Ouch!!!

[WesWesthaver]

Today while camping at the St. Augustine Beach KOA in Florida I witnessed a mishap between a large 5th wheel and a large Class A. The two RV's were parked side by side in the campgrounds entrance lanes. Unfortunately as the 5th wheel driver in the left lane pulled forward he began to turn right without thinking about how his rig would take a much tighter track than his truck and *BLAMMO* he caught the Class A's drivers side mirror, twisted it around and pushed it right through the windshield. This was one of those very large curved windshields. That's gonna cost someone a bundle to replace.

This left a nice long scrape down the side of the 5th Wheel too.

The Class A's owner came out of the KOA office after registering only to find his RV badly damaged.

I felt badly for both owners. Please folks, pay attention to the wheels on your 5'er. They're always going to track to the inside of your turns.

Remember with a 5th wheel you've gotta "Steer the Rear!"

[WesWesthaver]

Today while camping at the St. Augustine Beach KOA in Florida I witnessed a mishap between a large 5th wheel and a large Class A. The two RV's were parked side by side in the campgrounds entrance lanes. Unfortunately as the 5th wheel driver in the left lane pulled forward he began to turn right without thinking about how his rig would take a much tighter track than his truck and *BLAMMO* he caught the Class A's drivers side mirror, twisted it around and pushed it right through the windshield. This was one of those very large curved windshields. That's gonna cost someone a bundle to replace.

This left a nice long scrape down the side of the 5th Wheel too.

The Class A's owner came out of the KOA office after registering only to find his RV badly damaged.

I felt badly for both owners. Please folks, pay attention to the wheels on your 5'er. They're always going to track to the inside of your turns.

Remember with a 5th wheel you've gotta "Steer the Rear!"

[Ivory Snatcher]

We just returned from our son's new apartment near Petersburg, VA. About 20 miles from exiting the highway Friday evening, 3 lanes of traffic were brought to a standstill. After about 25 min. of creeping about 2 miles, we saw the cause. A TT flipped on to its side but was still attached to the p/u truck. The TT looked to be around 30' long. Ambulances, fire trucks and many police were there to help. Hopefully no one was injured severely. We don't know why this happened, but Friday afternoon there was a lot of traffic everywhere.

Best of luck and hope everyone had a good Holiday weekend.

[C.CARNEY]

I really believe that since 9-11, more and more people have turned to RV'ing as a way to vacation instead of traveling overseas for the obvious reason. All of you that have done this for sometime have had to notice the increase in RV's on the road and how it's harded to get reservations at campgrounds we used to just drive to.

So now we have more units on the road, many that are first time RV'ers. Naturally that means that we have alot of inexperienced drivers on the road as well. We were all first timers at one point, and with time we all got better at handling and controling our rigs. These people will also with time. But that doesn't mean we all need to be more careful on the road. And we need to be smart about what we drive, is the truck big enough for the trailer, am I putting to much weight in my toyhauler.

Every time we go to a campground we see at least 6 rigs that should not be. Too much trailer for the truck. And heaven knows that we won't get a salesman who will tell these new owners that "I can't sell you that trailer because you don't have a big enough truck". If it's a 3/4 ton truck with a diesel, it can tow the world to most salesmen.

So that leaves us in a quandry as to what to do. I try to educate new owners if I feel they will listen. But there are way to many that think that since they have been driving for 10+ years that they have a handle on it, so I politely ask which direction they are going and I do my best to avoid them on the road.

As I said, we were beginners at one point and the oldtimers looked down their noses at us. Now we can do the same or try to help the new guys with forums like IRV2 and a few others to educate the new RV'ers to make their RV experience a wonderful and positive time.

And as they say "accidents happen, even to the best of us"

Safe travels everyone,

Clark

[WicAndThing]

A note of dealers and their "inability" to be honest about what a vehicle can tow. I recently visited Bankston Motorhomes in Huntsville, AL. The first question asked by the salesman was "What type of tow vehicle do you have?". I was impressed when he led me to the TTs that my TV could handle and they WERE in my TV's capabilities. After some more questioning by me, the salesman made it a point to let me know that they wouldn't let me leave the lot without a properly set up TV/TT combo.

I was happy to know that at least 1 salesman could be somewhat honest...