Forum Discussion

magnusfide's avatar
magnusfide
Explorer II
Nov 21, 2018

What was the biggest flub on a trip?

We always set our items we're loading next to the RV door. On a Thanksgiving trip some years ago, for some inexplicable reason the cooler with the turkey and other refrigerator foods was set on the front stoop. About 150 miles down the road our neighbor called and said, "Did you forget something?"

He got a free turkey and food and we had to rustle Thanksgiving dinner from whatever we could find at a convenience store because all the grocery stores were closed. We did concoct a sausage and egg casserole that year that's become a regular menu item.

There's always a silver lining.
  • Our very first camping trip with our new trailer. I had printed and laminated a check list, had it laying on the tailgate of the truck while we were hooking up to head home. About that time a neighbor came over asking about the trailer and we got to talking while I still worked since it was very cold out. Started lifting the jack and noticed that the jack really sounded like it was struggling....about that time I remembered #1 on my checklist - "Raise the stabilizer jacks".....

    I immediately lowered the tongue jack and by some miracle the rear stabilizers and frame were not damaged.

    I no longer use a checklist for hook-up stuff, but I do still use one for packing. I found a free phone app called "Checkli" that works very good.
  • Well is wasn't rv related in it self, however last trip with the trailer was walking thru a empty site, full concrete pad, had been raining during week, did not see the dirt that washed onto pad, slipped and fell , broke my kneecap.
    Wife had to drive trailer back home, spent 2 months off work, surgery with pins in my knee now. Never forget that trip!!
  • TurboJimmy's signature photo reminds me of our visit to Lake Greenwood SP in SC. It was at the end of our first long motorhome trip. The roads are extremely tight, it was not designed for motorhomes when it as originally laid out. I kept telling DH he was too far to the right and yep, he wedged the motorhome up against a sapling. Couldn't go forward or backwards. Per the park ranger who assisted us in getting loose they are not allowed to cut down trees even though that one was in a bad location. I then asked him if they ever heard of salt as a solution to unwanted trees? He had to borrow a large size ratchet thing to pull the sapling off the motorhome. New slide cover, new awning.

    AT Lake Blackshear/Georgia Veterans SP DH tripped on the fire pit. No broken bones but a trip to the ER, stitches, etc. I got to drive all the way home.
  • 3 days before our 5000 mile annual trip, i had the bedroom windows open all day, and had just closed one of them when i heard a thud and the sound of shattering glass... A big bluebird had just run straight into the window that I just closed 6 seconds earlier! Not sure if it was my flub, or the birds....
  • On a trip on the Blue Ridge Pky. One evening while camping at Pisgah campground we were enjoying a campfire,it was warm summer evening so we were up late. I had failed to close the camper door for several hours. While we busy telling ghost stories and so on the camper was filling up with mice. It was pandemonium to say least, we were up most of the night trying to catch and evict them. Finally got rid of the last one about a week later.
  • DW and I watched as…. A Young couple, new campers…squeezed their Class C between our's and their power pole. Two days later, early morning, after they had been up till after midnight talking (loud), they come running up from the CG bathhouse. Wife jumps in the side house door, the guy jumps in the "drivers" door. He starts the engine, pauses for about 10-15 secs, then puts it in "D" and smartly moves out…

    ….destroying the slide out, ripping the power cable off the pole, tore the water line out of the box, shooting a geyser a mile high!!!

    Live and learn, but try not to do it the hard way!
  • Driving through Palm Springs CA in the summer with loaded truck and heavy trailer. 110 degrees and who knows how hot pavement was…
    Checked truck air pressure with alternate air gauge bc could not find my good one. 125 psi (I run 75-80 normally, tires were near end of their lifespan too). "this thing is broken", I kept driving, Had a huge blow-out in AZ. Tore the fender up bad, ripped the fender well liner out.
    I guess the gauge was working after all…

    Same trip, set coffee pot down on the wide stove grates and it toppled between said wire grates and spilled into my perfect omelet in the frying pan. Tossed omelet to the critters, started over. Made new coffee and omelet. This a much less stressful mistake than the tire.

    edit:
    I was towing a very small trailer and could not see or feel it behind the TC. The axle broke and one wheel went crooked. A passer-by pointed to trailer and I could see one corner now. I had drug trailer on the bare metal 11 miles. It had worn down to the hub and was un-towable n un-fixable. I was in middle of nowhere. I decided cheaper to just abandon the trailer in the corn field rather than rent a trailer (one way rental) and get it home. No fence between interstate and side road so I drove over grass to side road. Took off license plate, s/n, anything salvageable like the hydro lifts, and put all contents into TC. I hated to leave it back as it was light and home made and perfect for what I needed it for. Probably multiple rules broken that day… I do not confirm this is a true story either or that it was me in it.
    Last time I drove by that place trailer was gone.
  • I keep remembering the time that we missed a cucumber in the fridge door compartment during the final cleanout of the fall.

    Cucumbers degrade into interesting parts in a closed fridge over the late fall/winter/early spring...

    Yuck.

    Or backing the trailer up to the fence, but forgot that the bike rack was still on the trailer adding about 3 feet to the length. Forunately, just broke a couple of cedar pickets & bent the bike rack a bit. Shoulda had a spotter on that one I guess.

    Good times!

    CC
  • Pulled the 5ver out of the shed for a trip and forgot to fold handle back at the 5ver door. Handle caught on the side of the building and bent it backwards.

    Pulled into a campground at 10:00 at night and realized I was at wrong camp site. Got back in truck and pulled into camp site next to me and accidentally hooked the picnic table with the side of the 5ver that i didn't see due to the darkness. Managed to put a crease all the way down the side in the lower aluminum skirt.

    Backed the 5ver into the shed after returning from a trip and came within a 1/4 inch of pushing the back of the 5ver through the back wall. Near disaster in that one. I usually put a board on the floor in the correct location to stop me when i'm backed in far enough, forgot to put the board down and backed up too far.