Tales of RVing

I've been reminishing lately. So, I decided to revisit some copy I wrote for an article I never quite finished regarding the joys of rving. Here's is the latest revised copy.

We’ve got this. No more rookie mistakes as we are veteran RV owners. I felt this confidence as I gazed thoughtfully at the expensive new to us motorhome. We have a clean slate!

Then, as Steve pulls the motorhome away from the curb, I notice the power cord was still attached to the house and with a mighty snap, it lets loose and drags along the street. Yes, there are still lessons to be learned.

Honestly, if there’s a mistake to be made while camping/rving/traveling  - we’ve made it. Sometimes the same experience twice or in one case – three times.

Destroyed the same compartment door on our 5th wheel three times in less than a month – check. Destroyed the tiny front wheel of the tent trailer after a 200 mile drive with it down – check. Had the same trailer jump off the hitch and drag the tongue along a highway onramp – check (that was my accomplishment). That particular trip had me asking the tow company to tow us back to Folsom from the Oregon border.

So, I can say with confidence that the best piece of advice I can bestow on anyone enjoying this lifestyle – keep your sense of humor. Also important items to carry include a tow card, credit card and be nimble on the cell phone to look up repair experts in any city or town.

Our "third times a charm" issue involves our Alpenlite fifth wheel. It was a marvel of camping engineering complete with solar, extra large tanks for boondocking, motorhome-sized inverter and our nemesis, a very heavy rolling basement shelf. This wonder of storage didn’t care to stay locked in place.

While in Arizona for the winter, we bring our utvs which require an additional tow vehicle. We checked out of our riverside campsite to head to the winter Mecca of the RV world – Quartzsite. My job was to follow a few minutes later with the utv trailer after dumping the trash and saying goodbye to friends.

So, as I gaze along the narrow road out, I see a stretch of rv items dumped on the road and think to myself, “oh, someone’s having a bad day.” A few moments later, I recognize that “stuff.” It was us having a bad day. The shelf had pushed itself through the basement door with a bang, disconnected and landed in the middle of the road spewing our coveted items. Sure enough, just down the road was the fifthwheel, emergency blinkers on, blocking the lane and Steve anxiously grabbing stuff so no one else got hurt. The "stuff" just about everything we owned.

Adding to the carnage, the storage door in front of the fifthwheel made contact with the tailgate of the truck which had come unlatched. So it too had battle scars.

We managed to survive with the wonders of duck tape until we could get it all fixed by insurance at home. Due to the fact that Alpenlite was out of business, everything had to be fabricated.

A few weeks later we claim the fixed trailer. Driving out of the repair place (yep, the very first turn), the truck tail gate fell down and again destroyed the front compartment door. Strike 2. Ordered another custom door. Two weeks later in Oregon, the tailgate (we apparently didn’t learn our lesson) drops again and yes indeed, destroys the SAME compartment door. Strike 3. The repair shop had the dimensions of the door on a post-it and the fabrication folks on fast dial.

Our 06 Alpenlite, truck and my favorite vehicle, the Yukon.