Just too much detail to go into, but it's all on my blog (Day 203). Although it's terrible when we all experience life's little (and big) setbacks, I'm glad to have this wonderful family here and to know I'm not alone, and this is all part of the adventure! I'm sure my problems are minor compared to others, and I have to remind myself it's all part of the adventure, and it's only time and money and inconvenience - paid for a very stupid mistake (like pulling into a parking lot not designed for rigs and getting stuck and causing big damage).
Thanks for being here.
TRAILERKING said
09:26 AM Jan 13, 2015
Good thing your "Problem #1" wasn't worst than it was. Wouldn't have been a pretty scene with that thing coming unglued from the truck while rolling down the Interstate and end up head on with opposing traffic.
Barbaraok said
09:37 AM Jan 13, 2015
Had you been a long way away from 'home' I'll bet your hubby would have had the truck looked at instead of trying to 'make it just a little further'. It is amazing how we think if we are close to home different rules applies - they don't. We have also found that once you call for a tow truck, have them tow you.
Hope everything gets taken care of in a reasonable time frame and that you get to enjoy the rest of the winter as you had planned.
Barb
ChefMom said
09:40 AM Jan 13, 2015
Just read that section of your blog and all I can do is quote the little salt girl on the package "When it rains, it pours". I am so sorry this happened to you but have great admiration for the way you continued to push on through it. It must have been very scary and you definitely deserved more than 3 drinks. When we have our next oops moment, and I know we'll never be done with those, I will try to think about you handling your oops moment and hope that it makes me stronger. I know it sounds trite and you probably don't feel that way, but you are very lucky. Who knows what could have happened, including loss of lives, with your #1 scenario. You were truly being "watched over".
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
10:51 AM Jan 13, 2015
Several thoughts after reading your blog-
-Never pull out of a site without doing a proper inspection and pull test. If you don't want to get wet, don't leave yet. Follow your checklist if you have one, if you don't, make one, use it, if you get interrupted, don't try to continue until you can give it your full attention.
- Never get in a rush while driving, especially in parking lots. If there is any doubt- GOAL- Get Out And Look-. If you know its gonna be tight, use a spotter, readjust your mirrors so you can see the tires, tree, other car, brick wall, etc. I've blocked traffic in a busy intersection because a light was hanging to low. Had to get the people behind me to move so I could back up and move to a side.
- Never rush yourself, your living your dream, not on vacation. Take your time try not to commit to right here right now time frames.
Have a glass of wine and call it a learning experience, expensive, but no one's dead so it doesn't count!
Truck issues- You can't pull out on the road in these big trucks pulling our heavy as heck campers without everything working right. If it means an extra day in the park, and a day at a dealer, then that's the price. I had bad luck with Coach Net, and even worse with Good Sams. I'll go back to Coach Net now that we have the HDT.
cherylbrv said
11:13 AM Jan 13, 2015
ChefMom - thanks for your kind words. Many here also give ME great inspiration with their positive attitudes as well. Definitely a big "oops" moment! I also love your (or WC Field's) quote!
Jim - I have a 5 page checklist and we go through it twice, checking off everything as we go. We did do a brake pull test before heading out and it worked just fine and we always do check everything. But the problem here (twice) was in rushing and not making sure things were as tight as they should be (the reason the pin slipped out of the hitch was that the lock that holds the lever in place wasn't closed tightly enough. A simple pull on the lock would have avoided this. One more thing to add to the checklist. As for the parking lot, that was definitely a big, giant oops! We were so worried about getting off the road to a safer place rather than being dead in the middle of traffic, that we just didn't stop to think about what we were driving. Lesson learned is we should have kept driving at the risk of breaking down in the middle of local traffic until we found a more truck friendly parking lot such as a Walmart.
Cowdog353 said
11:42 AM Jan 13, 2015
Sorry to hear of your troubles.
The hitch locking problem can get you quick, I painted the locking "dogs" white and always look at them, easy to see when painted white, bright orange would work well too.
Glad no one was hurt.
Diana and Jim said
12:13 PM Jan 13, 2015
Cheryl,
First of all, thank you so much for being so open in talking about this. It is a good learning experience for all of us. Most of us, including myself, have gotten into tight spots like this.
At the Fall Rally, George Mayleben (owner of RV Driving School) told the attendees repeatedly "Slooow, Slooowwwwer, STOP." We heard it for that entire week....and Diana and I still here it in our heads. What he was referring to is that if you find yourself in a situation where you are going to cause damage, it is better to stop than to keep moving...even if you block traffic. We bear a lot of responsibility in hauling these big rigs down the highway. The last thing we want to do is kill or injure anyone. Safety comes before all else.
We are very sorry for your incident, and glad no one was hurt!
Jim
BiggarView said
01:11 PM Jan 13, 2015
Ouch!! I would echo Diana & Jim, especially on the glad nobody got hurt. Certainly a teachable moment for the rest of us.
Take care and hope you get back on the road ASAP (safely).
Brian
The Junkman said
02:11 PM Jan 13, 2015
It could have been much worse..
That pin falling off the hitch is more common than you think.. I seen a pick up bed crushed at the dealer..
Convinced me to buy and install a pin catcher on my hitch.. if the pin comes out of the hitch.. it will grab it and hold it.. Like $300 installed.
Sorry to hear the problems.. good luck on the repairs..
D and M said
02:33 PM Jan 13, 2015
Steve,
Can you provide a picture or link to where you got the pin catcher? Sounds like something good to have.
Glenn West said
03:19 PM Jan 13, 2015
What kind of hitch do you have? Ours is the Brinkley head and the arm position tells if it us hooked properly. It will not be in latched position with a high hitch
The Junkman said
04:14 PM Jan 13, 2015
D and M wrote:
Steve,
Can you provide a picture or link to where you got the pin catcher? Sounds like something good to have.
Mine looks like this..But there are different kinds depending on your hitch.
WOW Cheryl....really glad you're both okay through all of this. As i read your blog I shared it with my husband because he's forever from the school of belief that we're the only people on earth that have problems. It made him realize things happen to everyone and it's how you deal with it that makes a difference. You're certainly handling all of this with grace. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn and we'll pray you're back out soon. Take care!!
cheryls-other-half said
02:41 PM Jan 16, 2015
TRAILERKING wrote:
Good thing your "Problem #1" wasn't worst than it was. Wouldn't have been a pretty scene with that thing coming unglued from the truck while rolling down the Interstate and end up head on with opposing traffic.
more comments below...
Well as I told my family in MY private post, had #1 happened, (the kingpin wasn't locked), and had it not lodged in the aluminum hauler body bed (and stayed there nicely for 75 miles to the first rest stop in the RAIN),
THEN...
EVERYONE on the east coast (and likely the entire country) would have seen our Rig dropping off of the F550, the emergency pull chain brake deploying, our truck stopping short in the lane, and
The Rig would (I am guessing ) likely have swerved, as the braking controller would also have been cut, and
most likely whatever cars were behind us in all three lanes would have hit the trailer as it jackknifed.
I would guess that it would have been between a 15 and 30 car collision, and maybe ??? deaths. Enough and ghastly enough to make a top story on any NIGHTLY News.
Oh, we absolutely believe in miracles, and the fact we survived this one only strengthen our faith.
Mitch-- In Jax Fl, awaiting return of our RIG.
--------------------more comments after reading entire thread.------------------
Lessons Learned from this fiasco!
1) Kudos to my dear wife, who graciously held herself to ONLY THREE "I TOLD you so"s during the entire day.
2) after our third drink that night, I told her I'd like to recommit for another 38 year stint, since she must be an angel.
3) Yes, I did mis-judge the battery/alternator issue. mea culpa. Yes, I should have gone the 60 miles RT to the auto parts store, but that would have still been an issue, because I would NOT have been able to put it in, and still would NOT have been able to go anywhere.
4) WRT the pin. Yes, I was also even stupider. I had just gone thru the entire checklist, and done my brake tug test sucessfully. I went maybe a foot, before I heard the big noise, and then immediately did another tug-test and it was again successful. How could I have know? (I know, by getting wet...) that it would have messed up!
5) Trees.. UGH. Just plain dumber and dumber.
6) Remember we did this as AN ADVENTURE. I told that to Cheryl, and she kept repeating it to me the rest of the day. It HAS been an adventure. Painful, and frustrating, but very (thank heavens) safe.
7) We cannot say enough about Dick Gore RV's in Jacksonville. Highly recommended, and they were even the authorized repair facility for us (Titan/NationWide).
8) and most importantly INSURANCE is KEY. MAKE sure NOT to play games, and try and downsize your policy. We are grateful we have the trip interruption insurance rider which is covering hotel and food for us.
9) Tires and Truck Size. Please Oversize, rather then undersize!!!
Thanks a lot for reading, and hopefully someone else will gain some insight from our mishap, and be able to avoid it because of this discussion!
Mitch B
-- Edited by cheryls-other-half on Friday 16th of January 2015 02:59:27 PM
PIEERE said
09:52 AM Jan 17, 2015
Like what you said, the most important no one got hurt or killed! Safety first no matter the cost for repairs. hopefully the good times outweigh the not good!
CJSX2fromCT said
04:18 AM Jan 18, 2015
1st and for most, your both safe (and others around you.) and it could have been a major issue. I lost the left rear brake line while pulling the 5'er this past summer, When we pulled out of the yard I felt the brakes were a little soft and continued on. AS we were going down hil to turn right onto the highway, The brakes gave out...There were 4 cars stopped at the light and barely enough room to get by on the right of them. I eased over and placed the right tires on dirt with a slight rise in ground level, Barely missed taking the mirrors off the cars, at last moment snapped the wheel to the right to enter the on ramp... As I looked in the left mirror and seeing the pitch of the trailer I thought for sure she was going to flip on her side... made it to a stop on the on ramp... truck got towed to the garage I use and someone let you use their 3500 to tow 5'er to campground.
A little over $800 for new copper-nickel full brake lines and also had them do (just under $600) fuel lines and fuel cooler as well. Cheri thought it was a lot of $$$ and I told her there is no price on safety. Those of you out there with older models might want to have those brake lines looked at. ALWAYS better to be safe then sorry. Safe travels to all.
Bill and Jodee said
03:59 PM Jan 18, 2015
Sure glad you're both okay and the rig repairable - it's those "what-ifs" that wake you up in the middle of the night several days after the fact. Like noticing the angle of the boat trailer wheel, and getting off the Grapevine before the melted hub lost the wheel and caused all kinds of mess on the upcoming down hill last year - I know how scary those moments can be! Lots to be said for taking a deep breath and giving each other a big hug
After hearing stories of hitch pins being taken in parking lots we made sure we got a locking one for our toad. It will take a little extra time to lock and unlock, but well worth the peace of mind that it's still there (I'll probably still check). Sharing your story will undoubtedly encourage those with similar set ups to be extra cautious as well.
Hope all is back on track soon and we get to see you in Tennessee!
Just too much detail to go into, but it's all on my blog (Day 203). Although it's terrible when we all experience life's little (and big) setbacks, I'm glad to have this wonderful family here and to know I'm not alone, and this is all part of the adventure! I'm sure my problems are minor compared to others, and I have to remind myself it's all part of the adventure, and it's only time and money and inconvenience - paid for a very stupid mistake (like pulling into a parking lot not designed for rigs and getting stuck and causing big damage).
Thanks for being here.
Hope everything gets taken care of in a reasonable time frame and that you get to enjoy the rest of the winter as you had planned.
Barb
Just read that section of your blog and all I can do is quote the little salt girl on the package "When it rains, it pours". I am so sorry this happened to you but have great admiration for the way you continued to push on through it. It must have been very scary and you definitely deserved more than 3 drinks. When we have our next oops moment, and I know we'll never be done with those, I will try to think about you handling your oops moment and hope that it makes me stronger. I know it sounds trite and you probably don't feel that way, but you are very lucky. Who knows what could have happened, including loss of lives, with your #1 scenario. You were truly being "watched over".
-Never pull out of a site without doing a proper inspection and pull test. If you don't want to get wet, don't leave yet. Follow your checklist if you have one, if you don't, make one, use it, if you get interrupted, don't try to continue until you can give it your full attention.
- Never get in a rush while driving, especially in parking lots. If there is any doubt- GOAL- Get Out And Look-. If you know its gonna be tight, use a spotter, readjust your mirrors so you can see the tires, tree, other car, brick wall, etc. I've blocked traffic in a busy intersection because a light was hanging to low. Had to get the people behind me to move so I could back up and move to a side.
- Never rush yourself, your living your dream, not on vacation. Take your time try not to commit to right here right now time frames.
Have a glass of wine and call it a learning experience, expensive, but no one's dead so it doesn't count!
Truck issues- You can't pull out on the road in these big trucks pulling our heavy as heck campers without everything working right. If it means an extra day in the park, and a day at a dealer, then that's the price. I had bad luck with Coach Net, and even worse with Good Sams. I'll go back to Coach Net now that we have the HDT.
Jim - I have a 5 page checklist and we go through it twice, checking off everything as we go. We did do a brake pull test before heading out and it worked just fine and we always do check everything. But the problem here (twice) was in rushing and not making sure things were as tight as they should be (the reason the pin slipped out of the hitch was that the lock that holds the lever in place wasn't closed tightly enough. A simple pull on the lock would have avoided this. One more thing to add to the checklist. As for the parking lot, that was definitely a big, giant oops! We were so worried about getting off the road to a safer place rather than being dead in the middle of traffic, that we just didn't stop to think about what we were driving. Lesson learned is we should have kept driving at the risk of breaking down in the middle of local traffic until we found a more truck friendly parking lot such as a Walmart.
The hitch locking problem can get you quick, I painted the locking "dogs" white and always look at them, easy to see when painted white, bright orange would work well too.
Glad no one was hurt.
First of all, thank you so much for being so open in talking about this. It is a good learning experience for all of us. Most of us, including myself, have gotten into tight spots like this.
At the Fall Rally, George Mayleben (owner of RV Driving School) told the attendees repeatedly "Slooow, Slooowwwwer, STOP." We heard it for that entire week....and Diana and I still here it in our heads. What he was referring to is that if you find yourself in a situation where you are going to cause damage, it is better to stop than to keep moving...even if you block traffic. We bear a lot of responsibility in hauling these big rigs down the highway. The last thing we want to do is kill or injure anyone. Safety comes before all else.
We are very sorry for your incident, and glad no one was hurt!
Jim
Ouch!! I would echo Diana & Jim, especially on the glad nobody got hurt. Certainly a teachable moment for the rest of us.
Take care and hope you get back on the road ASAP (safely).
Brian
That pin falling off the hitch is more common than you think.. I seen a pick up bed crushed at the dealer..
Convinced me to buy and install a pin catcher on my hitch.. if the pin comes out of the hitch.. it will grab it and hold it.. Like $300 installed.
Sorry to hear the problems.. good luck on the repairs..
Can you provide a picture or link to where you got the pin catcher? Sounds like something good to have.
Mine looks like this..But there are different kinds depending on your hitch.
http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Blue-Ox/BXR4800.html?feed=npn&gclid=CjwKEAiAodOlBRDCjr-UlJDjtVUSJABR7fxyHy43vCQ_b3dVBQ40dL4bN7fmRJJbjlrRX4i_G7Y5WhoCybPw_wcB
WOW Cheryl....really glad you're both okay through all of this. As i read your blog I shared it with my husband because he's forever from the school of belief that we're the only people on earth that have problems. It made him realize things happen to everyone and it's how you deal with it that makes a difference. You're certainly handling all of this with grace. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn and we'll pray you're back out soon. Take care!!
more comments below...
Well as I told my family in MY private post, had #1 happened, (the kingpin wasn't locked), and had it not lodged in the aluminum hauler body bed (and stayed there nicely for 75 miles to the first rest stop in the RAIN),
THEN...
EVERYONE on the east coast (and likely the entire country) would have seen our Rig dropping off of the F550, the emergency pull chain brake deploying, our truck stopping short in the lane, and
The Rig would (I am guessing ) likely have swerved, as the braking controller would also have been cut, and
most likely whatever cars were behind us in all three lanes would have hit the trailer as it jackknifed.
I would guess that it would have been between a 15 and 30 car collision, and maybe ??? deaths. Enough and ghastly enough to make a top story on any NIGHTLY News.
Oh, we absolutely believe in miracles, and the fact we survived this one only strengthen our faith.
Mitch-- In Jax Fl, awaiting return of our RIG.
--------------------more comments after reading entire thread.------------------
Lessons Learned from this fiasco!
1) Kudos to my dear wife, who graciously held herself to ONLY THREE "I TOLD you so"s during the entire day.
2) after our third drink that night, I told her I'd like to recommit for another 38 year stint, since she must be an angel.
3) Yes, I did mis-judge the battery/alternator issue. mea culpa. Yes, I should have gone the 60 miles RT to the auto parts store, but that would have still been an issue, because I would NOT have been able to put it in, and still would NOT have been able to go anywhere.
4) WRT the pin. Yes, I was also even stupider. I had just gone thru the entire checklist, and done my brake tug test sucessfully. I went maybe a foot, before I heard the big noise, and then immediately did another tug-test and it was again successful. How could I have know? (I know, by getting wet...) that it would have messed up!
5) Trees.. UGH. Just plain dumber and dumber.
6) Remember we did this as AN ADVENTURE. I told that to Cheryl, and she kept repeating it to me the rest of the day. It HAS been an adventure. Painful, and frustrating, but very (thank heavens) safe.
7) We cannot say enough about Dick Gore RV's in Jacksonville. Highly recommended, and they were even the authorized repair facility for us (Titan/NationWide).
8) and most importantly INSURANCE is KEY. MAKE sure NOT to play games, and try and downsize your policy. We are grateful we have the trip interruption insurance rider which is covering hotel and food for us.
9) Tires and Truck Size. Please Oversize, rather then undersize!!!
Thanks a lot for reading, and hopefully someone else will gain some insight from our mishap, and be able to avoid it because of this discussion!
Mitch B
-- Edited by cheryls-other-half on Friday 16th of January 2015 02:59:27 PM
A little over $800 for new copper-nickel full brake lines and also had them do (just under $600) fuel lines and fuel cooler as well. Cheri thought it was a lot of $$$ and I told her there is no price on safety. Those of you out there with older models might want to have those brake lines looked at. ALWAYS better to be safe then sorry. Safe travels to all.
After hearing stories of hitch pins being taken in parking lots we made sure we got a locking one for our toad. It will take a little extra time to lock and unlock, but well worth the peace of mind that it's still there (I'll probably still check). Sharing your story will undoubtedly encourage those with similar set ups to be extra cautious as well.
Hope all is back on track soon and we get to see you in Tennessee!
Jodee