This happen while back. I don't remeber what year. We were going down the highway when we came to a low bridge. We look at each other and said where was the sign. I'm surpose to read all the sign. We were lucky that there was a turn around before you came to the bridge. I know it was down in the south.
While this story has nothing to do with RVing, it does relate to a family vacation and driving. In the fall of 2004 while living in Japan, we did an international exchange on a time-share we owned and opted for a “Resort” in Mersing, Malaysia. There was no easy way to get there. We had to fly into Singapore and take a bus up to Mersing. The bus ride itself was a real E Ticket ride. Once we got to the “Resort” we learned the “season” had ended the previous weekend and that the “Resort” was in a hibernation mode. This meant the restaurant and bar were closed. It also meant there was a lot of open units. In fact there was only one other family staying there. It was a family of 4 from South Africa. By noon of day 2 there our family of 3 and become quick friends with the South Africans. I don’t know if any of you have ever been to or through Mersing, but there isn’t much there and absolutely nothing to do. The solution was to rent a vehicle and make a day trip to Melaka (Melacca). It took a day to organize a vehicle, but the owner of the resort came through with a Toyota van we could rent. It was delivered to the “Resort” the evening before our trip. My South African friend and I did a walk around of the van and noticed it had been rear-ended and that the rear cargo door was damaged. We pointed the damage out and were told no sweat. Very early the next morning we load up for at least a 4-hour drive west over the mountains to Melaka. About an hour down the road we hit a provincial capital. It was a city complete with round-abouts. At the first round-about the rear cargo door (the one creased in the rear-end accident) flew open and up. It was a real Oh-S minute! We were able to get off the road without further mishap. We tried everything to get the door to stay closed, but found the latch had been too badly damaged. Who knows why the door had opened before it did. Anyway, off came my belt and we just tied it shut. After making the fix we got back underway. Keep in mind we had only recently met this family and both families were on their best behavior. One thing I had noted when driving was the a/c didn’t seem to put out much cold air and that the driver’s seat seemed to get very hot. Solution….let the other fellow drive. About 30 minutes later he begged out of driving. We starting comparing notes and agreed about the poor air conditioner and hot driver’s seat. We sucked it up and made it to Melaka. Once we found a place to park, we performed a closer inspection of the driver’s seat. Come to find out there was absolutely no padding in the driver’s seat and that it was seated on top of the engine cowling. Thus all the engine heat was going right through the cowling and into our buttocks. We looked around, did some shopping, and ate our first good meal in days. Having been warned to cross the mountains at night (large wild animals roam the 2 lane mountain highway causing many fatal accidents), we started back at 4:00 P.M. We had bought several beach towels to both cushion and insulate the driver’s seat. Heavy logging traffic and heavy rains in the mountains slowed our progress and didn’t nothing but make the engine hotter. Every 20 minutes we had to switch drivers. Despite our early departure from Melaka we were only able to make it half way through the mountains before night fall. We had been forewarned about the big animals, but nobody told us there were no street lights. We also soon learned our headlights didn’t put out much light, meaning we had to slow way down. The rain storms exacerbated problems by reducing visibility and producing temperature changes that fogged-up the windows cutting visibility even more. By this time our wives flat refused to drive, primarily because of the heat on the buttocks. It was hard to take. Keep in mind that between Melaka and Mersing the provincial capital was the only town we passed through. There was the highway and the jungle, oh and us. We were creeping down the road when our very young teenage daughters told us nature was calling and that an immediate stop was in order. Their respective Mothers tried to encourage them to hold on by suggesting tigers roamed the area and that a young girl squatting on the highway would make an appetizing target. That ploy only worked for about 20 minutes. When we did stop, you guessed it, their respective Dads and one brother waited for them to exit the van and then started growling like tigers. While the men found great humor in this, the women didn’t. We finally made it back to the “Resort”. Next day at the pool we all got a chuckle out of the entire experience.
You need to change your poll! You need to add problem that you have while you are camping. We pull into a nice campground in New York State on the Lawrence River. I was told that the camp site were not level. I told then that was not a problem we have levelly. Pull into a nice camp site and set up, then my husband try to put down the leveler. The camper start to sink in the ground when I look under the camper the front level was sinking. I yell to my husband to put then up. He try because the level was so far under ground it would not go up. The other camper were laugh at us and told us went the camp ground close. Also how much snow that part of New York get. I told everyone to send food, bottle gas for cookand heat and don't forget dog food. The owner have a shovel that we could use to dug it out, then we got it up. At that time we have a 30' Coachman Leprechaun Lucille
Compokel, your last paragraph reminds me of a trip we took to New England. We got onto the "Sawmill Pkway" in New York which we didn't know we weren't suppose to be on with our RV. Drove for probably close to 30+ miles with everyone cussing, yelling, giving us obscene gestures and such. It was the most frightened I have ever been while RVing. We absolutely "ticked" those drivers off.
T Lynn: I don't even like the Sawmill Parkway in a car. Doing it in an RV would be too much! We just took a trip back to the family for Thanksgiving. Boondocked at a Walmart on the way. Planned to fire up the generator, shower, breakfast, get an early start for the 2nd half of the trip. But... the generator throttle was stuck wide open. It sent more juice into the electrical system than the system could handle. The power converter fried, filled the cabin with smoke, and delayed our trip by several hours. Wouldn't have been so bad except we have a 20 month old who wasn't happy to be stuck in an RV dealership waiting on repairs. Learned lots about the RV system from the experience though. Also bought an "outboard" generator that may come in handy for New England winters.
On a return trip from Florida this year and driving a long day I put $30.00 of gas in my deisal before I noticed. Had to sleep in fifth wheel at gas station and have truck and trailer towed to dealer next day, they had to remove tank.Good job I noticed before starting .Will never forget that family holiday to Florida or will my wife and kidds. Recently I was giving my 10 year old son heck for not remembering to do something I had asked ,he replys in a joking manor at least I did not forget what type of fuel my truck takes.
We don't take vacations in our motor home but work full-time traveling around the U.S. where the work is. Multiple flat tires on our 25' Pace tow trailer has been the worst problem. My husband had met with the salesguy at the dealership for hours to make sure the guy understood exactly what he wanted and that it would be built with exactly the specs he was ordering. The manufacturer did not put in the heavyweight axles as requested and the salesguy didn't catch it. So, with the tires which were not the best, and the load that we carry in our trailer, including hubby's work vehicle, our Harley, and a full shop, in the heat of last summer we had between one and three flat tires daily. Unfortunately, neither the dealer nor the manufacturer would make it right and we ended up replacing the axles and tires at our own expense. :angry: Other things, like the furnace breaking in 0 temps and a few engine odds and ends seem like nothing compared to the nightmare of the axle and tire problems we lived through last summer.
Our first class A and we were going from Okla to CA about 100 miles from Alberqueque NM and our front windsheild blows out noting that bad since then but that was enough
We had a tent trailer about 20 years ago that broke an axle spring while crossing a railroad track. After getting a welding shop to replace the broken spring we managed to drive another 500 miles before the wheel on the same side broke away with parts flying all over the freeway. Never seen traffic scatter so fast in my life. Same tent trailer on another trip blew a tire which self destructed on the rim. While replacing the tire the black flies had me for lunch as my boys said I looked like something out of a horror show. We have a motorhome now and so far nothing major. The only flat tire was when parked at the campsite (leaky valve). After reading some of the incidents people on this site have experienced I consider myself very lucky and hope it stays that way.
Well lets see, when my wife,son and I started we had a 28' four winds TT first thing happened first night out. The tumblers in the lock went bad could not get key to work, luckily had a door on side that went into a hall closet, climbed threw it and had to un screw the hole door latch. #2 rained hard same night after we got to sleep awning fill up with water and cracked the main tub and busted in half, fell against the TT almost could not open the door. finally got out side raining like cats and dogs, try to roll up the busted awning, let me tell you this, ever try to do that to a awning that is broke into? well got it rolled back up and was glad to get back in to get dry and to sleep. ( PS: remember to lean those awnings ) ....................PLEASE
