Forum Discussion
122 Replies
- Ramp_DiggerExplorer
PUCampin wrote:
Oh my. I am so sorry, I know that was a scary experience.
I know from reading other threads that people have lost their rigs, lost family, and such my stories are not nearly as terrible.
Trip to Yosemite in November 2004. It was me, my now DW and her parents. We were in a 8ft 1981 pop up trailer. We were sitting at the table after dinner playing cards, it was getting dark. The winds had picked up. We heard a loud crack and crash, like an explosion. We went outside to see a tree less than 5 feet from our little pop up had fallen over. It fell away from us into the road. Had it fallen the other way, we would have been crushed inside the pop up. It was dead and marked for removal but apparently had been missed. Now we always check our site for marked trees!
Another time my wife, myself, and our 1 year old were going camping to the San Bernardino mountains. By now we had our 22ft Pioneer and a 04 Explorer V8. It was a long drive from where we lived, and by the time we got to the bas of the mountains it was after dinner time so we stopped and got food, which too 30 min and was terrible. By the time we started up the mountain it was dark, and then as we gained elevation the fog rolled in. Fog on highway 18, rim of the world highway is almost legendary. It got so thick I turned on the flashers, locked it in first and had to roll down my window and watch the center line. I had some cars behind me and when I finally found a turnout they simply pulled in behind me, no one wanted to lead! Fortunately I am intimately familiar with this road so I knew the turns and where the campground was. Still, trying not to drop me my wife and baby with a 5000lb trailer off the side of the mountain was very stressful. Once in the campground I had to get out several times to verify where the road was going so I would not just drive head first into a site. Finally got to our site, DW and the now screaming baby went inside the TT while I unhitched. The site was sloped down towards the back with a steep drop I got the TT level and I though secure. At this point I had been running on adrenaline for a couple hours and was spent. I unhooked the car, walked back towards the trailer and heard chains dragging. The chocks had slipped on the wet ground and the trailer rolled off the blocks with DW and DD inside towards the steep drop at the back of the site. Thank God it did not have enough momentum for the second axle to get over the first set of blocks and it stopped. I hurriedly reattached it to the car, then sat and cried for a while. - PUCampinExplorerI know from reading other threads that people have lost their rigs, lost family, and such my stories are not nearly as terrible.
Trip to Yosemite in November 2004. It was me, my now DW and her parents. We were in a 8ft 1981 pop up trailer. We were sitting at the table after dinner playing cards, it was getting dark. The winds had picked up. We heard a loud crack and crash, like an explosion. We went outside to see a tree less than 5 feet from our little pop up had fallen over. It fell away from us into the road. Had it fallen the other way, we would have been crushed inside the pop up. It was dead and marked for removal but apparently had been missed. Now we always check our site for marked trees!
Another time my wife, myself, and our 1 year old were going camping to the San Bernardino mountains. By now we had our 22ft Pioneer and a 04 Explorer V8. It was a long drive from where we lived, and by the time we got to the bas of the mountains it was after dinner time so we stopped and got food, which too 30 min and was terrible. By the time we started up the mountain it was dark, and then as we gained elevation the fog rolled in. Fog on highway 18, rim of the world highway is almost legendary. It got so thick I turned on the flashers, locked it in first and had to roll down my window and watch the center line. I had some cars behind me and when I finally found a turnout they simply pulled in behind me, no one wanted to lead! Fortunately I am intimately familiar with this road so I knew the turns and where the campground was. Still, trying not to drop me my wife and baby with a 5000lb trailer off the side of the mountain was very stressful. Once in the campground I had to get out several times to verify where the road was going so I would not just drive head first into a site. Finally got to our site, DW and the now screaming baby went inside the TT while I unhitched. The site was sloped down towards the back with a steep drop I got the TT level and I though secure. At this point I had been running on adrenaline for a couple hours and was spent. I unhooked the car, walked back towards the trailer and heard chains dragging. The chocks had slipped on the wet ground and the trailer rolled off the blocks with DW and DD inside towards the steep drop at the back of the site. Thank God it did not have enough momentum for the second axle to get over the first set of blocks and it stopped. I hurriedly reattached it to the car, then sat and cried for a while. - cross21114Explorer
naturist wrote:
First time I was able to coax my young bride into a tent camping trip. We had a toddler, and borrowed the family tent from my parents. Arrived for a week's stay at a popular state park on a Sunday afternoon when we expected a bunch of sites to open up, but nope, there was exactly one open site in the park for that night, although several folks were leaving the NEXT day. One look at the site, and I saw that it was the low spot in the campground, guaranteed mud hole if it rained, but hey, weather guessers said no chance of rain until at least Tuesday . . . so we took the site.
You guessed it, gulley washer that night. Woke up at the height of the storm, and thank goodness we were sleeping up off the ground on cots, because there was 8 inches of muddy water inside the tent. Nothing I could do about it, and the water wasn't going to get deeper, due to the lay of the land, so I went back to sleep. Sure enough, dawn came and the tent was full of mud and water. We put the toddler in the car, packed up our now wet gear, dragged the tent (which had a floor, but it was a 100% cotton canvas tent and weighed a ton even without the mud) across the site, over the road, and into the river to wash out the mud, then back across the road and rolled it up to strap on the trunk lid of our car for the journey home.
It took several years to convince the wife that camping wasn't an evil plot for her murder, but she did put one condition on me: camping trips absolutely require a daily hot shower, no matter where we go. That limited boon docking somewhat, but she now goes camping happily. Especially now that we have a TT and her hot shower is lock-down guaranteed.
Sounds identical to my story! 1975. Wow time flies. - BigRabbitManExplorer
naturist wrote:
It took several years to convince the wife that camping wasn't an evil plot for her murder, but she did put one condition on me: camping trips absolutely require a daily hot shower, no matter where we go. That limited boon docking somewhat, but she now goes camping happily. Especially now that we have a TT and her hot shower is lock-down guaranteed.
I hear you!! It was announced to me that in the future she required an indoor toilet, hot water and a soft bed! That's when I went shopping for a motorhome. - PadlinExplorerNo injuries to tell you about, occasional noisy or other wise inconsiderate neighbors. The only time we've left a campsite was last March in Memphis. The state park web site failed to mention the city built a sewage plant right next door.
Had a wingnut close by in an empty federal park at Mammoth Cave. Spent part of the evening yelling across a green area at us. Looked like he had been in the park for months living out of a broken down van, no rangers or hosts once the cave closed for the night. We spent the night indoors. - mama_sylviaExplorerNot in a CG but trying to get to one ... We travelled from Wyoming to Texas every year for several years so the kids could have Christmas with the grandparents. Motor homes, IMNSHO, and the ONLY way to travel with children! One year we had snowstorms every Tuesday during our trip. Left on a Tuesday and halfway through Colorado, I almost couldn't see the road. Got off at the next stop and parked in a school parking lot. Started the generator to power stuff ... started fine, but no power to the coach! Not fun in cold and snow! Ran the chassis engine on and off to power the heat. Next day, police visited us ;) so I asked if there was a CG or somewhere else I could park and plug in. He said not in their little town but the next exit was a larger town. Both interstate and county road were closed, of course. He said the interstate would be better. It was one of those overpasses where you have to drive DOWN and there was a steep drop on both sides. Rear wheel drive, of course, and no snow tires or chains. I have never been so scared in my life. I crawled down that ramp so slowly, a snail would have beat me in a race. No space in the second town's CG so we boondocked, with no genny power. (Turned out my DH hadn't plugged the power cord back into the genny when he unplugged from the house, but it took us several critical days to figure that out.) Even at that, we were better off than a lot of people. We had shelter, heat, food, beds, and a bathroom. The kids had a DVD player and some handheld games. Coming back from that trip is when we ran into a snowstorm in Amarillo and were thrilled to find a WM to boondock in. But I still shake with terror when I remember the drive down that steep, snowy entrance ramp.
- 2oldmanExplorer II
mr. ed wrote:
Good move.
I noticed a large building across the street. It appeared to be a car/truck wash with very large bays. I parked my MH in one of the bays, hoping I wouldn’t be bothered during the night. It was a good move. I spent a relatively peaceful night (any port in a storm, as the saying goes). :) - mr__edExplorerThis is not a campground story, but one evening I was parked at the Walmart in Guymon, OK when a terrible storm approached. The straight line winds from the approaching storm were extremely strong. Strong enough that shopping carts were traveling all over the parking lot. I worried that a cart could damage my MH. Besides, I could feel the winds trying to overturn my RV. They must have been hurricane force, IMO. In desperation, I knew I had to get out and do something. I noticed a large building across the street. It appeared to be a car/truck wash with very large bays. I parked my MH in one of the bays, hoping I wouldn’t be bothered during the night. It was a good move. I spent a relatively peaceful night (any port in a storm, as the saying goes). :)
My other scary encounter with wind was while driving my Lazy Daze Class C motorhome to Palm springs some years ago. One gust was so strong that I actually felt the drivers side tires lift off the pavement momentarily. Needless to say, I went the rest of the way very carefully and slower and eventually reached my destination. - 2oldmanExplorer II5am at Government Wash at Lake Mead. Wind was blowing so hard I could barely get the big slide in, as the wind was picking it up and blowing inside. We thought we were going to tip over so we spent the next few hours in the truck.
- ChainwrightExplorer
austinjenna wrote:
Stayed at Lakeside RV Park in Pahrump NV many times. My last stay was unique. When I returned at noon to my MH my neighbor came over and told me that two guys who were camped about 15 spaces away were trying to get into my rig by attempting to open the bay doors and checking the windows.
And I would have said to my neighbor 'So you just stood there and watched them without doing anything or calling anyone?'
That was my 1st thought. And that would have been my 1st question to the neighbor:"why didn't you engage them?"
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