Went camping at Red Top Mountain State Park this weekend. Although we had a great time just about anything and everything hat could go wrong did. 🙂
I was supposed to be out of work at 12:00 Friday but didn't leave until almost 3:30 so by the time I got home and hooked up didn't get to the camp site until after dark.
Backed in the site and got leveled and straight side to side and unhitched from the jeep only to watch the trailer roll back about 6 feet as it came off the hitch ball- chocks? Oh yeah, should have got those out.....
Finally somewhat leveled and now popped up. Go to plug in the 30 amp cord and about 10" too far away to plug in the post. Remember I rolled back about 6 feet!
Ok, I'll just use the 15 amp adapter I have and plugs in ok, no power? Outlet dead and multimeter shows no power to plug in power post. Check 30 amp and ok.
First trip to Walmart for 30 amp extension cord and $49.95 later. Get back and all ok finally.
DW arrives finally about 9:45 pm as she worked late. Promptly asks where the blanket is for the bed. "What blanket, oops" high 30's low 40's overnight so we get to sleep with long sleeve shirts and a throw blanket. Yeah it was cold.
Second trip to Walmart Saturday morning for a new blanket. Now we'll be warm.
1:00 am'ish Sunday morning it's real cold again. Guess the propane tank must be empty. Luckily I have a second tank. Not fun to be switching over in the middle of the night with a flashlight but at least we had it!
Get home this afternoon and backing in the garage and boom! Right into the pole in the middle of the garage. Broken marker light and mashed the left rear corner of the roof! At least it's the end I was planning on repairing some wood rot anyway so spent a couple hours cutting out bad wood and ready to go back together once I get to Lowes.
Well Chris, look at it like this! You have met your SPUT limits for a good 2 years now. It is time to fix your OOPS, and go camping "without" worrying about any more trouble.
It is pleasant to hear from someone who has just had such trouble, yet you seem to be taking it in stride. Im sure you were not as non-shulaunt at the time, but this post is a family friendly post. You have a great attitude. Remember very little of LIFE is "what actually happens" and mostly "how you act/react to what actually happens".
I am certainly sorry to hear of your wreck filled weekend, but very happy to hear how pleasant you seem to be afterwards.
Yow.. Sorry to hear about your trip, Chris. Hopefully it was a good trip despite the setbacks.
[quote author=BuxCamper link=topic=2233.msg20608#msg20608 date=1360558693]
No camping trip is complete without a trip to Wal-Mart!
Ain't that the truth! I think I can count on one hand the number of times we *havent* gone to Walmart, grocery store or Lowe's during a trip. Usually though, it's for items we could work around, but would make the trip more pleasant if we had them.
Chris,
I have done ALL those things, just not on the same weekend.
My old camper was a very small and light Coleman Columbia and I would unhook, lift the tongue by hand and put the camper where I wanted on the site. The first time taking my Westlake out 12 years ago, it rolled over the cheap chocks and about 15 feet, almost into a creek at Spring Gulch CG.
I rented a house a few years back that came with a metal shed in the back yard, I took a few measurement and the camper would fit for the winters. While backing in, I caught a 2x4 on the corner and cracked the body and broke the taillight.
Yeah, those kind of weekends are not a lot of fun!! You just gotta sit back, laugh and go with the flow...what else ya gonna do, right!? A couple of years ago we took off on a 2 week trip around Florida. Three hours into it, one of the wheels fell off the camper and rolled across I-75. Two days later the a/c stopped working (did I mention we were in the Everglades and it was the end of July???). A week after that we were evacuated from our campground in the Keys because of Tropical Storm Bonnie. We made the most of it and still had a blast. The highlight was when my husband and kids were searching in the Atlantic Ocean for hours for a stranger's wedding ring that he lost in the surf and they found it!!! He was beside himself with joy (married over 30 years) and insisted they accept a reward. There was a lot of tears, hugging and cheering. It was amazing. Oh, and we're in that group that makes a trip to Walmart almost every time we camp too.
Chris, I feel for ya! I had a small sput a few weeks ago, I was backing my pup into the storage building after installing new tail lights at the house. I was watching the passenger side then went to watch drivers side thinking I was to close to the 4x6 post, I turned the wheel the other way when bammmm, I hit the post on the passenger side with corner of camper. Luckily, it caught the main rear corner of camper and flexed the metal a little. I bumped the bottom of my fist and it went away. 1 small crease shows, only if you look hard. The post is okay as well.
I bought my BAL leveler off craigslist from Micky or Micksc way before or fall rally. I bought the BAL wheel scotch off eBay to use on the other side. No movements at all now with stabilizers down, even with multiple people in camper. We use to have a little pocking before, but not now. I bought the BAL leveler after I bent several stabilizers trying to level up. yea, I knew better and even the owners manual said not to.
I know something else some have done, but I did it the other night, I turned the wrong eye one the stove on to warm up some beans. a few minutes later the paper towel on the plate on the wrong eye started smoking with fried chicken strips. Luckily, I removed it before plate shattered or paper started to burn. Close call even for a retired Fireman!
...but you had your fire extinguisher ready, right Jimmy! 😀
Chris did get his BAL and I reminded him not to throw away his board to drive up; however, he might want to get a bigger one. ;D
We take a plywood square with us just in case the ground is or will be muddy or there is soft sand so the BAL sits on the square and won't sink down into the soft ground. I read that handy hint on another forum and it works! (And the board nicely fits in our pizza bag too!)
This weekend I finally finished repairing my roof damage in time for the rally. "Scooped" out about 14" of rotted OSB from the left rear corner of the roof and replaced with 1/2" plywood reinforced at the bottom with a metal plate and screws on the back side. It's real close to the lift post so I hope it is strong enough to hold ( similar to what I did on the little pup so should be fine). Reinstalled the side trim and just need to caulk down the length of the roof. Replaced my broken marker light lens too so all back to how it looked before minus the dent, rot and ant nest 🙂
I also installed a new tongue jack on the left side so I can grind off the old jack mount from the right and install a sway control later.
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