Community Forums

r___r · 05-31-2014, 04:18 AM

I don't know if this has been put out there before, but, I thought this might be educational or entertaining.

What has happened to you during your trip that was a 'Close-Call'; or, 'Boo-Boo'(something that may, or, may not have been funny at the time, but now you can laugh about).

I have tent camped for many years and recently became a 5er owner, so everything about everything in the 5er is new-to-me.

'Close-Call' : If no sewer hook-up at campsite, make sure you have a Portable Waste Tank. I didn't. Luckily I had a 165 quart ice chest, as it was just enough room. And, good thing it was just gray water because the nearest camping store was 40 miles away; there was about an hour worth of sunlight left; and, I didn't want to pull-up camp. The next day, I made the trip to the camping store. Good thing because I used the Portable Waste Tank the day after for the gray water tank, again.

'Boo-Boo' : DW was using microwave while AC was running. It had just gotten dark outside. Circuit breaker/fuse panel in the overhead cupboard didn't fix the problem. After scouring the whole trailer, I discovered there was a Circuit breaker panel (under the sink). She won't be running both of those at the same time, any more.

Leave your 'Close-Call' or 'Boo-Boo' incidents if you'd like, as I think that it would help or remind, newbies mostly, but maybe veterans too, of things to be prepared for so not to have a 'Close-Call' or 'Boo-Boo'.

Kind regards,

Rich

Horizonchase · 05-31-2014, 04:38 AM

This is a good topic to discuss and I think it will benifit those of us who will learn from other peoples mistakes.
My "almost Boo Boo" was I was blindly following my GPS to a CG and it was giving me directions that I didn't feel to comfortable with so I made a call to the CG to verify directions there. Long story short, she told me not to follow the GPS directions as they will lead me down a dirt road which eventually becomes impossible to turn around, or continue on. This happened at night, and I was towing my dingy! Glad I made that call before blindly venturing down that road. I think she referred to it as a "class 2" road or something like that. Whatever, it was bad!!

bdickson · 05-31-2014, 04:40 AM

I regard GPS directions like President Reagan regarded the Soviets: "Trust, but verify".

Moonrover · 05-31-2014, 06:33 AM

No see um ground guide. Me looks in both mirrors ... back up monitor ... no ground guide! Where oh where is trusty ground guide wife? Off chatting with next door camper! Hmmm ... shut off engine ... had remedial instructional chat with ground guide. Fixed own dinner that night.

slickest1 · 05-31-2014, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonrover

No see um ground guide. Me looks in both mirrors ... back up monitor ... no ground guide! Where oh where is trusty ground guide wife? Off chatting with next door camper! Hmmm ... shut off engine ... had remedial instructional chat with ground guide. Fixed own dinner that night.

Now that was funny! I do relate!

r___r · 05-31-2014, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonrover

No see um ground guide. Me looks in both mirrors ... back up monitor ... no ground guide! Where oh where is trusty ground guide wife? Off chatting with next door camper! Hmmm ... shut off engine ... had remedial instructional chat with ground guide. Fixed own dinner that night.

That was a great post.

myshaggydog · 05-31-2014, 10:21 PM

LOL Moonrover. Too funny.

Suspinz · 06-01-2014, 10:46 AM

I never use "LOL", but I did for this. 2, 2, 2 funny!

Cheers!

Suspinz · 06-01-2014, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdickson

I regard GPS directions like President Reagan regarded the Soviets: "Trust, but verify".

Absolutely, IMO! However, I'm only the distaff side. My trusty driver doesn't remember from one mistake to the next, occasionally causing a certain amount of stress in the cab.

He (who shall not be mentioned by name) places more faith in the newest, brightest, techiest gadget than in paper maps or a local's advice. Verify, I say, verify!

Cheers!

scenic route · 06-01-2014, 02:19 PM

Last close call happened about two weeks ago when we pulled into Holly River SP in WV. Backing into our site was tight and I was paying too much attention to a rather large rock on the left and missed seeing a sturdy looking tree on the right...literally and barely. Luckily, I saw it out of the corner of my eye and slammed on the binders. I didn't hear any 'crunch' but it was so close I jumped out to see what I needed to do to avoid any damage. The tree was less than two inches from the side of the MH and I couldn't get my finger between the tree and the backside of the outside mirror. Pucker factor was a solid 10!

Ray,IN · 06-02-2014, 09:17 AM

We used to have a 5th wheel. One time we attended an irv2.com rally in Branson, Mo. We arrived after dark, the office showed us our site and left. My wife was ground guide and does a good job. We got our 5er parked, and while I was unhooking I happened to look up, what did I see but a large tree limb about 12-14"dia. overhanging the site, and about 4" from the corner of the roof. It was a great shady spot___.

mo5er · 06-04-2014, 01:07 PM

No close call here, it was a genuine BOO BOO. After driving all day in the rain from North Carolina to West Virginia, I was pooped out and ready to stop. DW found a "rv park" advertised, so we got off the interstate and followed the signs. 5 miles down a bitty one and a half lane country road we finally arrived. The "rv park" had 2 permanent trailers and us. Nothing against WV folks, but all I could think about was the movie "Dueling Banjos"
After raining all day the grass sites were pretty soft and muddy, but got the 5er backed into the longest site they had. Side to side wasn't even close to level, so I decided to unhitch and pull forward off the hitch. Then hit the (new to me) auto-level.

Moral to the story....Pull the truck completely away from the the trailer before using auto-level. Yep, set her down right on the bed rails of the new pick-up. DW starts yelling and I hit the off button, then got it raised up off the bed rails. No damage to the rails of the truck or the 5er, just my ego. Got inside the trailer, locked the deadbolt, cocked the 45, and listened for banjo music. Next morning pulled out of the mud with another rv lesson well learned.

RickO · 06-04-2014, 01:36 PM

I'm not sure ours was really a close call, but it sure got our attention and made us move pretty quickly to break camp.

A couple of years ago, we were on an 8300 mile trip through 22 states and 5 provinces. Seeing the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia was on my bucket list so we planned to spend a week there at a CG my DW had found located on a small "island" in the bay.

The "island" turned out to be not much more than a spit of gravel out in the bay but it was a great location to watch the 60' tides rush in and out. The front of our coach was right at the water line at high tide. My avatar picture shows our coach set up in this site.

Well, one night a predicted storm moved in and pounded us pretty good all night long and was forecast to continue for at least another 24 hrs. When the sun came up, we were horrified to see that, not only was it approaching high tide, but the storm had whipped the bay into a frenzy and waves were crashing right in front of our coach.

We were afraid that if either the tide came in anymore or the winds got any worse, we would be in danger of that little "island" washing away from under us. We broke camp in record time and beat it out of there... although this CG was VERY remote and we had a white knuckle day of driving through the storm just to get back to civilization.

Rick

r___r · 06-07-2014, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizonchase

My "almost Boo Boo" was I was blindly following my GPS to a CG and it was giving me directions that I didn't feel to comfortable with so I made a call to the CG to verify directions there. Long story short, she told me not to follow the GPS directions as they will lead me down a dirt road which eventually becomes impossible to turn around, or continue on. This happened at night, and I was towing my dingy! Glad I made that call before blindly venturing down that road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdickson

I regard GPS directions like President Reagan regarded the Soviets: "Trust, but verify".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suspinz

places more faith in the newest, brightest, techiest gadget than in paper maps or a local's advice. Verify, I say, verify!

These are great info posts.

I don't have a GPS unit, yet. I am thinking, either, one from an RV store (GPS is geared towards RVers), or, one from a Truck Stop store (GPS geared for OTR trucking).

Right now, for use at work the local map books (the top-notch books, IMO, Thomas Bros.) are no longer available (newest editions available are 2008). The replacement books that are given to us don't even compare. I've been using Thomas Bros. since 1986. Much frustration using the replacement books (mainly the print is much smaller, and hard to read in the middle of the night). The fleet is being fitted for GPS units. As some of us are still waiting for our trucks to get fitted, we have learned to use our cellphones (mine is Iphone 4s). They work great as I don't travel out of the county. I don't have any issues of bad info like you folks, but, I can see having issues in traveling cross country (out of big city areas).

Thank you for sharing your experienced input.

Rich