Thursday, August 09, 2012

TURNED OUT TO BE A 3 DOG AFTERNOON:))

DSC_0009

It was the soft pitter patter of rain on our steel roof that had me on my feet about 5 a.m. this morning. Shed doors were open as well as the rig's door & the Jeep's windows were down. The rain was light & I had everything closed up in a couple minutes with no problem. That early morning hour is always a nice time to be outside anyway.
---

Couple surprise visitors for Pheebs today.   Stella & Guinness dropped in for a bunch of hours when Kelly brought them home from the DEER PARK LODGE office while she ran some errands.  With today’s rains she didn’t want to leave them outside or in the office while away because puppy Guinness has a habit of leaving the office looking like a bomb went off inside.

DSC_0035

GUINNESS, STELLA & PHEEBS

DSC_0010 DSC_0011

PHEEBS & STELLA

DSC_0014

AND PUPPY BOY GUINNESS IS REALLY A SMALL HORSE WITH A DOGGY SUIT ON…GUINNESS IS TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH THE PHEEBS:))

Park Ranger Gaelyn at GEOGYPSY caught herself some nice sunset photos at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon recently.  Clouds make for spectacular sunrises & sunsets & with Monsoon season in full swing, Arizona is showing off some of her finest scenery.

---

Might want to check out Debra’s post about THE BANE OF A TRAVELING COMPANION.  We RVing Snow Birds sometimes take it for granted traveling with almost all the luxuries of home with us.  Our own washrooms, beds, showers, kitchens…..& space, etc.  Whole different story when traveling in a much smaller vehicle like a car, truck or SUV.  Debra tells it like it is…………….

--- 

When's the last time you had your rig stuck in a ditch? Never, you say. Geeezzzzzz, wished I could say that.  We were RVing Newbies & had only had our Motorhome a few months when this incident occurred while in Lindsay Ontario to get a satellite system installed back in 07.

DSC_0006 DSC_0007

GETTING OUR RIG OUTFITTED WITH A SATELLITE SYSTEM FOR INTERNET & TV…LINDSAY ONTARIO 2007

I knew the mistake I made as soon as it happened & I knew right away without getting out of my seat we were gonna need a tow truck!! I had read about this happening to other RV'ers, especially upon entering or leaving a campsite road & especially at night. It wasn't a campsite I was turning off the road into, but a large parking lot on a dark street in an industrial section of Lindsay, Ontario Canada.

---
We had arrived in Lindsay Tuesday night Oct. 3/07 about 8 p.m. & thought we would take a drive past the TECH MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS place where we were going to have our satellite TV & internet installation & lesson the following morning. We missed the corner near their location but there was a parking lot just up around the corner & up the road on the right with a wide entrance. I could see there was a second entrance & decided to turn into that one assuming it was equally as wide. WRONG!!! It was dark & hard to see so I eased to the left of the road to make a wide sweeping right turn. What I failed to see was the supposed entrance I was turning into was a narrow ramp type road for exiting the parking lot to the west. Everything was fine as we swung round & entered two thirds of the way up into the driveway. And then....... a bump, a scraping crunch sound & we stopped. A little pressure on the gas pedal & nothing. Into reverse, step on the gas a bit, nothing. We were hung up high & dry.

DSC_0005

YOU CAN SEE THE TOW TRUCK OPERATOR’S FEET STICKING OUT BEHIND THE BACK WHEELS AS HE TRY’S TO FIGURE OUT A SOLUTION FOR OUR ‘STUCK’ PROBLEM:((

I immediately remembered some of the RV forums where I've read about people getting into this situation so I knew what was wrong, we were in trouble, & needed a tow truck. What a sickening feeling it was as I stepped out the side door because the bottom step was only inches above the ground. The rear passenger side wheels had dropped into a ditch beside the driveway & the rear end of the coach was now sitting right smack down on the road. As I walked around the unit my heart sank even lower because I could not see any way of getting the motorhome out of it's predicament without causing a lot of further damage. Towing it out from the front or back was going to do some real serious bad stuff for sure. It was a really dumb mistake I had made & I knew it. I was ready to give up RVing right there & then & just simply take up basket weaving & stay home forever. No doubt about it I figured...... we were in a rut!!
---

Meanwhile, as I am surveying & fretting over this doomsday scenario Kelly was on the cell phone talking to our E.R.S. (Emergency Road Service) people, explaining our situation & location. The dispatcher had a tow truck scrambled within minutes. (Gaynors Towing Service-Lindsay) They even called back to see how we were doing. Now, that's friendly & efficient service I'd say & we had a tow truck there in less time it takes to drink a quick coffee.

As all the negative thoughts were rolling around in my head I had already made a second miscalculation by assuming the worst. (I usually do that) What I hadn't figured on though, was.....the positive thinking tow truck driver. He was a young fellow, baseball cap, friendly & looking every bit like a capable mechanic type guy as he strode over from his truck. I didn't have to explain the situation, the problem was very obvious to say the least. He didn't say too much at first so I took that to mean we were really up the creek for sure. He got down in the ditch & crawled in behind the back tires for a look see. That's when I took the picture & you can see his legs & feet sticking out. In a muffled voice I heard him say something like, "hey, you got load levellers on the coach." Did I detect some optimism in his voice & maybe, just maybe, a ray of hope here??

Copy of DSC_0014

WHITE EGRETS AT THE HULLET MARSH ABOUT 20 MINUTES FROM WHERE WE LIVE

He climbed back out & instructed me to go into the coach & put the rear passenger side hydraulic load leveller down. Well, that instantly got me real nervous for sure because I had only ever put them down once before at home in the driveway when I was trying to figure out how they worked. (which I never really figured out too good anyway) I remembered to put the emergency brake on, plus the hydraulic on/off switch but of course I dumped both valve levers & put all 4 levellers down. WRONG!! I could here him holler something at me from out the side door so I quickly managed to retract the front levellers & get us back down into earth's orbit again. I also quickly retracted the rear drivers side leveller too. Well, at least I think I did. Now, we were back in business & the tow truck driver fellow was probably wiping his brow & breathing a sigh of relief as he was thinking something like, TOURISTS!! He had me carefully move that last leveller lever into a down position & I could feel the back end of the coach lifting, & lifting, & lifting. Any higher & I figured we would be in orbit. When it seemed almost certain we would, he hollered, "STOP!!

---

Then.... nothing but silence for about 10 seconds. Had he left & gone home, was it coffee break time, did Lindsay have a 9 o'clock curfew?? Finally I heard, "ok retract the leveller all the way up." I nervously put the dump lever in the up position & the coach descended, but not as far as before. Hmmmmmm. "Ok, back up real slow & try not to spin the wheels" he said. What's this, could it be, could it be. YES, as I ever so slowly stepped on the gas the coach very smoothly backed right out onto the road. 'YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY:))" I quickly parked the rig & got out to see what wondrous miracle this young fellow had performed. "Short planks" he said. "Always a good idea to carry a couple of short sturdy planks with ya." He had them in the tow truck & when the leveller raised the passenger rear side of the coach he simply put 2 sturdy planks under the rear dual wheels. When I retracted the leveller the tires came down firmly on the planks & I was able to back straight out onto the road. Wow, talk about a feeling of relief.....but, then it got even better.

---

As we inspected the coach underneath with flashlights it was apparent that there was no damage & a following closer inspection the next morning confirmed this. Thank heavens for peanut butter & smart tow truck operators:))))))) Too bad about some motorhome driver's though:((

DSC_8514

WE ALWAYS HAVE CURIOUS LITTLE CRITTERS POPPING UP IN OUR GARDENS

GROANER'S CORNER:(( One day, a little boy wrote to Santa Clause, "Please send me a sister." Santa Clause wrote him back, "Ok, send me your mother."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

9 comments:

  1. I am still laughing over Debra's post and thank you for featuring it. It gives a good example of why I travel alone!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sassy didn't get off near as well as you did when she put her motorhome in a ditch. She ended up with lots of damage to the bay doors. Always nice when you luck out with a smart tow truck driver.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Please ship all three of those pups to Moab ASAP. What a bunch of cutie pies. That Guiness is like a big bumbling baby ox.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We have all made big boo boos when Rving....I could write a book..and so SHOULD you...

    ReplyDelete
  5. glad your 'bump in the night' was a fix that seemed pretty simple..sometimes it just takes someone to stand back and think for just a minute and figure out a solution!
    your three dog afternoon sounded like it was a ton of fun!..Guiness is a cutie!!..as are Stella and Pheebes too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That Oh Crap feeling is never fun. Mine happened in a place called Canada, at a National Park. I drove in and a ranger? started yelling at me in French/English to back up NOW. I put the RV in reverse and knocked down the new park sign. It was built well and my trailer hitch went up it's pole and my left rear wheels were in the air. I was stuck and the ranger lost his attitude and got a tractor and chain to pull me free. He then allowed me to camp, provided I let him back my RV in the spot. No damage to the RV, but the sign was not there when we went back the next Summer. I love to camp in Canada, they have nice people.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So many RV lessons learned along the way. When I started traveling in the desert I was told to always have boards and a jack ready for getting unstuck, and used them a couple times.

    Thanks for the plug. Off to read Debra's post.

    Having a great time showing off the canyon to Chuck and Geri.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In the ten years that we had our RV, it did end up a little worse for wear.
    In construction zones they like to put out those triangle shaped signs tell you to go left or right? Well, one of the workers had placed one just a wee bit too close to the edge of the road. Took my drivers side mirror clean off. Had tools with me so I was able to reattach the dangling mess (there's a wire in there for the heat and to move the mirror)
    I learned all about a company called Velvac and how to order mirror parts.
    There were a couple other minor issues. We won't go there.
    Managed to stay out of the ditch though! I guess that was a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There was a CBC news story recently about an RV ending up in his neighbour's POOL! He'll be the talk of the neighbourhood for years! ;-)

    Hazel

    ReplyDelete