In this column, we are 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…
Still at it 40 years later!
Don B. shares his not-so-good first camping trip. He shares, “Stationed in Washington, D.C., at the time and our blended family had started to really click. We thought that a weekend camping trip to a state park in the mountains would be a fun time. I rented a pop-up and loaded it up, picked up the wife and we were off! Got up on the mountain top to the park and it was raining. No site was open until some folks checked out late. Ranger says, ‘Just park it there in the parking lot, we’ll move it when that site opens up.’ OK. Fine. Finally got everything set up. Kids happy, wife happy, this is great!
“Go to fix supper, but guess who had forgotten pots and pans? The wife goes to town the next morning to get a skillet and to dry out our blankets, and comes back with no luck. By noon, we decide to go home. I go get the station wagon and find that we have a flat tire. Pouring rain, water dripping off my nose, I get that tire changed. Hook up, start for home. 10 miles down the mountain we break out into clear skies! That was 40-plus years ago and we have gone through two tents, two trailers, a truck camper, four fifth wheels, and one motorhome. Still at it!”
Underpowered, under-braked, and shore power upgrade destroyed
Dan A. wrote to us about yet another failure to unplug, but this was a new install. “We’ve been RVing for a long time… Thought I should start with that.
“In 2015 I got us set up with our orphan motorhome, 1991 Journey Motorhomes Inc., 35′ 5.9L 160hp Cummins front engine (’88 vintage with 4 speed Allison transmission) to go full time eventually. We bought this underpowered, under-braked, nice-looking thing with 51k on the odometer from a popular dealer in St. Cloud, MN, in 2003. Now, the stage is set.
“As is the norm for me, there were many fixes and upgrades I did over the years, one of them being the 30-amp shore power cord. I installed a 30-amp outlet in the box so that instead of it being hardwired I could unplug it and store it better. As we were leaving the campsite we have on our full-time property, I forgot to unplug it from the shore power connection and destroyed my new setup on the coach. There are more stories—comes along with RVing since ’72 and many different and varied RVs.”
Do not, absolutely do not get distracted
Earl B. reports his black tank flushing disaster. He wrote, “I was dumping the black tank with the water flush system turned on. I got distracted when the RV park maintenance guy came by to cut the grass. On top of that, my wife walked up at the same time and said she was ready to go out and eat breakfast. We left the RV with the dump valve closed with the water flusher on. An hour later the RV park manager called me and said my neighbor reported a waterfall coming out of my entrance door. The manager shut off my water but the damage was already done. Every square inch of the floor was soaked, and all floor ducts were full of water. I never did that again.”
Next time look up!
Lynn C.’s awning had a bit of a run-in with a tree. She wrote, “This happened this past Thanksgiving. I was camping with my sister, who is new to all this. I had her guide me forward, in a drive-through site, to line the sewer line cap with my drain connection. It lined up and I had plenty of room for my slides to come out on the driver’s side. I connected my sewer hose, water line, and power. Stabilizer jacks were down, and I was about to open my awning, which is the full length of my Class C. I was able to go out about three feet and realized a tree was blocking the path of the back extension arm. Oh, well. I will look up there next time. Fortunately, I was able to leave it open the three feet to cover the door when it rained.”
Editors note: Done that, been there, and I AM the spotter!
Watch those slides
Bonnie C. has some good advice. She wrote, “Before opening/closing your slides, have a spotter to make sure there is no obstruction in the way, inside and out. We tore off a cabinet door behind the slide while opening because the door popped open slightly during travel time.”
Whew! Almost rolled down an embankment
Bob S. won’t do that again! He said, “Removing wheel chocks on your 5th wheel BEFORE hitching up. The only thing that saved the 5th wheel from rolling down a fairly steep embankment was getting to the emergency breakaway cable at the last minute. OOPS!”
Turn left, said the GPS
Jane L. sent us this dead-end road story. She wrote, “We were going to the Grand Canyon and had reservations at their campground. The trip had been marvelous. We could see the park’s entrance just ahead. Suddenly the GPS said, ‘Turn left at the next intersection.’ We looked at each other—maybe it was a shortcut?—so we took the next left. Soon we were on a dirt road pulling our trailer. We kept going thinking maybe it was just around the next corner. We passed several boondocking campsites and FINALLY another pickup. We asked the gentleman how much farther and he responded, ‘Nothing but a dead-end ahead.’
“This was the only time we ever were able to back up the trailer properly. We had only gone about 7 miles but wasted at least an hour—it was narrow and very rough. No more dirt roads for us!!!”
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!
Jane L’s story is exactly why I always review Google Earth in Satellite View mode before even booking an unknown campground. I want to see the roads I will need to take and which turns to make. I also want to see what the interior of the campground looks like. Google Maps and various GPS systems will sometimes give you bad directions.
Thank you, Nanci! 🙂
Did that with the black tank flush, a couple of times. Got a battery powered garden hose timer on it now, always set it when I flush, so if I get distracted again, it will turn off by itself. What a mess. Ours came out the vent on TOP of the RV, and everywhere else.