Be Careful Out There!

[BugSlayer]

Just finished our first outing for 2006. Noticed a lot of debris on the roadway and had an encounter with a rather large piece (1 to 2 feet in length) piece of multi-strand steel cable. Short of the story is I saw it too late, ran over it with the right front tire and, when the tire did not flat, thought I got away with it. Only when I stopped to drop off the toad (a few miles from home) did I notice that the entire lower rear engine cover (this is the piece that holds the tag on an '05 Journey) was hanging from one side, cracked and badly damaged. Had I not been towing I may have lost it but it was resting on the Blue Ox gear.

Needless to say, this is no way to end a trip and I had no idea how this had happened but my lovely wife figured out that it was the cable (yes, I am still married, we do not shoot innocents or messengers)!

What I learned from this, other than 40 foot motorhomes towing are not highly manueverable, is look out for stuff in the road! I have a new appreciation (not a good one) for the manner that Winne uses to attach body panels but it was fine till I stepped in! The other thing is that I will have duck tape and large cable ties onboard from now on!

I have already called the insurance company and I doubt this will be pretty!

Be careful out there!

Russ

[BugSlayer]

Just finished our first outing for 2006. Noticed a lot of debris on the roadway and had an encounter with a rather large piece (1 to 2 feet in length) piece of multi-strand steel cable. Short of the story is I saw it too late, ran over it with the right front tire and, when the tire did not flat, thought I got away with it. Only when I stopped to drop off the toad (a few miles from home) did I notice that the entire lower rear engine cover (this is the piece that holds the tag on an '05 Journey) was hanging from one side, cracked and badly damaged. Had I not been towing I may have lost it but it was resting on the Blue Ox gear.

Needless to say, this is no way to end a trip and I had no idea how this had happened but my lovely wife figured out that it was the cable (yes, I am still married, we do not shoot innocents or messengers)!

What I learned from this, other than 40 foot motorhomes towing are not highly manueverable, is look out for stuff in the road! I have a new appreciation (not a good one) for the manner that Winne uses to attach body panels but it was fine till I stepped in! The other thing is that I will have duck tape and large cable ties onboard from now on!

I have already called the insurance company and I doubt this will be pretty!

Be careful out there!

Russ

[W8RLM]

Bugslayer,

I have sympathy with your experience. In 2004, my wife and I were leaving Austin, Texas on I-35. A fiberglas bathtub on a low trailer came off (it wasn't tied down), and we couldn't avoid it. It hit the front of our Brave, and broke the fiberglas front from the windshield down. Damage was over $8,000.00. Fortunately, the driver of the truck towing the trailer stopped, and his insurance company paid. The damage wasn't bad enough to stop ou travels. I had to tie the remains of our front turn signals to the body with tie wraps so that I had front turn signals, but we made it home to Ohio.

It's dangerous out there!!

Good Luck

W8RLM - Bob

[rebelsbeach]

Just did 1300 miles in two days from Virginia to Forest City, I ran over a gator in the road in Indiana, there was no way around it traveling in traffic....No damage, but some anxious moments.

[Trek-Cyclist]

We are still traveling around the country and having a blast. What we see too often are MH following to close to other vehicles in front.
While we were in the right lane a DP passed us like we were standing still, about 70-75mph got right up on the rear of a Tractor and ate a gator right off the rear wheel of the TT never seen it coming! Too close! Need to keep a safe space between you and the vehicle in front.(field of vision) If someone pulls in between you and the vehicle your following back off and re-establish the safe distance again. No nicks or dents!

[BugSlayer]

Need to keep a safe space between you and the vehicle in front.

Ed, Good advice, no doubt and as I run through the 'Shoulda, coulda, woulda ...' scenarios I have no doubt that with no other vehicles on the ramp I may have been able to avoid this problem? It happened in the merge area of a long ramp and I was paying more attention to merging than I should have. No doubt there are several things that I could have been doing to have avoided this incident and your point is spot on the money. Hopefully it is a lesson learned?

Thanks,

Russ

[Ding-a-ling]

Good advice - "Don't follow too closely."

Any one ever hear of the "Three Second Rule?"

When following another vehicle, watch when that vehicle passes come stationary object such as a seam in the road, road sign or bridge abutment and then count - One thousand, two thousand, three thousand. If you pass that object when you reach three thousand you are following at a safe distance.

Try it! It works at any speed. That's part of the old Smith Driver Training course old Ma Bell taught me years ago.