Soooo.... I was headed out to meet the DW at the wonderful
Grayson Highlands State Park last Wednesday. She had ridden up the day before with a friend and our mules to start off a nice 5 day mini-vacation riding the rocky trails.
I stopped at my local PFJ to fuel up and top off the LP, and drove off leaving my gas cap behind.
That was an omen for the rest of the day.
When I arrived, the DW and her friends were out riding the mules, so I was left to get parked and set up alone. No big deal, have done it 1000 times. These sites were in the Horse camping area and were a little tight for the class A, but not impossible.
I got backed into our spot and decided I would not be able to level without lifting all the rear wheels off the ground. So, since the camp host told me I could pick any spot that wasn't taken, I walked down the road looking for a more level spot.
I found one, and proceeded to pull out of the original spot carefully avoiding a tree branch to my right that would have raked my AC units off the back, when I heard this sickening CRUNCH sound.
I immediately stopped and got out to see that I had misjudged and rubbed a yellow concrete pole with my left rear corner, busting up the generator bay basement door and popping the rear cap loose. Had I not stopped, I'm sure the rear cap would have been torn off. I jockeyed around and got out and parked in the new spot with no further damage or drama.
As I was setting up, miffed about the pole, I noticed the missing gas cap
. So I plug into the 50A pedistal, and the EMS said one leg was dead.
. I tell the camp host, and he contacts the maintenance guys. Meanwhile, I decide, I'll use my dog bone and plug into the 30A so I can get the fridge off the LP and the AC going and all that.
30A is dead too.
Maintenance guys show up, borrows MY multimeter, and determines bad breakers are causing the problem in the pedistal, and that they will likely not be able to fix it that day. So, since there is no one in the site next door, I decide to pull out the 30A extension cable left in the coach from the previous owner, and plug in over there.
No power.
I grab the multimeter and determine the reason the PO left that extension cable in the coach was because it was bad.
So, I shuffle through my box of dogbones and adapters and discover a 50A to 30A dogbone, and a 30A to 50A dogbone. I figure ONE leg of that 50A plug is hot, if I'm LUCKY, it'll be the right one to light up my 30A adapter.
I plug in the 50A->30A dogbone, and stick my meter leads in and find...... POWER! So I plug my 30->50 dogbone into that and my coach into there, and the EMS is happy!
From this point on, it's just another great week camping. I was able to drive the coach home as-is. The WORST DAY camping is still better than the BEST DAY doing anything else.
Anybody know a good RV body shop on the east coast?
Gas cap, pole, tail-wag, power snafu, camping fun!
there is hope, we know of a very good repair and rv service shop that is hopefully close to you. Complete RV in Denver NC. Just outside charlotte nc. Very honest and enjoyable people own the business. Kevin and Maria Dunn. The have a paint and body repair along with most anything that goes wrong with rigs, all types of rigs. Protected fence easy access. Very reasonably priced. Give Kevin a call, tell him Clay sent you his way.
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