. At 100 proof it doesn't have the burn that some of the barrel proofs do. For the sale price it seems like a good deal to me.
I like the smokey bourbon they make at our Vons restaurant, but they make it smoky right next to your table, so not sure it is the same thing. Our local Woodinville Whiskey Bourbon runs 118 Proof and I love it, so 100 Proof should be OK.
Yes, if you can handle 118 proof 100 should be just fine for you. I've never had Woodinville before. I've seen it though.
Damn, the chicken wing looks so good!!!!
Thank you!
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