Your worse mishap arriving at the Fort ?

[FWCamper]

My DS put a hole in his leg with the screen door. I think that was easier to handle then if it had been my dog!

Nothing can stop our fort trips. We had purchased a new RV and on our first trip with it to the fort, the engine block had a crack. We broke down in NC. Luckily we got to a service station. Me , my 2 babies, 2 BIG dogs and 2 cats are all sitting on the couch while the guy has to lift the bed to get to the engine. We ended up having to get it to an authorized repair shop for the warranty but we had our il's come get us in their RV, offloaded and continued on our way to the fort. That mishap taught us to tow a car.

One Christmas we get our site all set up. Go to take a shower and the pipes break. Water everywhere. That was okay because we used the comfort station for the trip. DH has been extra careful with the winterizing ever since.

Of course there are the trips that I forget to pack a key item, like everyones underwear or bathing suits or the pets prescription food.

We were a young family back then, as I get older I find i'm less adaptable to mishaps and must resist my first instinct to just go home.

 

[Elliott]

Flat tire here too! At the fort for 10 days, not a problem. The day of our departure we decided to check out and drive the TT over to the MK parking lot and do a few more hours as we still had a day on our MYW tickets. I must have walked around the TT a dozon times packing up, unhooking sewer etc. and never noticed a problem. We then drove out of the fort and to MK's parking lot. Got parked and the kid parking cars says "you got a flat tire." Sure enough the left rear on the TT is completely flat. It had a sliver of wood between the tread and right through the tire. I send the wife and kids to the park and start changing this tire in the 95 degree heat, in the sun, in the middle of 100 acres of blacktop with every d**n person going to the MK walking by and making a smart a** comment! I didn't have a jack in the trailer so after several cuss words and a gallon of sweat I employed the redneck trailer jack (dragging the good wheel up onto a block to pick the bad one up) and got it changed.

 

[stacktester]

I feel for you there Elliott. I would've driven it to the Hess or AAA Center where you would've had some shade. I have one of those tire jacks myself even though I haven't needed it I wouldn't want to not have it. I have a spare from another trailer that is just like my campers that is just sitting in the garage. After reading all this I'm putting it on the list to bring from now on.

 

[bord1niowa]

We got a flat on the van pulling a pop up at 1 in the morning in Atlanta. The neighborhood didn't look exactly terrific, especially at that time of night. I was in such a hurry to get out of there I didn't even unhook the camper. Just jacked up the van and changed the tire. Thank God the tire was one that hung on the outside back of the van. To top it off, it seemed like everyone (all women of course) had to go to the bathroom too and NOTHING was opened near there. I felt like a Nascar pit crew changing that tire so fast. Didn't stop anywhere to replace the tire until we hit the Fort and went out and bought a new one right away.

 

[drafthorsecrazy]

Didn't stop anywhere to replace the tire until we hit the Fort and went out and bought a new one right away.

That's how we got into trouble when the second tire blew. We were gonna wait till we got to FW, unhook the 5er and go find another spare. I'm seriously thinking that taking 2 spares is the way to go.

 

[ynottony99]

................. I employed the redneck trailer jack (dragging the good wheel up onto a block to pick the bad one up) and got it changed.

I have a floor jack, but it didn't have the umph to lift the weight of the TT all by itself. So I ran the good wheel up on some blocks, and then easily jacked up the axle with the flat. Redneck or whatever, I think it is much safer than putting all that weight on the jack.

 

[chief19spixi]

We had a Flat on the motorhome on the way down to FW in Sept 07. Didn't know it till I saw the emergency lights of the Georgia State Trooper pulling us over. "Did you know you have a flat tire?" wanting to say something smart about going 70mph with a flat and 5 kids inside, I chose "no sir" and began looking... Driver's side rear, out side tire. He wrote me a warning for getting a flat tire! Waited 4hrs for roadside service.
On the way home we blew the inside tire on the driver side rear. Just before leaving Florida on 95. I was not paying or waiting for roadside service on that one. Changing a tire at 10pm on the side of 95 was NO fun!

thats just wrong.. a warning for a flat.. as if you ment for it to go flat!!

BTW I was born and grew up in pottstown.. I lived thereuntil about 6 years ago!!

 

[lindsey]

We had car trouble Jun 04 on our trip to FW. Car died on us right at the SC/GA line. It took about 3hrs for tow to make it to us since we needed one for car and popup. Being Sat PM, we ended up staying in Savannah till Mon morning to get fixed.

 

[AuburnJen92]

last summer, i stupidly decided that we would combine our two trips into one...we blew a tire in ga on our way to tn and didn't have a spare...the state trooper had to take dh to the tire dealership to get another one...that took most of the day...then we get to disney a night early because my parents are staying in the cabins for the weekend, we park the rv and golfcart trailer in the overflow parking lot and instantly get accosted by the disney police saying you can't park here yada yada yada. he waited until my parents came and got us and took us back to the cabins..we had to go and get the cart later...

in the morning, when we were supposed to be checking in, we see this monster huge puddle of antifreeze in the overflow parking lot...needless to say, it was from us and the radiator let go after it cooled down overnight...after many conversations with the mechanic over our week stay, we got it home (thank goodness it is only 1 hr 45 min away) and paid the 2300 dollar bill to get a new one built...

i am hoping our trip this summer goes more smoothly

 

[Elliott]

I have a floor jack, but it didn't have the umph to lift the weight of the TT all by itself. So I ran the good wheel up on some blocks, and then easily jacked up the axle with the flat. Redneck or whatever, I think it is much safer than putting all that weight on the jack.

Just because something is safe doesn't mean it isn't redneckish!

 

[Donna]

reading about all these things that can happen, i can't help but wonder, does anyone belong to Good Sam Emergency Road Service or something similar? What has been your experience in using these. i belong to the good sam but, thankfully, have never had to use them.

 

[kc5grw]

Before our trip down in June 07 I had debated with myself about replacing the 4 year old tires on my fiver before the trip. Well I decided against it and yup, you guessed it, one of 'em blew out. I wasn't even 30 minutes from home yet. It was still really early so I figured I'd keep going and look for a tire shop further down the road. We got to Mississippi and by then I figured that the other tires were going to hold out. I hadn't bought replacement for the spare yet either. About half way through Mississippi the other road side tire goes on the trailer. This time I have to drop the trailer in the only place around for miles and go looking for replacement tires. I back track bout 15 miles get the 2 bad tires replaced, go back to the trailer and mount the 2 new tires then pull the trailer back to the shop to get the tires on the other side replaced. That wasn't to be the end of our problems for that trip though. It was the second or third day of our stay at FW when one of them sudden summer T-storms decides to blow through. The rest of the family went back to the trailer and I went up to the Outpost to check on an internet kit. I ended up waiting under the bus stop awning at the Outpost for about 20 min for a wicked storm to blow through. Several lighting strikes within 50 yards of the bus stop, hail and rain blowing 50mph. Once everything calmed down I made it dripping wet into the Outpost and they had and internet kit so it wasn't a wasted trip. I get back to the trailer and discovered that I did not leave enough slope in my awning to let the rain run off. The roller tube buckled about the middle of the awning due the weight of the water. It took about an hour to get the blasted thing off the trailer and stowed. The rest of the trip was pretty enjoyable with no more mishaps. The drive home was a bit exciting as we drove through a line of severe T-storms almost the entire length of I-10 through LA. Not at all fun being on that d**n bridge in the wind rain and hail. We made it home safe and sound though. I did discover a few months ago that the kid that replaced the 2nd 2 tires on my trailer in MS didn't replace the valve stems and one of the old stems had partially blown out causing the tire to go flat.

 

[RvUsa]

DW drove the roof of the golf cart into the arm of the awing a couple days before we left, and didn't tell me. She just "twisted it back into place. Well we go to leave in the am and I am trying to get it to roll up, well I can't even get the arm to slide down over the other, I am cussin and swearin, and DW asks whats wrong. Then when I tell her, she says, oh I caught that with the roof of the GC, you don't think I hurt it do you?..... well after some more cussin and swearin, I get it down and try to roll it up, well when it gets to the top, it is about 3" from being lined up so one are goes into the other. More cussin, roll it down, roll it back up pulling to side as I go, still doesn't line up.... do it again, still no go. Well I am trying to figure out what to do now, when I look at the fabric in the groove on the roll, it is all the way down at one end..... I ask DW " just how hard did you hit it?" she says "I just tapped it" yeah right.... well slide fabric to center, and got it all up and sorta smashed together, put my screw on zip tie thing on that I always use after last awning mishap in oh (ripped off side of old camper going down rt 80 in about 75 mph crosswind and torrential storm).

Needless to say, when it warms up before next trip, I have some work to do.

John

 

[bord1niowa]

I actually do have AAA but at 1 am in a not so great neighborhood, I wasn't about to wait for them to show up. I was outta there!

 

[2goofycampers]

DW drove the roof of the golf cart into the arm of the awing a couple days before we left, and didn't tell me. She just "twisted it back into place. Well we go to leave in the am and I am trying to get it to roll up, well I can't even get the arm to slide down over the other, I am cussin and swearin, and DW asks whats wrong. Then when I tell her, she says, oh I caught that with the roof of the GC, you don't think I hurt it do you?..... well after some more cussin and swearin, I get it down and try to roll it up, well when it gets to the top, it is about 3" from being lined up so one are goes into the other. More cussin, roll it down, roll it back up pulling to side as I go, still doesn't line up.... do it again, still no go. Well I am trying to figure out what to do now, when I look at the fabric in the groove on the roll, it is all the way down at one end..... I ask DW " just how hard did you hit it?" she says "I just tapped it" yeah right.... well slide fabric to center, and got it all up and sorta smashed together, put my screw on zip tie thing on that I always use after last awning mishap in oh (ripped off side of old camper going down rt 80 in about 75 mph crosswind and torrential storm).

Needless to say, when it warms up before next trip, I have some work to do.

John

been there done that DS ran into awning arm, DH beat the %^&* out of it with hammer to get us home. trip to dealer coming up...

 

[BigDaddyRog]

whoa...at first glimpse I thought that said "DH beat the (*&^ out of the kid with a hammer"!!!!! I was thinking DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAng, thats tough love there!!

 

[stacktester]

You never cease to amaze me Rog.

 

[ynottony99]

Hey, my neck is pretty red most of the time. As Ernest T. Bass would say, I wasn't trying to 'question your proffesionalism', or something or t'other

 

[2goofycampers]

here is what you need for those flat tires http://www.smartjak.ca/

 

[Disney Campers]

here is what you need for those flat tires http://www.smartjak.ca/

I bought one simular at camping world and have not had a flat since