There’s always that road we want to travel. Sad to say, not all roads are suitable for RVs, as this unfortunate fifth-wheel pilot discovered. After passing by the sign that warned “No RVs,” we’re told he encountered a non-forgiving tunnel, which removed some of his accessories.
Maybe after he got in the tunnel situation, he figured there was nowhere to go but ahead. But a narrow, tight curve with an sharp drop-off proved to be the real undoing. You can’t go forward when you’ve dumped your wheels off the pavement and there’s no more “go” in your tow.
Good Samaritans to the rescue
The “best” part of the story: Good Samaritans with chains and pickup trucks who, after considerable time (probably felt like hours for the fiver owner) and effort, pulled the fiver out of the ditch. The visible damage is one thing, the unseen damage was probably quite another. Particularly to the psyche. No RVs beyond this point? We’ll take the advice!
For more, you can click on the YouTube video to watch the whole rescue performance. The video runs just under 15 minutes. Maybe you can learn from this gentleman’s mistakes of not heeding the traffic signs he passed.
If you’ve seen, witnessed, or had your own “RV boo-boo” moment and have a photo to share with others, let us know. Fill out the form below, and put “boo-boo” on the subject line. Be sure to link your photo with the attachment tool on the form.
Other stories by Russ and Tiña De Maris
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Just had an incident at a RV park. The park had a person on duty to guide me to our spot and back us in. I was hesitant on trying to get into it and should have listened to the little voice in my ear. It was tight and the approach had a steep angle to it. We are a 40 ft pusher MH and my concern was my tail pipe and DEF burner that he was suppose to be watching. The man backed me up right up onto a concrete side walk putting my DEF burner on the concrete denting it. He then kept on telling me that I could get into if I reposition my rig to scrape along a tree. I declined, they took me to another space that was also steep where my hitch would have acted like a plow in the dirt, he told me to just give it more power. Eventually they came with a small tractor and took several inches of dirt away for me to get in. And no one cares in the front office!
The people trying to be helpful are putting themselves in danger by not being far enough away from the chains…if they snap, they can kill, and they move a lot faster than anyone can jump out of the way. One never knows where the “weak link” might be, so it isn’t possible to know in which direction the chain would whip if it breaks. For those that try to help, please remember to keep yourself safe.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for those that ignore the ‘Low Bridge” signs and get their AC cut off their roof? There are consequences for many of the decisions we make in life and crashing your RV or crashing your car when you chose to ignore the “Ice on road sign” are the consequence of feeling somehow entitled and that rules don’t apply to you.
Signage aside, it looks like he didn’t swing wide enough to make the turn.
I’ve never been in the area, so I don’t know where the sign is located saying “No RV’s” but I hope the sign is NOT down the road a ways with no way to turn around. When I was still working I ran into a couple of instances where there were “No Trucks Allowed” signs a ways DOWN the road. Dumb.
Most definitely, in the town of Manchester, TN there is a street that runs diagonally from SR55 to US41 totally missing down town congestion. After turning onto this street approximately 300 ft. a sign says NO TRUCKS. Now you can’t turn around, back up, or anything else but go ahead, IMHO it’s a trap for anyone driving a truck. After a block there is a street going back into the subdivision which will probably be a bigger problem than continuing and hope you don’t meet a cop. Another reason not to vote for a lawyer to represent us in politics, no common sense. The NO TRUCKS sign should be at the traffic light for the intersection.
Exactly right Bob, IF they were really interested in keeping trucks off the street. Can you say “revenue production”?
The “Trucker’s Atlas” is a great resource. If the road is ok for 14 wheelers, it’s safe for RVs. I’ve flown down questionable roads when trip planning using Street View in Google maps. Here’s the Apache trail in Arizona.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6039131,-111.1993299,3a,75y,353.26h,97.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipPsKa8gSbDDYFzJ6jxXsLFItQ0oBI0k02wY8KQ1!2e10!3e11!7i11000!8i5500
What about 18 wheelers?
I actually witnessed this incident. Felt so bad for the guy. New RV. No clue about pulling it. What the video doesn’t show is all the parts that kept falling off as he went down the road afterward.. Not sure how he got out of the area which was the road to Mt Rushmore.
Been on this road on my motorcycle, great curves, but not for RV’s. Good thing this didn’t happen during Bike Week. I wonder if he tried to go through the Needles Hwy next???
That’s what I thought it looked like.
A good bad example for not knowing your rigs height, width, and weight. For the newbie’s looking at this. Park your rig on a flat surface, take a long straight board, a level, and tape measure and put it across the highest point on the rig and have someone record the measurement to the ground and add at least 6 inches then post it on your dash.
Another reason why you should take your new RV to a vacant school parking lot on the weekend and practice driving and parking it. Learn how much it off tracks in a turn, how much you have to swing the tow vehicle wide to make the turn. The problem most newbies make is they forget the trailer is behind them and turn a corner like they’re just in the truck/car by itself. The same applies to a motorhome with a long overhang in the rear, the rear axle is the pivot point in a turn, the rear of the unit swings wide into the lane next to you in a tight turn. They must adopt the idea that you are driving the trailer using the truck as a tool to drive the trailer. The truck is just a tool to control the trailer.
Bankhead Tunnel, in Mobile, AL, has a max height sign with warning bars, flashers, etc. Fun to watch the over sized idiots try to use it anyway. Can be very entertaining.
Read the signs, they are there for a reason.
Also, consider knowing how tall your rig is might help.
Not only did this guy ignore a sign clearly meant to keep HIM out of that situation, he also obviously can’t drive his 5er properly. Sorry, not sorry. Except for the poor good samaritans who spent a lot of time and energy extracting him.
Sign said No RVs. Didn’t say I couldn’t bring my 5th wheel.
That sign must be for others. 🤔
Yea a lot of people including DW think a RV is only a motorhome, everything else is a trailer. Lol