Look before you leave

[rolling_rhoda]

This is just in the last three days.
A. A big truck camper was going down the highway through town leaning hard to the right. His slideout was fully out on the curb side.
B. we were in the front yard and heard a screeching/scraping. Big pickup pulling a big fifth wheel came barreling around the curve and past our house with a stabilizer jack down. Later my son saw the jack lying in the road a mile away, beat to crap.
It takes less than 60 seconds to do a walk-around before one turns the key.

[Mootpoint]

I make sure everything is done so I don't have to listen to "Wifezilla" for 200 miles. :R

[2oldman]

rolling_rhoda wrote:
His slideout was fully out on the curb side.

It's hard to imagine someone not seeing that in his side mirror.

[4x4Bob]

I am an early riser, so I grab a cup of coffee and walk around the camp ground to get in a little exercise before sitting all day.

One Morning I saw a Class A heading out with two hatch doors open and locked in the up position on the curb side.

I tried to stop them but they just increase speed and kept going.

The first left turn they made would have emptied out both of the storage areas. And, they were full of stuff.

Bob

[ependydad]

noe-place wrote:
I do a walk-around every time we leave our home garage, every camping site, every refueling stop, every eating stop and every other stop. Guess I'm just suspicious by nature.

I'm the exact same way. If we stop and I'm out of the truck, I do a walk around before we get going.

I found a major bubble on the inside of one of my tires before leaving home once.

Before I did that, I left my door handle extended and hit the highway. You'd be amazed at how close those jersey walls can feel. At home, I also left my between the wheel chocks in and like an idiot, pulled hard enough to pop them out of place and subsequently drive over them.

I did see one class A pull out with a full compliment of laundry on the back. The wife's skivvys were swinging in the wind - chesty woman by the looks of it. I didn't get a chance to catch up to them. My dad (a non-RV'r, but long time friend of truckers) commented, "Man, 60 second walk around would have saved that." Yup.

[calewjohnson]

I have a bunch of "Remove Before Flight" key chains. They get used on the RV just like on the airplane. When all flags are accounted for, I am ready to go wheels up and boogey down the road.

Cale

[jamnw]

I drove off with our newly installed door handle sticking out. A friend of ours came running behind us yelling.
I also left the WD pry bar sitting on the tongue. It rode from Nashville to almost Kingston, TN before I noticed it. How it didn't fall off and hurt someone is a miracle.

I walk around and physically put my hand on everything that can open or swing out. At least twice.

[noe-place]

I do a walk-around every time we leave our home garage, every camping site, every refueling stop, every eating stop and every other stop. Guess I'm just suspicious by nature.

[mrw8i]

Hooked up and parked in front of the house, getting ready to leave the next morning. Unplugged the trailer so it wouldn't drain the truck battery overnight. Next morning, pouring rain, took off. On the freeway a few miles from with the headlights on. Notice the lights are not on, on the trailer. Forgot to plug it back in; I blame the rain.

Got to the campsite. Backed in. Leveled. Unhooking, found the emergency brake cable never attached to the truck.

Mid trip. Stopped and filled the trailer with water. Went into the trailer and got something out of the 'fridge. Got to the next campsite 200 miles later. Food all over the floor.

Now. I check the interior. Windows, vents, cupboards, refer, water pump, heater, water heater . . . Okay I'm done. DW - go check the interior. Same on the exterior.

[restlesswind]

FunnyCamper wrote:
hubby does 2 or 3 walk arounds.

I do 2 or 3 myself.

we triple and quad check everything before hitting the road 🙂

By you going in the opposite direction as hubby,you both will know that you are good to go,and gives both of you a chance to "unwind".
(Or will your walk cancel out his,leaving you both all wound up?):?
I do a walk around,and DW says that I'm going in circles....again.!

[Dance_Chick]

DH's nickname is "Triple Check".

[ncrowley]

I also use the RV Minders. It is a great way to go.

[Foggy]

We seldom use the antenna so it would be easy to leave it up. A spring clothes pin marked antenna is clipped to the crank and gets clipped to the ignition switch when the antenna is put up.
I make it a habit to do a once around whenever we stop. Feel all the tires and hubs to see if any are running hot, check the hitch and dolly straps.

[portscanner]

I have a checklist in my head, but to make sure it works 100%, I always make two trips around - and if I find anything that has to be fixed, I fix it, then start the checklist over from the top.

I start from the same corner of the vehicle every time. Check things in the same order every time.

One time I completed my check list. Twice around. Start up. Pulled out. Headed on down the highway. But something sounded wrong. So I took and carefully listened to each sound.

Little bit of a whistle of the air going around and over the cab. Normal.

Even running sound of the engine. Normal.

Rhythmic bumping sound of the tires crossing the expansion joints in the highway. Normal.

It was wrong.

It was too quiet.

Something was missing.

Wait.

No one told me I was turning the wrong direction at every intersection.

Crap.

I forgot she was going to the dumpster to get rid of the trash.

[NoVa_RT]

It's not just RVers - last week I was camped across from tent campers (man, woman & small child) who were packing up a little past checkout time, madly trying to quickly cram everything into a station wagon after getting the hurry-up warning from the park ranger. They started to back out with the kid's stroller left at the side of the campsite. A couple of toots of my horn got their attention, but the moral is that it's best to give yourself plenty of time when checking out of the campground.