Mud and Slides - First Trip of the Year

[GordonR]

Sorry for the length of this. Hopefully you’ll all get a small chuckle and a gentle reminder.

Well, confession time again. This time of year, many of us who aren’t full-timers yet are itching to get in the first trip of the season. I scratched the itch last weekend. We got to the campground (Lincoln State Park in southern Indiana) around 5 in the afternoon. By 5:15, I was looking at the site and saying to myself “Sure you can get in there – no trees, fairly wide site.” I forgot the several days of rain during the week. By 5:20, I was stuck in the mud just off the narrow road with the Monty half in the site and at nearly a right angle to the truck. (Dern things just don’t turn like a pop-up!) Yes, all six wheels on the truck turning and the only movement Carol mentioned was “deeper”. Finally, I unhooked, got directly in front of the trailer – thinking I could back straight in to the site, re hooked, and – well, Carol said “deeper” in an interesting tone of voice. (I didn’t mention it, but I was blocking one of the main roads in the park at the time. Fortunately, not too many people out camping yet.) Finally, I decided to get some help – my desire for a very strong martini or two overcoming my ego. I had to walk about a mile to the front gate of the park and ask Mr. Ranger for help. He was very helpful and used his Ford F-150 to pull out my Chevy 3500 dooley. You can’t know how embarrassing… Finally, the two of us got the truck and Monty back on the road pointed in the same direction as the road. He took great pity on me and put me into one of two pull through spots – normally handicapped spots. I’m not sure if he was thinking of me or my truck. The (first) martini touched my lips about 8:30.

The weekend was wonderful!

When we got home, the slides didn’t open right. The kitchen and the entertainment center slides only went out half way. After some interesting use of the English language, I found that a pantry door had bounced open on the way home and was jamming the kitchen slide. This had NEVER happened to us before. I closed the slides, closed the door with some difficulty, and opened the slides. Oops, the entertainment center slide didn’t go out. Hmmm. Yup, a cabinet door was STILL pinched in the slide. Fixed that and finally got the slides open. Two sets of hinges from Lowe’s and all is right with the world. My ego is another story; but maybe with another martini....

Hopefully, in my eagerness to get back “out there”, I’ve now used up all of my stupid pills for the year. Carol is still with me, I think the Monty still likes me – I know the bank does, and the ranger never got my license plate number. Y’all watch out, don't rush it; particularly during the first trip of the season while you’re getting used to the Monty again. Be careful out there.

Gordon (currently sitting on a stool with a pointy Dunce hat)

[rlwhit]

Good humor - Great story. I feel for you. I'm sure it was not funny at the time. One of those drinks may taste good just for reading this.

[mazeeff]

Good story, and a reminder to always check for obstructions on the slides. I sheared a door clean off on my Keystone Sprinter when it was one day old, the same way.

[Joyce H]

Gordon & Carol, Great humor in sharing your adventure. You can take off that Dunce cap now. TeeHee Many of us have learned from a "???" experience, so you will either have to pass the hat around or we will have to locate more of them. Guess my most recent one was making sure all the windows were closed in the unit before going to bed since a storm was predicted. When the storm started I snuggled down in the bed listening to the rain hitting the Monty. Finally decided the go get a drink of water and wow...what a shock when I steped on the wet carpet under the roof vent I had left open. Good thing I got thirsty. Don't think any lesson is better learned than having experienced a situation.

[Charlie]

At some point in time something has happened to about all of us, just chalk it up to experience. Main thing is you got home without any major damage. Never did trust those cabinet doors, bungee cords work well to hold them in place.

[Montana_2785]

Gordon,

As long as you weren't stuck in the mud all weekend and your beverage of choice was flowing freely, call it a good weekend and use the dunce hat for kindling.

Eric

[cargary]

Gordon:
Its great that you have a good sense of humor - even when the joke is on you. I guess its better to laugh this stuff off then to let it get to you. Don't worry about the boo boo's, we have all done some dumb ones also. You're just honest enough to share them with us. Good luck in your travels for the rest of the season.
Gary & Carole

[CountryGuy]

Gordeon

You know what pilots say: Any landing that does not kill you is a good landing, or something like that!

The humor helps, and the liquid refreshment helps too! We ALL have been there, some of us, are just able to tell the story and leave others giggling! That is a good thing!

But, also good lessons in your post! Thanks for sharing and giving us all a gentle reminder.

Carol

[faeb and genb]

Great laugh & better luck next time.
Gene

[harleyrider]

That was a good story.I bet it did hurt when that 1/2 ton truck pulled you out.OUCH.Your a better man then I would have been in that situation.Its early in the camping season and I have quite a few pills left if you need some.(lol)

[tbhd]

Thanks for the great story. It sounds very familiar---been there done that just about five years before you though.

[GordonR]

Thanks for all of the replies. I really don't feel too bad about the entire situation. Just a little surprised at myself for doing some things that are now in the category of "Never gonna do that again!" Just a little over eagerness on the first trip of the year. (Thus my note of caution.)

Well, I do feel pretty bad about getting pulled out by the little guy. But, I have a friend who's a Ford dealer. I haven't told him about it yet...

Gordon

[Parrothead]

Gordan,
Great story. We had a really good laugh tonight reading about your adventures. Laughter is the best medicine. Reminded me of the night I had to put the awning up in 80 mph winds because I had insisted on having the awning out. I had to lay on the awning to keep it down - and I in my nightgown!

[Montana_354]

Gordon,
That was a great story and it is nice you can laugh about it now. A bruised ego and, hopefully, no harm done to the rig. I probably would have sat down to have a Kaluha or two before going for help.

And Joyce. Your story reminds me of the week I'd gotten a new Ford Expedition. Bob and I had agreed on several issues before going to the dealership. You know... things like no red, no black, no sun roof, no big CD player since the sons could install anything I wanted. Well, he wanted me to get a grey one (which I wasn't liking), but we drove it. Something was wrong with the steering. Got back to the lot and I suddenly 'hear' something calling me softly. "Hey little girl (I'm 5'1"), c'mere." So natuarally I turn. There it sat. Big, BLACK and beautiful. Of course I jump in to drive it first and it fit like a glove. Did I mention it had a sun roof? Well, to the point, one of the boys were playing with the sun roof and finally Bob told him to close it. The next day Bob goes off to wash it for me. Comes home, stops in the door of my office and GROWLS very loudly. I look at him and burst out laughing. He's soaked from the chest down including his lap! Seems one of the boys didn't get the sun roof closed all the way and poor Bob took a bath! lol I still laugh about it, but he tells me to knock it off or I can wash my own vehicle! Good thing he's in the shower right now so he doesn't know I'm telling you all this. Mums the word!!
Kalamity

[campbud]

It is those first trips out that make the camping season so memorable! Glad to hear everything worked out for you.

[pound99]

I thank you for your camping story. I was able to laugh with you. Our Kitchen cabinet was open just enough to catch the slide out I went to the camper store for new hinges and waited for days for the order to come in. I did't know Lowes could be quicker. You can be thankful the mud didnt get on your slidouts. It could have thrown them of track. We had to fix our kitchen flooring by the side out also. My wife did that.

Daryl

[Sunshine]

Thanks for sharing your oooooops! moment. You're not the first, and won't be the last to have those - we all do. Our first one came the second time we brought the Montana home. I learned a long time ago that a good sense of humor is essential for a calm life, and more importantly, don't hammer yourself for mistakes. Sounds like the weekend turned out to be a good one anyway, and that is the best outcome.

[sreigle]

Gordon, great story. I got a lot of chuckles out of your "travails". Being a Ford guy, though, I'll just comment that the F150 being on pavement probably helped just a bit!

We've never had doors come open and jam the slides like that but that's something I worry about with the computer desk in our 3295RK. Vicki and I have talked about this and after reading your post I think we're going to buy a dowel rod to put down through the drawer handles to maybe keep them from coming open. In all these miles they've never opened on their own but we cannot see them when the slides are in so just once could create lots of havoc back there. A dowel is cheap insurance.

Thanks for the post. We used to have a thread somewhere where we posted our screwups. Mostly it was for entertainment but also served to show new owners that we all still make mistakes, no matter how much experience. So, thanks for sharing yours! I'm sure someday you'll look back and laugh about this! (I did!)

[GordonR]

Steve -
I've been chuckling over this one for a couple weeks now - starting about two days after I replaced the hinges. I was really surprised about the cabinet doors. We're pretty good about making sure they're closed properly. We also replayed the ride home several times in our heads with no memorable bumps in the road. I'm looking for something to use to conveniently secure the doors now.
Yes, thank you, the F150 was on the pavement; but, if I couldn't make the story a little funny, I wouldn't have written it at all. I meant it as much for a smile as for a reminder.
Gordon

[Montana_2953]

Gordon:
You think you had a problem. We picked up our new 3400RL last Thursday. We have had motorhomes and Trailers but never had or pulled a 5th wheel. Or for that fact ever hooked one up or unhooked one. Sooooooo naturally we informed them at the lot, and they were good enough to show us how and they hooked it up for us. We pulled it all the way home which was a good 40 miles, cuz we took it by my parents first to show them. When we got home, we were very tired and hungry. We decided to go out to eat. We thought that unhooking this monster would go as smoothly as it did hooking it up. NOT!!!!! We must have been out there at least 3 hours, and we weren't going to give up till we got it unhooked. NOT! It got colder and colder. I retreated to the house and left Paul and all the neighbors to fend for themselves. Finally I went back out and told him it was late and that we could find something to eat in the house and tomarrow we would get a fresh start on this matter.
Next day we were out there bright and early. Still no luck. We spent 3 days with this monster hooked to the back of our truck, and we had things to do. We were not going to lug it all over town. So I suggested that we go to the trailer supply store where we had purchased the hitch and have them show us how to unhook it. When we got there, naturally the man flips the handle and "Bing" it released as if it had been done a million times. Boy did we feel stupid. We thanked him, knowing that we had tried the very same thing and it didn't work. We felt like we could go home and we could do the very same thing.
Got home, and you guessed it "IT DIDN'T WORK". Now we have all the neighbors out there giving us suggestions. We decided to go in and sleep on it. The next morning Paul got up and he was on a mission. He was bound and determined to get this thing unhooked. I decided to stay inside and watch from the front window as I didn't think he needed anymore input on the situation. When I did go outside to help the attorney from across the street was out there helping! Paul got in the truck and put it in gear telling me to pull on the handle when he yelled. So I did. Finally would you believe it released! I wasn't going to let go of that handle for anything till I knew that it really was unhooked. WE FINALLY GOT IT UNHOOKED. What a nightmare. But we are free of the monster for awhile. We plan on rehooking at the end of April and going to Oceanside Ca. for Pauls class reunion. Should go smoothly. WE HOPE! But we have really learned alot. About the unhooking thing. Hope that everything goes better for the trip. Well thinks for hearing me vent. I am sure that I will be coming back with alot more stories.
Paul & Kathi