Community Forums

LarrytheBear · 12-21-2014, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFChap

I was headed North on a two lane state highway at apx 65mph, meeting a car, and saw an armadillo in the middle of my lane. I centered the MH over him thinking/hoping he would hunker down and not hit anything. There was a lot of banging along the bottom of the MH as we went over him while I wondered what kind of damage he would inflict on the low Honda toad when he got there. Then in the mirror I saw him exit the driver side rear just before he got to the toad and go bouncing down the highway like an armored basketball until he went into the ditch. Guess that heavy full width mud flap pushed him to the side. I never did find any damage on the bottom of the MH, but he made a heck of a racket bouncing off the bottom several times!

I have heard, don't know for a fact, that armadillos (or is it armadilli?) jump straight up when scared (such as when they are run over by a 30000lb MH)

UFO Pilot · 12-21-2014, 06:04 PM

Driving on HWY 58 East out of Bakersfield, something hit the front of the MH and the windshield. The sound it made was huge and it scared both of us. I thought it was a BIG bird and then realized it was eggs. Drove the 5 miles or so to the RV Park we had booked for the night. I don't know how many eggs hit us but it took a lot of soap and elbow grease to get it all off.

I drove the Toad back hoping to find the vandals but the were already gone.

AggieDad · 12-21-2014, 08:11 PM

We took out a lamb out near Monument Valley. There was no harm to the RV and there was no house around to go to and tell about the incident. Someone (man or beast) had lamb for dinner.

Gerryl · 12-22-2014, 10:30 AM

Reminds me of something I saw a few years ago. A guy hit a deer on the autobahn at 140 MPH. Stopped and couldn't find the deer. Then he opened his hood.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video...&hsimp=yhs-001

jtermini30 · 12-22-2014, 10:34 AM

Oh my!

2009 Fleetwood Expedition 38F
2013 Scion XB toad

Sent from my iPhone using iRV2 - RV Forum

dvmweb · 12-22-2014, 01:49 PM

Great stories!

We were heading South on I75 in Northern Michigan in fairly heavy traffic with our F53 Class A gasser mh. It was pretty windy that day. From the right, the west, way up ahead there appeared to be what looked like a large white tarp blowing across a field. I figured it would catch on the barrier fence. But no, it blew underneath our mh and got wrapped around the driveshaft and bogged the vehicle right down as I pulled off onto the shoulder. I crawled underneath and worked on it for about 30 minutes before I got it cut out and off. It was visquene, maybe 50 to 60 feet of it. Some had melted to the exhaust so we smelled burning plastic for a while after that. No real damage, just slowed us down.

2013 FleetWood Expedition 38B

wnytaxman · 12-22-2014, 03:06 PM

We were traveling south on I-75 from Mackinac with our Class A. Another family we were traveling with was right behind us in their Class C. Very little traffic on the road when I was coming down a small hill I saw what I thought were bits of a truck tire beside the road, some on the right and a bigger piece on the left. When I got up close I realized that it was a momma skunk on the left and her babies on the right. I missed the whole herd of skunks and then watched in my mirrors as our friends also missed them all. How we didn't get sprayed I'll never know, but that would have been a royal mess to clean up.

Hooligan · 12-22-2014, 03:44 PM

Southbound on I69 in MI. There was a large Heron alongside the 18 wheeler in front of me. It was between the truck and the trees and seriously looking for an escape route. The truck outran it and the Heron made an abrupt left turn into my windshield.

I really thought it was coming thru,- it bounced off, but it did not fare well. I did have to repair a small crack in the fiberglass cap at the edge of the windshield.
Could have been serious, DW was asleep in the back, MH was on cruise control, not the time to have the driver eat a big bird.....

GA Navigator · 12-22-2014, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed-Helen pns

We were traveling along I-10 in Louisiana in the Atchafalaya basin. A pick up truck pulling a john boat doing at least 70 passed us. The next thing I saw was something skidding across the road. There was no where to go. There was the horrible sound under the RV. Luckily we were at an exit so we pulled off. I looked underneath and the was a boat seat jammed under the cross member. It put a small gash in the bumper but nothing else. It was wedged between the tire and the oil pan. I pulled it out and there were no leaks. Cautiously drove it and there were no problems.

I thought you were going to say you ran over a jon boat.

1994 Holiday Rambler Navigator
Cummins 8.3
Allison MD3060

PanJH · 12-24-2014, 06:31 AM

We ran over a large pillow on I-75 near Naples FL ... I had nowhere to moveto due to traffic, so I hit it... poof ! Feathers all over, but it also broke off a couple exhaust hangers. Who would have thought a pillow would do that, but at 65-70 mph, I guess it has some force.

Going through Atlanta, I hit a piece of metal ( maybe a bed rail) in the road.... pulled over at the next exit to check the toad, the MH brakes didn't act right.... it severed a brake line going to one of the rear wheels. The toad was OK.

This summer, going thru SC, on the way to Maine in the new MH, a truck threw a tire , I had nowhere to go and hit it. I pulled over the soonest I could, I expected the front fiberglass to be smashed. Got out and it looked all OK. Started back out and then I got thinking... I didn't look at the genset exhaust. At the next rest area, I pulled in and sure enough, the genset exhaust was gone. Ripped clean off.

Dalez · 12-24-2014, 08:28 PM

Leaving South of the border in SC we got on 95 heading south and no sooner got up to speed and there's a plastic pickup truck bed liner in the road right in front of us. I was able to move over some but still clipped it pretty well. Stopped when I could and fortunately no damage.

Dale

Ray,IN · 12-24-2014, 11:05 PM

Driving North through San Antonio on the interstate, in center lane. A mini-pickup entered the highway with a bookcase in the bed. He sped-up quickly to merge, just when he got a few car lengths ahead of me the bookcase came flying out. It slid across all 3 lanes, bounced off the gardrail, and came spinning back towards the outside berm. We all swerved as much as possible, but it clipped my dually fender and rear wheel hubcap. Can you spell LUCKY! When I got back home I had a body shop plastic-weld the fender + repaint. Hubcap still has the battle-scars.
You know, that guy never even slowed down, perhaps even sped-up to get away before his license # was copied down. I still wonder if anyone crashed somewhere behind us; all 3 lanes were full and at speed limit when we front runners went from 65 to 30 in perhaps 100'.

flangley · 12-25-2014, 03:56 PM

I had just bought my truck and one of the stabilizer feet that are on a tractor that sets on the ground was laying in the highway and I had no where to go but straddle it and I just knew I was going to take out the oil pan. It ended up splitting my exhaust halfway through. I thought it ripped off my exhaust. I just happened to see a stainless steel pipe repair clamp at the job I was working at and it worked so good it was on the truck when I sold it 10 years later.

V-Man · 12-29-2014, 07:30 PM

I wasn't in a MH or towing at the time, I was driving a truck with a 40' box full of furniture from Florida to Oklahoma for a friend of my Dad. I got caught in an evacuation of New Orleans (should've taken the Northern route, but thought I could beat it).

Just North of New Orleans, traffic had just got up to about 50mph with cars everywhere. A small car in the left lane (I was in the right lane) had a large recliner tied to the top of the car with twine, not rope, maybe just string!! They were about one or two car lengths in front of me when the twine let go. The recliner hit the road and disintegrated

about even with my front door. I heard some pieces hit the side of the truck, but when I could inspect it later, no damage. There was a car about 20 feet back from where the recliner exploded. I don't know what happened to them, but it couldn't have been pretty.

As a side note, I saw some of the stupidest driving stunts and worst decision making while driving that highway! I will never again go anywhere near New Orleans during hurricane season!