Felt so bad for older couple traveling today

[Weeluvdis]

While traveling on the turnpike today in Ohio we spotted a travel trailer with white smoke and nasty smell coming from the tire area. My husband assumed wheel bearing. We were really concerned for them so we pulled up next to them motioning to pullover. My husband went up to the truck to tell them what was going on, they were probably in their late 60's or early 70's traveling across the country. Long story short early in their trip their truck died and they had to stop and buy a new truck, then 2 tires blew and now this. We bought a travel trailer last year and I'm starting to wish we had bought a pop up, class C or motorhome. I'm starting to think these pull behinds really take a beating while traveling and just aren't as safe as the other options. Can't stop thinking about this couple and what they have been through just trying to take a summer RV trip. What are your thoughts?

[kaydeejay]

Mich F wrote:
And in this case, if some people had bothered to read the post where the OP stated that the couple bought the trailer new last fall, they might not be blaming the problem on a lack of maintenance. :h

Errr, Mich, go read the original post again. It was the OP that bought a new trailer last Fall. There is no mention of the age of the TT that was billowing smoke.

[Weeluvdis]

easycamper wrote:

Weeluvdis wrote:

With all due respect I definitely made assumptions about TT safety but there is no assumptions on what happened. Initially I thought the darn thing was on fire but regardless something was seriously wrong with this nearly new trailer with white smoke billowing from the tire. I personally would never make an assumption on how they care for their truck and trailer. It all looked in tip top shape and well cared for. They were around my step dad's age and I guess that got to me that they are halfway across the country from their home, a long ways from their destination and all these things keep happening. It seems they are taking it in stride. For now I will be happy camping within a couple hours from home and vacationing without the TT like we did before we bought it. I am a chicken, what can I say. Doesn't help reading about the veteran couple that rolled their TT and TV while in Kansas and said no more TT's for them, because hanging upside down in their rolled truck changed their life. Maybe I should stay off this forum, haha.

No apology necessary and I appreciate your input. I would love to travel with the TT, just have to build up to it. We need more experience under our belt locally for sure.
My apologies. As I said above I didn't realize the trailer was new when I first responded and I missed your subsequent post clarifying that.

My motivation for responding to this thread was only to help provide some assurance that TTs are not inherently dangerous. I really enjoy RVing and I hate to see others miss out on the opportunity.

[loulou57]

Weeluvdis wrote:

easycamper wrote:
The thing is that on the Internet you rarely know all the facts.

This thread started out with an assumption. A person encountered a disabled travel trailer that had experienced several failures and then assumed, incorrectly, that travel trailers are somehow less safe than other types of RVs. The majority of posters are offering up an alternative hypothesis: that this particular RV was not well maintained.

Based on knowledge and experience we know that travel trailers are not unsafe compared to other RVs, and we also know that many trailers are not well maintained.

With all due respect I definitely made assumptions about TT safety but there is no assumptions on what happened. Initially I thought the darn thing was on fire but regardless something was seriously wrong with this nearly new trailer with white smoke billowing from the tire. I personally would never make an assumption on how they care for their truck and trailer. It all looked in tip top shape and well cared for. They were around my step dad's age and I guess that got to me that they are halfway across the country from their home, a long ways from their destination and all these things keep happening. It seems they are taking it in stride. For now I will be happy camping within a couple hours from home and vacationing without the TT like we did before we bought it. I am a chicken, what can I say. Doesn't help reading about the veteran couple that rolled their TT and TV while in Kansas and said no more TT's for them, because hanging upside down in their rolled truck changed their life. Maybe I should stay off this forum, haha.

🙂 no worries. I didn't think that you had assumed that they had not taken care of their RV. You were only reporting the incident. I always chuckle at references to ages because I consider myself in many places old or a Senior, LOL. I would think that most people who RV are all young at heart but also very young physically. Try not to give up on enjoying your RV and certainly stay posting here.

[easycamper]

Weeluvdis wrote:

With all due respect I definitely made assumptions about TT safety but there is no assumptions on what happened. Initially I thought the darn thing was on fire but regardless something was seriously wrong with this nearly new trailer with white smoke billowing from the tire. I personally would never make an assumption on how they care for their truck and trailer. It all looked in tip top shape and well cared for. They were around my step dad's age and I guess that got to me that they are halfway across the country from their home, a long ways from their destination and all these things keep happening. It seems they are taking it in stride. For now I will be happy camping within a couple hours from home and vacationing without the TT like we did before we bought it. I am a chicken, what can I say. Doesn't help reading about the veteran couple that rolled their TT and TV while in Kansas and said no more TT's for them, because hanging upside down in their rolled truck changed their life. Maybe I should stay off this forum, haha.

My apologies. As I said above I didn't realize the trailer was new when I first responded and I missed your subsequent post clarifying that.

My motivation for responding to this thread was only to help provide some assurance that TTs are not inherently dangerous. I really enjoy RVing and I hate to see others miss out on the opportunity.

[Weeluvdis]

easycamper wrote:
The thing is that on the Internet you rarely know all the facts.

This thread started out with an assumption. A person encountered a disabled travel trailer that had experienced several failures and then assumed, incorrectly, that travel trailers are somehow less safe than other types of RVs. The majority of posters are offering up an alternative hypothesis: that this particular RV was not well maintained.

Based on knowledge and experience we know that travel trailers are not unsafe compared to other RVs, and we also know that many trailers are not well maintained.

With all due respect I definitely made assumptions about TT safety but there is no assumptions on what happened. Initially I thought the darn thing was on fire but regardless something was seriously wrong with this nearly new trailer with white smoke billowing from the tire. I personally would never make an assumption on how they care for their truck and trailer. It all looked in tip top shape and well cared for. They were around my step dad's age and I guess that got to me that they are halfway across the country from their home, a long ways from their destination and all these things keep happening. It seems they are taking it in stride. For now I will be happy camping within a couple hours from home and vacationing without the TT like we did before we bought it. I am a chicken, what can I say. Doesn't help reading about the veteran couple that rolled their TT and TV while in Kansas and said no more TT's for them, because hanging upside down in their rolled truck changed their life. Maybe I should stay off this forum, haha.

[easycamper]

Mich F wrote:

And in this case, if some people had bothered to read the post where the OP stated that the couple bought the trailer new last fall, they might not be blaming the problem on a lack of maintenance. :h

Oops, I missed that. It wasn't in the first posting.

Indeed it doesn't seem very likely that maintenance is the problem in this case then.

Regardless, nobody should allow this one experience to dampen their enthusiasm for enjoying themselves traveling with an RV of any type. That would be a shame.

There is nothing to indicate that travel trailers are any less safe than other types of RVs.

[Weeluvdis]

naturist wrote:
I'm 66, my bride (of 45 years) turned 64 yesterday. I guess that qualifies us as "an older couple." But that wasn't us in Ohio . . . .

I've been there, however. And the others are right, whatever you buy, you have to maintain. Tires need replacement from time to time, wheel bearings need repacking, brakes checked, engine oil replaced, the list is lengthy and depends on the equipment. But all of it has requirements that you ignore at your peril.

It's kind of a "pay us now or pay us later, either way, you are gonna pay us" situation. So, not knowing any of the details, it sounds like they found the limits of the equipment they had, and i do hope they got their money's worth out of it before it had to be replaced/repaired. May we all!

I hope I didn't offend anyone in my description of them. I didn't mean they were old, just older then me, lol. It's just that if my Mom was alive they would be around her age and because they weren't younger it just made me feel that much worse for them. They were in good shape and seem to take it in stride but...........

[easycamper]

The thing is that on the Internet you rarely know all the facts.

This thread started out with an assumption. A person encountered a disabled travel trailer that had experienced several failures and then assumed, incorrectly, that travel trailers are somehow less safe than other types of RVs. The majority of posters are offering up an alternative hypothesis: that this particular RV was not well maintained.

Based on knowledge and experience we know that travel trailers are not unsafe compared to other RVs, and we also know that many trailers are not well maintained.

[Mich_F]

loulou57 wrote:
We appreciate things we learn on this forum. We appreciate when people are not sarcastic about our lack of knowledge. We appreciate that some have bigger RV'S and some have smaller.
What we don't appreciate is when people assume that this couple did not maintain their TT and TV. We have no idea what caused this incident.
I wonder, those who are quickly to judge, would they have stopped and helped this couple, would they have stopped and right away chastised this couple for not maintaining their toys or would they have just continued on their way and commented for the next hour about how well they maintain their toys but obviously the older couple didn’t?

I am sorry to have ranted here but it really irritates us when people judge without knowing the facts.

And in this case, if some people had bothered to read the post where the OP stated that the couple bought the trailer new last fall, they might not be blaming the problem on a lack of maintenance. :h

[loulou57]

We appreciate things we learn on this forum. We appreciate when people are not sarcastic about our lack of knowledge. We appreciate that some have bigger RV'S and some have smaller.
What we don't appreciate is when people assume that this couple did not maintain their TT and TV. We have no idea what caused this incident.
I wonder, those who are quickly to judge, would they have stopped and helped this couple, would they have stopped and right away chastised this couple for not maintaining their toys or would they have just continued on their way and commented for the next hour about how well they maintain their toys but obviously the older couple didn’t?

I am sorry to have ranted here but it really irritates us when people judge without knowing the facts.

[Dave_H_M]

hey hey watch it there Wheel, I am over 70 and plan on hitting the road this winter again - for warmer climates that is. :W

[easycamper]

Lynnmor wrote:
It must be something that the owner did wrong. There is no way the carefully crafted trailer was less than perfect when built. The imported tires, bearings and spindles assembled perfectly couldn't fail. It had to be the owner. Always blame the victim even when you have no evidence of operator error.

Where's your evidence?

It's much more likely for a trailer to be in tip top condition when it leaves the factory with new tires, bearings, and brakes than after years of service.

[Water-Bug]

pasusan wrote:

amandasgramma wrote:
I agree with others on the first page. NOTHING will survive without maintenance. We have a 1984 Alpenlite 5th wheel..... First thing hubby did when we bought it 2-3 yrs ago was to go over all maintenance "things"....bearings, brakes, etc. We've never had a problem on the road...

Uh oh...

Never said that they ever took it anywhere. 🙂

[pasusan]

amandasgramma wrote:
I agree with others on the first page. NOTHING will survive without maintenance. We have a 1984 Alpenlite 5th wheel..... First thing hubby did when we bought it 2-3 yrs ago was to go over all maintenance "things"....bearings, brakes, etc. We've never had a problem on the road...

Uh oh...

[amandasgramma]

I agree with others on the first page. NOTHING will survive without maintenance. We have a 1984 Alpenlite 5th wheel..... First thing hubby did when we bought it 2-3 yrs ago was to go over all maintenance "things"....bearings, brakes, etc. We've never had a problem on the road...