A day from hell

[AuntieDodo]

Sorry your time away was cut short Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound.

 

[RTinAZ]

Know your frustration(s) Neal! Decided to drive to Mormon Lake RV campground SE of Flagstaff AZ. Website looked inviting.
GPS said to turn off I17, 3 miles in, pavement ends, now I’m on a extremely dusty washboard road cruising along at 3-5 mph as all our gear, previously secured, is now roaming throughout the coach.
Narrow road, cow path quality, no where to turn around.
Finally arrive a campground to learn there is NO lake, dried up eons ago. Our spot is backwards, and I’m not running water/elec/septic under our dusty rig.
Move one over with proper hookups, attach my extra hose and commence rinsing dirt and dust off. Seriously, radiator was completely clogged.
Then here comes camp manager telling me I have to move, wrong spot. Not being in a congenial mood, we all but lock horns. Finally he fully understands Grampaw ain’t moving.
2 ladies pull in, took same route I did, they are livid. I smile and rinse off their rig.
Duties completed, hook up, off to their bar for beer thirty. Only open Fri & Sat, as is the restaurant, but no mention of this on website.
Travel trailer pulls in next to me, our doors face each other, he has to remark because our slides would bump. Our dogs not getting along. They have a 4-5 yr old girl that my wife loves up to, except we can’t get rid of her now.
Friday night steak....considered pounding it flat and attaching to tires for extended wear.
Left Saturday, a day early.
Sorry, cannot recommend Mormon Lake, hmmm, what lake?
RTinAZ

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Must have been routed on Stoneman lake road. Lake Mary road is the way to get there.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Or Forest Road 240, yikes.... ;-O Goggle Maps Satellite view helps out to preview roads. Hard lesson to learn. We had a similar expedience early on in our RV trips. Won't happen again

 

[Old Bubblehead]

I haven't been RVing much this year after returning from a long winter trip in April short of a service trip and two other short trips. I'm finally getting out for a two week excursion to the mountains of VA before returning home for another two month sit until long winter departure end of December. It was a bit hard finding a decent place as my favs were all booked as a lot of places shut down the end of October around here. I found a place west of Blacksburg, VA that I figured I'd try as I do need to tell myself to keep going to new places as I eat the same restaurants, return to known good campgrounds, etc.

I've been RVing 3 years now and I certainly have had my share of lessons learned. Here we are 3 years and 3 months later and I'm still writing the book on how to do things bad. I booked two weeks at Kairos Wilderness Campground, I thought it was in WV but I think it's actually in VA (see where this is going???). I know I have about a 5 hour drive ahead of me including rest stop for dawg and fuel stop for some TA discount goodness via the TSD diesel fuel savings program. ($1.89 I think it was). Enjoying the beautiful drive passing VA Tech slated to arrive around 2 PM after a 9 AM departure with stops. Trusty GPS at work for me I'm now finding myself on very windy insanely difficult roads going up a mountain. Really not wide enough to call it a two lane road but it was two way traffic. Two switch backs I could barely make around the turn but I made it. Then comes a sharp left turn required and I couldn't make it. Now I'm blocking two roads and I'm angled downhill pretty steep and I need to disconnect. I can't.

I get in the car and try to remove some stress on the towbar and that's not helping. I put the toad in neutral as I've re-engaged the transmission now and get in the RV to try to get better alignment with what little room I have left. I return to the toad and the doors are locked with the key in the ignition. The engine is running so I guess when there was movement it locked the doors. My phone is IN THE CAR, windows are up and doors locked! Now what am I going to do? I was going to use OnStar on the phone to unlock the doors. I don't remember if I have spare keys in the safe, I may. Thank God I had my Apple Watch on and was able to do OnStar from my apple watch to unlock the doors! Mind you just yesterday I decided to try OnStar on my Apple Watch and it presented a message to refer to the phone to accept new terms of agreement. Had I not done that yesterday I would not have been able to use the Apple Watch. If you have OnStar and an Apple Watch go through the process of learning how to use it! It can save you. More interim lessons learned here is until your toad is disconnected OPEN YOUR WINDOW! A lady pulled up and I asked her to hold the lever down on the tow bar while I put the toad in reverse so I could get it extended from being fully compressed and I was able to complete the disconnect. Two nice men also stopped as I had blocked everyone and told me the route I was taking was not going to happen. I would not be able to get my motorhome down the road I was turning on. They gave me directions on how to get back to the main road which was about 10 miles down this narrow road I was on before trying to turn.

As I made way down this narrow road two areas had the shoulder collapsed due to erosion. I went far left in these areas to avoid going over the side and rolling down the mountain, the end of me and Elli! I figured I may be able to dive out my window but Elli was harnessed in on the coach, she would be done for. I looked all over for the signs these two nice guys told me about and couldn't find it. I made several calls to the CG and finally got through, he gave me directions but it was too long for me to comprehend as I can only remember up to the first turn! The address was completely different from what I had to enter (stay tuned). GPS said to left at Rt 648, he told me to go right. Made no sense. I went right then noticed I was on the road I just came down so I stopped and figured I'd google it and see what's going on. A guy in a truck stopped and asked if I needed help and told me to follow him, he was going in that direction. Had to drive about 5-7 miles on a gravel rough road. Then turn and go up a very VERY steep paved road. I wasn't sure I would even be able to get up this road, no way a gasser could have done this. Another large switchback left which I couldn't make and again I'm in a situation where I may not be able to get the toad unhooked. The CG guy came down to help me as I wasn't that far now but I got it unhooked, made the turn, and rehooked. Back up even steeper roads, good grief, finally there!

This is one of my worst experiences to date in RV navigation. First mistake, I didn't pay attention to the details on the CG web site about getting there. I trust my GPS and it's worked fine to date. Mistake! Second and biggest issue, you know sometimes the web sites have two addresses, one is the "mailing address"??? yeah, I was going there, not even close to the CG. I didn't do a Google Maps review of the area, it looked straight-forward from the CG search. Reviews mentioned the steep road.

I was very close to just going back home or another CG and give up. I didn't care about deposit or cancellation rules, this was infuriating and demoralizing. Quite frankly it was scary. I had low hanging limbs, one I thought may have busted my windshield or part above it. I thought it was a loose limb hanging down, wrong, it was just a friggin full fledged limb that wasn't trimmed.

So I'm finally here, only motorhome here, not surprised, all others are smaller trailer types. It's going to be interesting going down the hill and I won't be able to make the sharp turn where I had to disconnect/reconnect so that will have to happen again.

Not all campgrounds are paradise. Do your homework. I'll make the mistakes for you. Today was not fun at all!

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We run a similar range, home is Suffolk but we have a place in Roaring Gap, NC. Going to make note of your trials and tribulations to prevent the type of drama you suffered! Thanks for sharing!

 

[RTinAZ]

Hey Bubblehead! You are not alone with trials and tribulations! Having driven through Holbrook, AZ numerous times as a 4 wheeler, our first with our 36’ Class A w/toad couple years back. There is a park just east of the main drag where we stretch our legs and let the dog out for a romp. Must have turned down wrong street as pavement ended and dropped down 18”. Hmmm, decisions. Rather than disconnect let’s creep over at a 45, bad choice. Bent the big rock flap, but appears secure. Down the pike my wife says, I smell something burning, great. Quick inspection shows flap ready to fall off, much profanity. I climb under in 95 degree heat, finally disconnect flap, it’s toast, toss. Climbing out from under coach I catch my right forearm on exhaust pipe and cut arm wipe open, blood everywhere. Probably needed stitches, but frustration says hit the road dummy. Wife patches me up with Neosporin and bandages, off we go. Yet another scar. Another lesson to scout the road ahead.
RTinAZ