Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A little mishap and a good trip to Congress

We made it to the SKP park in Congress, Arizona this afternoon without much trouble once we got on the road.  But getting on the road did have one hitch that seems simple in retrospect.

We had completed all the setup and had left the site headed for the parking lot where the trailer was parked.  We managed to get the trailer out in the street with the car and disconnected the car to drive the motorhome in front of the trailer to hook up.  That's when the trailer began to roll forward down a hill that was several blocks long.

I looked up and realized that the motorhome was not passing the trailer but we were moving together.  Woa!  I quickly decided that the only way to stop this was to slide the coach up against the moving trailer and stop both together.  I pulled over into the side of the trailer and braked both to a stop.  The trailer crunched into the motorhome, but came to a stop.

It was then wedged against the door.  I managed to get the drivers door open, and slid down to the floor on my butt. I then hopped out onto the road.  I usually do not use this door, as it is very hard for me to climb down the side of the rig.  My neuropathy goes nuts with pain when I use this door, but it was now the only way out.

We stabilized the trailer with the wheel chocks that somehow were not in place correctly to hold it in place on the hill.  We searched our souls to decide how we messed up blocking the wheels, but in the end didn't place blame on each other.  We obviously miss understood what we were doing.  It doesn't help to change the outcome.  We were very lucky to get it stopped right away, or it would have been in the wash at the end of the street.

The trailer wasn't damaged but the paint on the side of the coach took a nasty hit.  We will need some paint assistance from a paint shop some time in the future.  So be sure that trailers are blocked adequately when disconnected.  Also the new jack has a wheel on it, where most of the time we use the center post on the old jack on a block.  That alone would have had enough friction to hold the trailer in place.

Once on the road, we fueled up town and headed over to the Hoover Dam.  I had to pull into the RV area and two agents began the inspection.   They made me open up the entire bottom storage doors all the way around.  Also the trailer had to be opened up.  They crawled thru all the lockers and spent time digging around in the trailer.

Finally he asked permission to go inside, and told me to remain outside.  That seemed odd, but he was inside only for a moment returning empty handed.  Just like that he said have a nice day.

As usual the SKP s that run the office here in Congress were full of beans, and teased and had fun as we checked in.  I couldn't find my membership card in my billfold, and they teased that I didn't have one.  One of the different things checking into a SKP park, is they want someone to notify in case of emergency.  I never can remember the phone numbers of my sons, as they are on speed dial in my phone's memory.

So we had to go retrieve the phones from the car to look up numbers.  I tried to pay for a couple of nights, but they said just pay when you leave, or at the end of the month.  That's all there was to check in.  With your SKP number, they already know all about who you are.  I guess it is about the same with the KOA folks as you give your ID number there and they know all about you instantly too, but they always take your money for a specified number of nights up front.   The SKPs trust you!!!!!!!!

Checking the weather to the East shows below freezing and rain/snow for the weekend.  Do we really want to drive the motorhome into a snow storm?  I don't think so........  Maybe that end of the month thing may come into play if the weather doesn't straighten out.

Retired Rod

4 comments:

  1. Ouch on the Paint Job but great quick thinking to get the trailer stopped.

    Well that should take care of the excitement portion of the week for you!

    Ken and Nanette

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  2. Quick thinking for stopping the trailer. Too bad the motorhome got damaged but lucky you weren't hurt. It seems there's always something!

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  3. I keep trying to visualize what happened, but it is something you don't want to think about. Glad you're ok and used quick thinking in this situation.

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  4. Wow! That would be a shocker! I've heard of guys driving down the hiway and seeing one of their wheels pass them but a trailer is a whole different animal! Quick thinking and glad you turned what could have been a real disaster into an unfortunate mishap.

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