Watch out for your neighbor

[zekegb]

It is only funny because we can also laugh at ourselves - or else lie and never admit to doing such things at least once. When you do it once, you tend to not forget so easily. Yes, I have a checklist and I go over everything in my mind as I do my walk around hook-up the dinghy.

Still - I have ...
- left the steps up - luckily they go in automatically when I shift into gear.
- failed to turn the antenna so it faces forward - luckily the Jack antenna does not go up so it doesn't matter.
- failed to secure the pocket bathroom door or shower door - wait - that was the wife's fault. She checks inside. Now I check outside and inside after her.
- failed to make sure all the drawers were shut tight - see above, drawer is now repaired. Still remember the crashing sound.
- left the gas cap at the service station - we are from Oregon we don't pump our own. Replaced the gas cap at the next auto parts store, same cap as a Chevy pickup.
- left the parking brake on the toad - the wheels went round and round, but the acceleration was a little slow. It was in neutral and all the switches were in the right position. Stopped after a mile, turned the brake off and aired out the car. No damage. Learned I was not the first.

Luckily no cost for such forgetfulness.

Traveling in a motorhome is just one learning experience after another. Our only hope is that we learn and help our fellow travelers from suffering too much. Yes - I have stopped those leaving a park with toad brakes on, antennas up, and numerous other things. Since I am not infallible, I hope fellow RVers do the same for me.

[Old-Biscuit]

Should have seen the horn honking, arms waving, folks running/shouting, kids screaming and one old man just shaking his head when I rolled out one mid-morning.............

TV antenna still cranked up, Flag/flag pole still attached to rear ladder, all three slideouts still extended, water hose/power cord still connected to 5vr and just thrown into open compartment, entry door latched open GF standing in entry looking out thru screen door



I was moving our 5th wheel from one end of CG to another site

[Tom N]

This was one of my first RV accessory purchases. I bought two, one for the crank up off air antenna and one for the roof satellite antenna. I only use one and I clip that to the steering wheel.

[Dr4Film]

In our travels over the years I have seen many people either driving down the highway or leaving the campground with their antennas up or bay doors open, etc.

The ones that I can readily notify I do but in some cases it is impossible to do so I have to leave it to some other conscientious RV'er to hopefully let them know.

The most memorable one was while on our way to do laundry at a laundromat I observed a coach coming in the opposite direction with their satellite dish up pointing high in the sky. I did a U-Turn and followed him into a hardware store parking lot to let him know. He had no clue as he was on a mission to get some repair items for another project. He immediately went in and lowered the satellite dish and mumbled something about he takes care of the outside stuff and his wife is responsible for the inside stuff.

However, it pays to do a quick walk around looking up AND down making sure everything is stowed and locked BEFORE moving one inch.

How many people checked their bay doors to make sure they are fully closed and locked?

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Monacoach]

I do a walk around before leaving to ensure jacks are up antenna down slides in , all hookups detached and stowed away and no loose items left on the ground

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

I've sure glad our MH has a big yellow light near the ignition key to remind be the antenna is up; but I still hang the ignition key from the antenna handle anyway_old habits die hard.

I have a bright green velcro wire tie wrapped around my antenna crank and I transfer it to the steering wheel when the antenna goes up. This has saved me a couple of times when I attempt to drive away and find this green velcro strap wrapped around the steering wheel.

Originally Posted by RV Vagabond

Dum de dum dum

Great cartoon. Thanks for posting it.

Originally Posted by Monacoach

I do a walk around before leaving to ensure jacks are up antenna down slides in , all hookups detached and stowed away and no loose items left on the ground

I too do a walk around but sometimes even that does not help. One day we had to get to an RV parts supplier located in a congested section of a city.

Unable to navigate the tight streets safely in our coach, I unhooked the toad and took it in search of the RV shop. Rush hour traffic had started by the time I got back to the coach where we quickly hooked up the toad and got out of town. An hour later, at or campsite I unhooked the toad to take my DW out to diner and that is when we discovered we had left the toad's emergency brake on. It was a $1400 dollar error that I missed in doing a hasty walk around.

[DonDee]

Yep, circle of safety...It works!

[Cooperhawk]

Originally Posted by frankdamp

Even checklists can be used incorrectly. Many years ago, a 727 was being flown empty of passengers to run a charter flight. As the crew went through the checklist, they got a radio call from the airport tower. After replying, they continued, but missed one item, checking that the heater for the airspeed indicator's pitot tube had been turned on. That's the forward facing tube on the outside of the airplane that provides the signal to the instrument.

They took off and started the climb to their cruise altitude. The crew commented several times on how well the airplane climbed without passengers. It stalled out at altitude and crashed, killing the three crew members. The airspeed indicator was giving a false reading because of the frozen pitot tube.

I too believe in checklists. That was a Northwest flight that crashed in the mountains of upstate New York I believe. That was a very bad day with high winds and turbulence. That was also the day the TWA549 crashed into Paris Mountain because of negligence in reading approach charts, and we also lost a corporate jet in the mountains of Virginia making an approach to a resort.

Also the day I went home and found my ex-wife sitting in my living room.

No checklist for that!!!

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by Cooperhawk

Also the day I went home and found my ex-wife sitting in my living room.

No checklist for that!!!

WOW - that would be a BAD day!

No checklist but changing the locks would have prevented that.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[doc]

two anecdotes > My son and his family were camping at Hunting Island with us a few years ago. Wanted to help me get our rig ready so he put the Element behind the MH and set the hand brake. I never use the thing and did not check it when I left. The Element was very easy to pull and I noticed no resistance at all. Blew out two rears because I did not check.
We were at a truck stop on I-85 fueling when a gasser MH pulled up to the pumps across from us. The man got out and walked to the desk. The antenna was up and I am looking at the lady in the passenger set, pointing and telling her the antenna was up. She is trying very hard to not acknowledge me or make eye contact. Finally, the man returns and I see him coming across the lot and get his attention. When I told him, he immediately understood and was thanking me. I told him about the lady and said I think she made a good decision to ignore me talking to her that sometimes you run into some weird characters in truck stops, but not usually in the middle of the day. We had a laugh about it and he saved an antenna repair.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Stealth01

Being an Old Fart... I find Checklists are wonderful things...

Now if I could just remember where I put the current check list.

I replaced the roof membrane and sheeting on our 5er. We have a shop that gives me about 5' of clearance from the roof of the 5er to the trusses.

While taking all of the roof fixtures off I laid them in the rafters so I did not have to carry them to the ground. I hung the AC unit from the rafters so everything was out of the way.

After successfully replacing the sheeting and membrane I reinstalled the AC, vents and Fantastic fans. I was getting ready to move the 5er from the center to one side. I had the truck hooked up and was doing the final walk around when I noticed the tv antenna still sitting in the rafters.

I shut the truck off and an hour later had the antenna installed. I then had to make a trip into town to buy another tube of Dicor self leveling to seal the antenna base.

[Pepper2]

I usually do two close-up walk arounds followed by a walk out to the road and about 30' down to the left and right of the MH and give it two more panoramic checks.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by Stealth01

Being an Old Fart... I find Checklists are wonderful things...

Ditto...have an 'inside' and 'outside' check list.

[Cooperhawk]

The last item on my check list used to be "Check Wife and dog on board". Apparently that wasn't worded correctly.