Monday, June 24, 2013

Check Your Nuts....Part Two

Perry, Georgia  (high 90, low 71)

We left the beautiful Georgia mountains yesterday morning.

We had some maneuvering to do to back out of our campsite at Paradise Valley CG.  It was a site where you pull in forward.  There was a long deck that was just about the entire length of the coach on the patio side.  The site angled right back into some trees at the end of the driveway.

We had done some tree trimming and thought we were okay, but with our long coach, and the deck preventing us from making any turns until we cleared it, we ended up right next to the tree.

We had to go back and forward a few times to get away from the tree and then into the road, around the corner and then out of the park.

There is no place to hook up the toad in the park without blocking traffic so we chose a large truck repair stop behind a nearby Chevron station.  I followed Al there and we proceeded to hook up the toad.

When we were hooking up, Al noticed the left  bracket on the truck appeared loose.  Upon further inspection, he realized one of the two bolts was loose and he was unable to tighten it.  He thought it had been stripped.   Two good ole Georgia boys stopped by to help and they tried to tighten the bolt as well.  No luck.  The other one tightened up well and they thought we would be okay to tow, but advised we check it after a few miles to make sure it was still tight.

After some debate, we decided to tow the truck behind the motorhome.  Plan B would have been for me to follow behind Al, but I was concerned with getting lost getting out of the mountains and over to highway 441.  I wanted to be in the coach with him, to help make sure we didn't miss any turns.   I am the "nagivator"  (as Erin calls it) in chief!

We hooked up and proceeded down the highway, but were able to stop a few times to check the bolt. It stayed tight so we kept on.

Our intended stop for the night was about 186 miles and all went fine until we hit some heavy rain about 20 miles from our destination.   We checked into the campground, waited the rain out and paid for our one night at Fair Harbor Rv Park, in Perry, Georgia.  It's fine for overnight and just minutes from the interstate.

Our first mistake was to listen to the man at the desk.  We told him we wanted a pull through site that was easy to get into.  He gave us a map and directions.   We should have checked it out ourselves because it involved going down a tree lined road (no problem) and then making a hard left back up the very next row.  Easy with no toad, or a smaller rig, not so easy for us. That hard left had trees on side and a ditch on the other.  We should have never attempted the turn with a toad because we couldn't make the turn sharp enough  and with a tow vehicle, we couldn't back up.   We didn't quite make it wide enough, so that was our fault.  One of the hazards of having a big rig.

We were stuck in the middle of the turn and had to unhook the truck.  Unfortunately, at this point it was at a severe angle and we had a devil of a time unhooking.

AND.....it started raining like hell again.    Oh what a lucky day, we were having!

Fortunately we had rain jackets, and got it unhooked.  We got into our site, but were soaking wet at this point.

What a day we had!

But, we were safe and sound and didn't crash and burn, so we were thankful.

I hope today will be a better day.

No pictures today....or probably any day until I get my Live Writer back on line.  I can't update it with my new Gmail password and it doesn't like the old one either.   Someone suggested I re-install it, and I'll try that as soon as I get  a chance.    In the meantime....I sure hate posting with Blogger.   It's so much more trouble than Live Writer.

18 comments:

  1. Yes check you nuts always, have been doing for the last 8 years lucky for us all is good.
    Too bad about live writer hopefully you get it back soon.
    I don't have that option so work with blogger just fine, that's what I am used to.

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  2. Oh so sorry you had a terrible day. We, too, made a big mistake like yours and said...Never Again!

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  3. Ugh! Nothing worse than trying to unhook at an angle except doing it in the rain. You seem to have all the luck in that area. :c(

    Chalk it up to experience, the way I look at things when the go wrong is in ten years I'll laugh about it.

    Good thing you caught that loose nut, not a good thing to have your toad pass you on the highway!

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  4. So sorry about your miserable day. I like that nagivator - that would also be me. I too want to be where I can be sure Jim turns when he's supposed to. I think most of us who have towed have one time or another been stuck trying to unhook at a horrible angle. Not fun.

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  5. It sounds like a very hard and stressful day. Good thing Al got the truck unhitched. On our very first trip I put inexpensive rain ponchos and a couple of foldin umbrellas in a storage nitch over the door. It rains in winter in California and I wanted to be prepared. Haven't used them yet, but it's one less thing to pack.

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  6. Those days are no fun! Hopefully your lucks takes a turn to the better now, and you have clear skies and clear sites!

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  7. This just made me grimace. We simply cannot get our car off of the tow dolly if it isn't straight. I don't know what we would have done in your situation. Our coach is shorter but with the dolly we are about as long. Bet you're glad that day is over.

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  8. Sorry to hear you ran into troubles! I can only imagine how the conversation was going! Luckily, those kind of nerve wracking maneuvers don't happen very often!

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  9. Bummer on the RV site. I'll bet Al could drive in circles with my little 24' rig with all the tight spots he's gotten out of.

    After reading your posts about Live Writer, I've got to get it. I tried last night, but had trouble finding a download compatible with Windows 8. I'll keep searching. I've always used Blogger, and like it, but sometimes getting the photos situated correctly can be really time consuming.

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    Replies
    1. I also have Windows 8 and was able to get LW.

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    2. Live Writer is part of Windows Live Essentials. Here is the link to download Live Writer:

      Live Writer for Windows 8

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  10. oh goodness. . .what an awful situation. . .what was the guy at the front desk thinking. . .or not thinking?

    We once had to back into a horrible spaced situated with a 90* turn and very narrow street. . .hubby got it in. . .but I told him never again. . .if it's ever that difficult again, we'll just go on down the road. . .

    Too bad you were beyond the "let's just go on down the road" time and place. . .

    Glad it all worked out. . .

    Janice
    ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing Blog
    FaceBook.com/ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing

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  11. Glad the only damage was a dose of frustration with a little stress thrown in.

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  12. We have stayed at fair harbor. Those sites can be a bit tricky to get in.
    Glad the only problem was unhooking at a bad angle- been there done that.

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  13. That was a nasty day - hope things improve.

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  14. I am behind on blog reading, but to make you feel better I wanted to tell you about a time we had a similar situation only we were on a hill when we couldn't make the turn in a campground, had to unhitch, but neglected to do one critical thing: set the emergency brake! Yes, our Jeep went flying down an embankment only to be stopped by a large tree. $8000 and a new Trek bike later, everything was fine. Needless to say, we almost always unhitch at the entrance unless one of us has walked the route for a pull-through.

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  15. Yikes! That is one of my nightmares. Before we ever bought a Motor home and I was a claim adjuster, I handled a claim like yours. It was a good lesson for me. One that I decided never to repeat, but in certain circumstances you're out of your normal routine and these kinds of things can happen so easily. Thanks for the reminder!

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  16. Yikes is right! I worry about not doing everything right on the toad since its my job to set it for towing. I am pushing the brake pedal so hard when we unhook, I'm surprised it doesn't break. When you get out of your routine, things seem to spiral. We pulled in to our site yesterday, opened the galley slide out and CRACK!. Stopped it but the cabinet door unlatched during the drive and it tore off the trim around the slide out GRRR. Then hubby went to open the shades and the plastic anchor broke and the shades came tumbling. Time for a long walk! at least it wasn't raining!

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