In this column, we will be sharing some of the not-so-brilliant things we, the RVtravel.com staff, and you, our readers, have done while RVing. We hope that in addition to a chuckle or two, we can learn from others’ RVing mistakes and not make them ourselves!
Please leave a comment in the form below with your own RV mistakes and “oops” moments. There have to be many among both our seasoned and newbie RVers…
What’s that smell?
Kathy W.’s sink kept filling up and the garbage smell spread. She wrote, “We were taking our used, like-new camper on our first outing. After dinner, I did the dishes. During the night we began smelling a rotten cucumber/garbage smell in the kitchen and I noticed the sink was filling up. We thought we had a clog and began plunging, but it kept rising to the top. My husband went outside to investigate and discovered we had two gray water holding tanks—the dealership did not drain the one in the front. So, needless to say, we had to smell that smell all night.”
“Remember Lookout Mountain!”
Even RVtravel.com writers have made a few mistakes along the way. Gail Marsh wrote of their first-ever RV trip that served as a reminder for all their future trips!
Gail says, “With great embarrassment and humiliation, I confess the following:
“We were on our way home from our first-ever RV trip—feeling overly confident, for sure. We’d traveled from Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico and halfway back, so we erroneously felt like ‘pros’. As we approached Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, we stopped for fuel. When paying, we asked the gal about Lookout Mountain. She said, ‘You’ve GOT to see it! You’ll LOVE it!’ I mentioned that we were traveling in our fifth wheel RV and wondered if it could make it safely up to the top. She waved her hand dismissively and assured us, ‘Of course! No problem!’ (I should have inquired about safely getting DOWN.)
“I wasn’t completely convinced, so I encouraged my husband to call the park ranger. The Lookout Mountain ranger said, ‘Buses come up here all the time.’ That’s all the reassurance we needed, so off we went. Less than 1/4 of the way up, I began to have second thoughts. Too late, of course. My husband and I made eye contact, and I knew he was regretting our decision, too. His knuckles showed bright white as he held the steering wheel in a death grip.
“At the top, we should have figured out that something was amiss when we saw several people looking at us, pointing, and shaking their heads at the sight of our 43 ft. rig and truck. I also noted with alarm that ours was the only RV in sight. We didn’t spend much time sightseeing. By now both of us were overcome with fear about our descent.
“We safely maneuvered through the narrow, crowded streets and headed for the exit. Figuring we’d take it very slowly, my husband downshifted and began the exit’s sharp, right-hand turn.
Several things happened at once
“Then, several things happened at once. An approaching car appeared from down below, and as he made the ascending curve, he cut into our lane, forcing us to take our right turn too sharply. The loud, scraping sound superseded the pounding of my heartbeat and I felt sick! The back third of our fifth wheel crushed against and slid along the guard rail, which thankfully kept us on the road. When we got to the bottom, we parked and surveyed the damage. It was extensive. ($7,000 extensive.)
“In retrospect,
- We could have waited for the ascending car to return to his lane before continuing with our wider, descending turn;
- We should have given the park ranger more information about our rig and our experience (or lack thereof);
- We might have asked permission to disconnect our RV and park it while we explored Lookout Mountain sans RV;
- We should have listened to our ‘gut’ (common sense) and not attempted this side trip in the first place.
“The good news? Now, years later, when we are faced with a travel challenge, we’ll remind one another: ‘Remember Lookout Mountain!’ We take a serious ‘gut check’ and gather all the facts we can before making decisions when it comes to RVing.”
“We are being followed”
Russ D. realized he was being followed as he left the campground. He wrote, “Early on in our experience, we were excited to be on the road. But less than a mile down it, discovered we were being followed. By our electric cable and water hose. Always do a walkaround. Happily, we’d disconnected them from their source ends, but that’s as far as it got.”
Missed the studs
Tony B. sent us a photo of an unfortunate RVer who was trying to hang a TV and missed the studs. Oops!
People sure are friendly here…
Steve D. was thinking how friendly people were as they waved at them. “Years back when we first started out, my folks let us use their GMC Moonbus motorhome. As we were leaving a campground in Flagstaff, Arizona, everyone started waving at us. I said to my wife, “Everyone is very friendly here!” Finally, a man started running alongside us waving. Now I knew something was amiss! I jumped out and walked to the back of the RV. There was the sewer hose, still connected to the motorhome. I was dragging the hose through the park! At least I had closed the valve so I wasn’t spreading anything through the park.”
No indication there was anything wrong…
Ron S. had a mess on his hands when he went to dump. He said, “Black tank dump didn’t sit correctly on our MH. Had driven over 100 miles before dumping. Had the black tank cap on dump connection, so there was no indication of anything wrong (the dump valve handle looked closed) until I removed the cap. What a mess trying to put the cap back on! I had enough space in the dump compartment to install a clear 45-degree adapter for the tank dump, and now can clearly see if the dump valve is closed and always ensure the black tank (and gray) valve is securely closed.”
Please share your RVing “oops” mistake story
Humor can be the best medicine and mistakes the best lesson! Have you had some unfortunate “oops” mistakes during your RVing adventures? We would love to hear them. Please fill out the form below and include a photo if you have one. Thank you!
Probably didn’t miss the studs. Just used screws that were way too long.
Yep even if he had hit the studs the screws wouldn’t be 3/4” through the outside wall. My guess he thought the walls were like his house which would be a minimum of 4 1/2”.
Thank you, Nanci! Wow, so many “oops” stories today?!? So sorry that so much was learned the hard way. 🙁 To Gail, who ascended AND descended the Tennessee part of Lookout Mountain, my goodness, y’all are amazing! We saw three class B or C RVs at tourist attractions the last time we took friends to Point Park on Lookout Mountain (we live about 20 minutes outside of Chattanooga). My thought was, “I would never want to bring an RV up here.”
You only make those mistakes once then it’s permanently etched into your brain.