A day from hell

[J&JD]

To be clear this was NOT a GPS issue. The issue was I entered the "mailing address" for the campground instead of the physical address as some sites have multiple addresses, I chose wrong, even more so I didn't verify as I rarely look at the entire route. A little better preparation is what was needed. The Garmin 770 has been great to date, the only troubles I have with it are leaving fuel stops as it keeps wanting to go on a re-route after I get off the interstate. This is the one time where you need to disregard the GPS and get yourself back to the interstate. Again, this story was not a failure of the GPS, the GPS routed me on roads per my params, this was a planning error which resulted in an input error.

One other part of this story was I arrived at around 5:30 PM. As I was at the bottom of the mountain the sun was already shading off of the mountains and days are getting shorter. I had about an hour to right this wrong before abandoning as no way I was driving these roads after sunset.

I have all this on dashcam, I'll look through the videos now. If I want to share any of it I'll report back, I may opt for therapy instead!

P.S. I didn't realize the dashcam was recording audio as I thought I had that turned off so as not to offer my critiques of fellow drivers on video. Back to reviewing the haunting footage.

@Neal ,
Are you SURE you want to get back into flying??

 

[Neal]

@Neal ,
Are you SURE you want to get back into flying??

I'll stick to FlightSim 2020

 

[AbdRahim]

Hey Neal, you'd be surprised at what hills the gassers can pull. I stayed at a campground, literally on a mountain this summer. After traveling up a seven mile hill on the interstate (I could barely maintain 55 mph). I arrived and parked on what looked like a 40-45 degree angle. I made sure I engaged the parking brake. Then I followed the golf cart up the side of the mountain, wondering if this huge machine could make it. It did with no problem. Of course I did not dare leave first gear.

 

[whereRVapp]

Glad to hear to you made it. I can only imagine the frustration of this experience!

 

[bpaikman]

I take a look-see on Google Earth, also, before venturing onto unknown routes. I kid you not, one route that was plotted for us in north Texas, ended up being nothing more than a meandering cow trail, and definitely never reached the destination before it petered out.
If the google car has never been down a certain road (and it hadn’t - I had to look at it in 2D) then I KNOW our rig probably has no business on it. ?

 

[MapNerd]

I take a look-see on Google Earth, also, before venturing onto unknown routes. I kid you not, one route that was plotted for us in north Texas, ended up being nothing more than a meandering cow trail, and definitely never reached the destination before it petered out.
If the google car has never been down a certain road (and it hadn’t - I had to look at it in 2D) then I KNOW our rig probably has no business on it. ?

That’s actually a really good idea. In Google Maps, you can drag the little StreetView man over a map and drop him onto a spot to see the StreetView. However, while you’re holding him the over the map before you drop him, the streets where StreetView is available will get a blue outline. If your GPS route is telling you to go down a road where there is no StreetView, it’s either really new, or really bad.

 

[ARD]

Glad you are okay @Neal. There just isn't enough tequila for that trip.

 

[Neal]

I pulled some dashcam videos but I don't have the bandwidth here to upload them. Will do after I return the end of the month unless therapist says otherwise.

 

[bpaikman]

That’s actually a really good idea. In Google Maps, you can drag the little StreetView man over a map and drop him onto a spot to see the StreetView. However, while you’re holding him the over the map before you drop him, the streets where StreetView is available will get a blue outline. If your GPS route is telling you to go down a road where there is no StreetView, it’s either really new, or really bad.

yes, i know. ? I also use Google earth to check out RV parks.... I like to look around at the neighborhood where they are located. But on roads I like to check and see how much shoulder they have ...and what condition it’s in.

 

[skychs]

Neal, sorry to hear about your experience. That’s one of the biggest fears we have. I’m glad you got it all worked out.

Driving into the Promise Land State Park on Sunday the road was so narrow we had to drive on the side of the road to get by oncoming traffic. It was not fun.

It’s not enough to ask if they can handle big rigs .... we now ask how many big rigs they currently have. In this case .... NONE. ?

Thank goodness I’m only 37’ long.

 

["EZ"]

Good Lord!! That sounds pretty tough. Glad the outcome was good.

My very first trip in our 40' diesel pusher with the wife was kinda like that. We were going to a campground in Pigeon Forge, TN. We had never been there before. The GPS decided to take us on the SHORTEST route. This took us off the interstate and up over a mountain. I was very familiar with this route since I have ridden my motorcycle this way many times. However, just before we got to Pigeon Forge, the GPS told us to take a turn to get to the campground on a road I had never been on before. It was a VERY narrow 2 lane going around the side of a mountain with the holler (valley) about 300 ft. below us with no guard rail. As we came around the curve on this narrow back road we met a Wal-Mart tractor trailer. He was obviously following his GPS like we were. We both STOPPED in the middle of the road and just looked at each other!! I had only driven our RV one time before and I honestly didn't think we could pass. But he started inching forward so I figured I would too. Our mirrors were less than an inch apart when we passed. He was sweating as badly as I was. My wife was in a panic!!! As we pulled into the campground and got out of the RV still shaking the owner of the campground took one look at us and said "You came in the back way didn't ya?"

 

[Neal]

A 1 minute segment from my dashcam of me getting out of the road area I should never have been on. Two way road, some shoulders were eroded and dropped off (not in this video). Joy...

 

[sheridany]

@Neal that’s a walking trail at best not a road. You are a brave person.

 

[whereRVapp]

Holy crap!

 

[Neemer]

Holy crap!

This X100