Ever had a Bad trip?

[thirtydaZe]

The kind where everything goes wrong? We've been at the camping thing 4-5 years now, and have never really had a sour trip.

So i spend Wed. evening last week prepping for a 3 night stay a few hours south of home, a place we've never been. Indian Cave State Park, in Neb.

We set off like usual, and my first stop at a truck stop, i hop into the camper to use the bathroom, to find water everywhere, and pools in the carpet. I forgot to plug the cooler, and my 20 lb bag of ice melted and leaked right out.

So we arrive, and drive right past the campground, and end up almost having to back out 1/4 a single lane road, luckily someone came up behind us and notified, since the gate was open it wasn't yet underwater from the flooding Missouri river, and there was a turn around point if we kept driving.

It was stormed before our arrival, so the roads were wet, i had to back our TT into our spot uphill on wet blacktop, my tires spun trying to get situated in very tight quarters.

Since the storm, our site was covered, and surrounded by mud.

It was terrible humid.

It was Hot.

The bugs were crazy bad.

The next day, things dried out, so i re-parked the TT in effort to get better situated, and more level, things dried out around us and it was fine.

However, that night, thunderstorm, everything soaked, and again with the mud, and the biting bugs.

We left a day early, and came home.

Time to go out and wipe this trip off the books.

[K3WE]

thirtydaZe wrote:
However, that night, thunderstorm, everything soaked, and again with the mud, and the biting bugs.

Given that I'm an ex-tenter who USED to think RVer's were wimps, but then started seeing the contrast between tenting and RVing when it comes to a good rainstorm...

What's the problem? 😉

(Still have and use the tent, but often enjoy the dryness AND the knowledge that there won't be a major clean-up/dry-out just because there was a rainstorm)

[noe-place]

I can honestly report we've never had a "bad" trip camping. I enjoy being with the family so much that anything outside of that ring has no bearing on what matters.

[Jarlaxle]

cyntdon2010 wrote:
we went out and it rain for three days straight.. camper was shaking from the wind. we watched red box movies and ate like Pigs.. we slept and played wii games.

Any day camping is a great day!!

I have uttered the words, "You are absolutely insane!" to my wife twice while camping. (She stuck her tongue out at me both times.) First time: old B700, Birmingham, AL, 103 in the shade & there isn't any. It was 100+ degrees, 90% humidity, blazing sun...and she went rollerblading. Did...maybe 14 miles. Came back, went directly to the shower. I joined her. She didn't seem to hold it against me. n:D

Second time: Genesis, someplace in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, about 75 degrees, gusty winds and and pouring rain...and she went jogging. Did maybe 4 miles, came in soaking wet. Before she got up the last step, I wrapped her in a poncho, picked her up, carried her to the bathroom, and plopped her into the tub. (Seriously: she couldn't have gotten any wetter had she gone swimming!)

The topper: I strained my back picking her up!

[rockhillmanor]

minn camping family wrote:
.... The next day we went to town, well a bad storm came up and when we got back our awning was wrenched up and over our new camper. Rookie mistake of ours, but I still wonder why no-one could put it up for us in our absence, we were surrounded by people on all sides and this is the land of Minnesota nice where we look out for each other.

Managed to get the awning bent back forward and rolled up, then zip tied for the trip home.....

We had a tornado warning AND touchdown in the CG I was staying at.

Sadly I watched my neighbors TT roof and sides being beat do death by the loose awning poles he had unhooked to try and put his awning up which where now slamming repeatedly against the top and sides of his TT from the wind.

To my surprise another camper ran up to it and took a buck knife and cut the awning loose to stop the wind from using it to slam the poles against the TT. :E

In retrospect cutting and having to replace the awning fabric DOES trump having your whole TT deemed totaled. He did thank the fellow camper for thinking so fast to do so.

[minn_camping_fa]

Oh yes we have...the worst one that comes to mind:

It was only our second trip ever as we were brand new RV-ers. We drove 4 hours up north to the private cg we had booked for the weekend, only to find out that, on a Friday, they had decided to re-black top their driveway, and would not let us get to our site for at least 2 hours. They had my husband back up almost the entire distance of their 100 foot driveway and in the process he clipped their lodge front steps and moved them about 6 inches. A bunch of the people that worked there, complete rednecks with beers in their hands, beer bellies, some shirtless and others with tank tops, then came out to "supervise" my poor hubby backing up the rest of the way.

Thankfully he's a good driver and got us all the way back to the entrance, where the redneck owners parked us in the grass and told us to wait for our site. This didn't sit well with us and we went to the lodge to get a phone book to look for other cg's in the area. We told them we were not staying, which got their attention, so they promised to get us to our site. They had my husband drive across their property on the grass, and between two trailer homes, with about 2 feet clearance on each side, to get us to our site. Which wasn't really a site at all, but a spot of grass between the lake and the seasonal campers.

OK fine, so we setup camp in 95 degree weather and tried to make the best of it. The next day we went to town, well a bad storm came up and when we got back our awning was wrenched up and over our new camper. Rookie mistake of ours, but I still wonder why no-one could put it up for us in our absence, we were surrounded by people on all sides and this is the land of Minnesota nice where we look out for each other.

Managed to get the awning bent back forward and rolled up, then zip tied for the trip home. It was another 95 degree day so we hid inside the camper in the A/C and made a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner. It was our anniversary and we still joke about our "Redneck Anniversary."

There were a bunch of other negative things about the campground, enough to make us state park campers going forward! That was one of the few trips where we were happy to go home!

[azpete]

the worst day of vacation is better than the best day on a job you dont like.
myself, its a great day if i wake up breathing

[Dog_Folks]

beemerphile1 wrote:
Never have had a bad trip in 40 years.

Some have just been better than others. :B

My thoughts exactly!!

[rhagfo]

rhagfo wrote:

thirtydaZe wrote:

It was stormed before our arrival, so the roads were wet, i had to back our TT into our spot uphill on wet blacktop, my tires spun trying to get situated in very tight quarters.

Well as to the tire spin. This is discussed in depth in this post.

4WD vs. 2WD

Then there is water!

bdpreece wrote:
Sounds like a typical camping trip in Oregon except we would have to substitute "It was very cold" for "It was very hot". Didn't see any reference to mechanical breakdowns either.

I didn't mention that this was with the old King of the Road, we had added a microwave in a cabinet, it had a 1/2" lip, and we never had a problem with the oven before. This trip we took a "Short Cut" off of HY26 to Manzanita well many bumps and dips dislodged the microwave to the floor and destruction!!

Well for our trip, not only did it rain like crazy two of the four days we were on the coast, the rest of the story came on the trip home.

This was our first trip on the year in 2011, it was the second week in January!

[js6343js6343]

Had an awning rip off the side of our camper while running north 60 mph from chicago on I294.

Dragged four bikes hanging half off the rear bumper, for one mile before being flagged down by a passing motorist.

Last week in Brodhead, WI, had a storm rolled through that uprooted a tree not even 30 feet from the camper. (we evacuated the campsite for a local hotel not long before)

BUT... I have not yet had a tire blow out, burned bearings or failed brakes.

I am keeping my fingers crossed

[Crabbypatty]

Our very first trip I lost the electric brakes and didn't know what to do. Turned around into queens and took up the whole tiny gas station. The poor barely speaking English guy could figure it out either. We limped back onto the road and I drove slow into Gettysburg pa from LI and probably lost a few pounds. My dealer said that it was probably a magnet and even though I was getting a fault the other brakes were working. Newbie not knowing took me two days in the cg with trips to Napa and Radio shack to finally figure it out and the wheel. Lesson learned, now when we travel I carry parts for bearings, brakes and anything odd that you can't get on the road just in case. Last week went on the first trip of the year and I went to pull the gray water tank but the handle was missing. I've been carrying that spare handle for 10 years and got it from my father who had for at least 10 years. Pulled it out and fixed it . Now I have to order a spare dump handle to replace my emergency supplies!

[Dutch_12078]

I can't say that we've ever had a really bad trip, and we have found that some of the not so good ones became great sources of amusement in the retelling a few years later. It's all good in the long run... 🙂

[Scott_85]

We've only had one camping trip where everything went perfect. But just like life you take the good with the bad, you learn from the bad and enjoy the good. Our first camping trip we didn't make it out the field where the camper was stored at before getting stuck in mud and had to call a tow truck.

[Peg_Leg]

Man if I'd wasted my money on that stuff,
I would have never had enough for a RV.

I didn't even like watching Cheech & Chong.

[rockhillmanor]

I got my worse trip RV'ing out of the way on my very first trip with my new to me MH. :B
Destination Houston, temps 112 degrees.

Blow out on interstate on way down. Boy does THAT make a loud sound!

2 days later flat tire entering the Houston Reliant Center. That ended up in a brawl with security about leaving the rig unattended for road side service to repair. (right after 911)

4 days later in a small town leaving the Houston Reliant Center. 3rd flat tire.

GS sent out a tricked out fully painted semi sized tow truck which attracted a crowd. I sat off to the side until an elderly white haired lady yelled out that there were dogs in the MH and they were going to die of heat stroke as the whole crowd headed over to my MH to save the dogs. :R

I got up and said the air conditioning was on and they would be just fine. Then this 90 year old + little lady turned to me in a very slow southern drawl and said....

Lady- "You're a Yankee!"
Me - "Yes I guess you could call me that, but I was not even born back then."
Lady - "I've never met a REAL live Yankee!"
Me - "Well I guess you now have" :S

Yup made me start thinking that this traveling in a MH was going to be a VERY VERY interesting adventure for this Midwestern Yankee RV'er! :c