Most embarrassing moment at a campsite

[Paul Somers]

I've been camping so long and had so many embarrassing moments I should write a book. I guess the most embarrassing for me happened a few years ago. I was walking around the camp ground and an elderly couple; bout my age; with their grandkids had just pulled in with the longest HI-LO I had ever seen. They were pulling with a Buick automobile and were haveing trouble getting the front jacked up to clear the ball. I figured I would show off my strength and help them. After trying with all my might, I couldn't muster the strength. Finally a gent that had been watching came over and said if you will raise the back stablizer jacks it will jack easier. I looked back and sure enough the gent had first jacked the back of HI-LO with back jacks. Once jacks were raised the front jacked up easily.

 

[parcher]

Not camping related but Very funny. MY friends brother had an old International pick-up and a fishing boat. He went out on the Hudson for a night of fishing and had good luck until it was time to get the boat out of the water. The international was a stick shift gasser with points. He backed the trialer down the ramp but was having a hard time sseing what he was doing, BRAINSTORM; "I'll use the reverse lights as loading lights". He already had the brake set so he put it in reverse but had to turn the key to the run position to get the lights to work. He strapped the boat fast to the trailer and was making his way back to cab when it happened..... the parking brake failed! Gravity took the little International for a ride and the engine tried to hold it there but the ign was on, and once it got moving a little the truck backed itself into the mighty Hudson under its own power. My friend has a picture he took of his brother standing waist deep on top of that 'ol truck. We think it's very funny, his brother still isn't amused.

 

[drees1]

Boat ramps are truely amazing. fortunately, I have not had any major problems but have seen... .



A 5. 0 mustang smoke it's clutch pulling out a ski boat on a steep ramp.



A cavalier with only it's antenna showing above the water.



An Aerostar with water lapping at the rear floor because the boat would not come off the trailer, so they kept backing up. The boat was floating the trailer since the rear tiedowns were in place.



A boat sinking with water over the floor boards because the plug was not put in. Then the car could not pull it out on the trailer with all the weight of water in it. It was left on the dock while they parked the car.



A 1/2 ton van backing a 28' !!! cabin cruiser down the ramp with front brakes locked and gaining speed!! Slowed down when it hit the water, no damage.



A dryrotted winch rope break on a roller bed trailer letting the boat off and out into the lake. No one else around had a boat so the guy swam out after it.

 

[dewdo]

Yep, boat ramps are a good place to see some strange things.



A few years ago my son bought a 21' jet sled and wanted my wife and I to go out with him and his wife and daughter. I agreed and we headed for the San Juan Islands of WA. (Anacortes) We were going to do some salmon fishing as well as toss out a few crab pots. The plans was to have a picnic in the park eating fresh salmon and fresh crab.



He launched the boat and since there was not any room to tie up at the launch dock, he had a long rope tied to the bow which he tossed to his wife on the beach. He told her we were going to have to go buy some bait and left his wife and mine holding the rope.



We took our time and an hour later we returned to the launch to find his wife and another good samaritan with 5 gallon buckets bailing as fast as they could. My wife said the fellow came by in his boat and told my daughter-in-law that the boat was filling with water and took her out to the boat to start the bailing.



My son dove in and swam out to the boat, crawled aboard and found the plug on the dash, and then dove down and installed the plug. The bilge pump fuse was blown and wasn't working. The water had covered the batteries killing them, so needless to say our outing was spoiled because of the one thing that a boater should always check! MAKE SURE THE PLUG IS IN.



Dewdo in the other Washington

 

[DBF]

If you haven't made a mistake, you haven't been doing anything.



1. Blasted black-water tank valve didn't close all the way due to an obstruction. When I opened the cap at the dump station to attach the hose to drain it, a lovely mess gushed all over the place.



2. Wife went in to use the facilities, I continued to get ready to get on the road without consulting the checklist. I started backing up with the trailer attached, and bent one stabilzer jack that I'd forgotten to raise. Couldn't figure out why it was so hard to back up and why the people in the next site were screaming at me.



3. Forgot another time to use the checkoff list and got honked-and-signalled by another RVer that the TV antenna was still up.



I'll do some more, I know it. I just try to keep them to a minimum.



DBF

 

[jandtjil]

Reasons why I bought a real truck and am no longer tent camping



#1. 2 week vacation out to Wyo, which was Mrs Js 1st trip to the state. After a couple nights at old faithful, we headed into to Cody and set up the tent at the KOA. Just prior to sundown the Mrs suggests I put some tent stakes in. NAH, I think it's gonna be a nice night, "you know I grew up not far from here". Well about 2 AM I'm awakened by the noise of fabric straining to get airborne. The tent, with the exception of where we were laying was blown into a near perfect circle. That was some mighty fine crow, and I ate all of it!



#2. Not wanting to get up and start a fire just to brew coffee in the morn, we decided to buy a big honking inverter which would come in handy incase we ever needed a table saw, a TV, a blow dryer and a small microwave when the power was out. It was the maiden voyage of our shiny new Nissan Pathfinder(POS)! I decided that I would start the coffee and take the dog for a quick walk down to the lake shore and return for a fresh shot of caffeine.

Mrs J had not seen the cleverness of getting up early for a brisk walk and decided to continue sleeping. Heres where I get educated about our new vehicle, unfortunately you cannot run the outlets without a key in the ignition. No problem!, we have electric locks. I'll simply put the key in, shut the door, (lock it since the wifes snoozin) and unlock it with the remote when I return. Well to a make a long story a little less long, I had that cup of coffee but not for another hour and 45 minutes, when the locksmith took pity on me and drove out. That was the best 45 dollar cup of coffee, I ever had. even though it tasted strangely similar to crow!

and thats all I got to say about that



JJ

 

[WadePatton]

The joys of tent camping.

Well since I'm still a youngster at 36 and have only a dog, no wife, and no younguns--I still pitch a tent.



I see several advantages to tent camping:

1. I've never had a tent depreciate more than $100 over its lifespan. Heck I don't think I've ever paid that much for one--although it is possible.

2. I rarely do any off season maintenance on the tent-like brakes, bearings, etc.

3. I've been able to back (er pack) my tent anywhere I wanted to go.

4. I can "pull" my tent with a bicycle.

5. When the tent wears out or needs upgrading I don't have to sell it or trade it in.

6. Never had a "blackwater" incident. Gatorade bottles work great.

7. If I forget the tent, I can pick one up on the way.

8. The tent fits into a canoe.



That being said, I have suffered some tent-born miseries and have lustfully considered a pop-up on such occasions. But then wouldn't the mighty CTD look silly pulling a pop-up?

 

[klenger]

When I was young instead of so hansome, I always said I would never buy an RV. I'm a tuff rugid guy and don't mind sleeping on the ground.



See sig.

 

[BigUgly]

About 4 yeras ago, I was tent camping near Clemson SC. Growing up about 150 yards from a boat landing, I had gotten good at backing trailers up, but, being 21 I was still tent camping. One evening a couple pulls in in a Chevy Astro van with a new Hi-Lo camper and two couples of friends also pulling campers coming later. The group picked a mess of sites right across from me. After *****ing to myself for a few minutes about them picking sites next to the ONLY OTHER camper in the park, I settled back with my last cold beer to watch them. It soon became evident that this was their first camper, maybe even first trailer. After about 15 minutes, I ambled over to offer my assistance. The man asked if I would direct him. No good. This guy acted like he's been driving for a while now and will one day soon get this steering thing down good . After another 10 minutes, I kicked him out of the van and backed that sucker right into the spot. While helping them put up the trailer the other two trailers showed up and I had to direct them into their spots.

Well after all this, I decided I needed another beer only to find out I was out . After recieving their thanks and the first wife was finished extoling my driving skills to the rest of the group, I fired up my old Chevy and ran on a beer run.

Of course, they were all standing around as I pulled back in and were getting real friendly-like. They watched their driving ace back his truck into his spot and right into a big friggen tree!

That was embarrassing!

Josiah

 

[MABurns]

Not in a campground but equally as embarrasing.



You all have probably seen the locking lever that allows you to secure the hitch pull bar on a fifth wheel right?



I was dropping off my fifth wheel at the dealer and was starting to unhitch when the service manager asked me if I could move it closer to the shop.



Sure not a problem, didn't secure the locking lever and when I pulled up the hill, off the hitch the trailer came. Slid back the bed, took out the tailgate, did I mention that I had already unhooked the brake away switch? There rolled my fifth wheel trailer down the hill towards the new sales lot sliding on the pavement on the front legs.



Luckily for me it stopped inches from hitting a new one. $1200 damage to the truck and surprisingly very little to the trailer.



Morale of the story, Lock the pull bar even if you are moving the unit 10 feet.

 

[KennyM]

Pulled into a campground called Bear Run in Western PA. The owner comes out waving his arms for me to stop. I said let me pull up alittle more so I don't block the road, he says no STOP!!!, then point up. This campground has this tree with very low limbs, now digging into my brand new fiver's roof. That tree ripped my nice new rubber roof in three places. Thats about the dumbest thing I have done yet.

 

[Mike Ellis]

When I was a teenager, my folks had a MinnieWinnie motorhome but never really went anywhere in it. The summer I was 14, my aunt and uncle used it to go to the mountains and took pity on poor Mikey and dragged him along with their kids. Woo hoo, our first trip to the mountains!



Getting there was uneventful, but when we arrived we learned that nobody had any idea how to make the refrigerator work with LP. Ended up having to get some people from another campsite to come show us how to light it and all. Had similar "fun learning opportunities" with the black water system etc.



We were staying at a campground near Eagle Nest lake, and my cousin and I were desperately wanting to catch some of those rainbow trout we had heard so much about and seen in "Field and Stream" since we were boys. We raced over to the little tackleshop, bought salmon eggs and such, and out we went to fish. We fished up the lake, and down the lake. Nothing. Went to the little river that flowed through the campground, and fished and fished and fished. Nothing. Went back to the tackleshop the next day, bought different bait - and repeated the sequence. Still nothing. Third day, we went back and tried lures. Still nothing. We were so desperate to catch a trout we were ready to dive in and grapple for 'em. Not even a dadgum nibble, although other people with exactly the same bait and such were pulling them out like cokes out of a vending machine. On the 4th day, we went back to the tackleshop ready to try anything and the lady working there looked at our sunburned, crestfallen faces and said, "Hold on boys... " and went back in the back. She came back and tossed me a white paper-wrapped package and said, "Now you can tell everybody you caught some rainbow trout... "



Inside the paper were about a dozen cleaned frozen trout! Boy the family gave us fits about our fishing skill when we showed up with those trout, "You boys been out ice fishing somewhere?!" At that point I decided I'd stick with hunting...



Then there was the time my cousin and I went up to Red River tent camping and I managed to get my Jeep submerged in the middle of the river when we came down out of the mountains - it had been raining and I learned the hard way that "Hey, it doesn't look any deeper than before... " isn't always accurate...



Hmmm, come to think of it there are too many of those kind of stories, maybe I need to take up a different hobby... .

 

[phoekema]

Fifth wheel hitch lock

MABurns,

At least you had your 'landing pods' down. A friend of mine was pulling out from his home and took off without locking the hitch. Of course, his pods were up! He ended up replacing the pickup box. Suprisingly he didn't do too much damage to the trailer, itself. With all the heavy frame work in that area, he must have landed on an area on the trailer right below a frame member - minimizing damage to the trailer.

 

[bighammer]

Entertaining stories, but too many from Michigan. (makin us luk stoopid or sumthin)

 

[MABurns]

They where not down the whole way, fortunately the damage to the bed was small enought that bed rail caps covered it. 15 minutes, touch up paint, 3M tape, and $75 diamond plate bed rail protectors... ... good as new..... tailgate was a total loss though.