SteveRankin
Sequim, WA
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Joined: 05/05/2005
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greg0rn wrote:BobsYourUncle wrote:.... What hairpin curve?
You suddenly realize that YES!! it was only a bad dream!.. 
I wished it was.
So, here we are. My trailer is stuck on a narrow, curvy, tunnel like one way road, cars behind, there is no turning back for naither one of us. It is impossible for me to move ahead. That hairpin is too sharp.
Park attendant arrives and reassures me that things are ok. The traffic is already blocked off at the entrance to that damn scenic loop. Next he points at a narrow bypass passage next to the paved road. That is about 100' behind me. If I back up to that point, waiting cars can bypass me. With difficulties (but calmly and carefully to avoid any damages to my truck - 5th wheel combo)I manage to move it to the bypass area. That takes me perhaps 30 minutes. Every car owner waits patiently, without making faces. No sarcastic comments neither to my face. That was perhaps longest 30 minutes in my life (so far).
So, all waiting cars, with some hesitation as the bypass is rough and very narrow, can move ahead. I'm quite relaxed by now. My good wife seems to be calm and very suportive. I walk a few hundred feet back and assess the situation. The narrow and curvy road of perhaps 3 miles in length is behind me, but that is what is in fact ahead of me and my 5th wheel. Park attendant encourages me to stay calm and relaxed. The only way out for me is to back all the way.
I will stop for a moment here, hoping that someone from Anacortes area will attest the degree of difficulty of that one way scenic loop road. Will continue soon with my story.
We're not quite local enough to know that road well, but we can nearly see it from our living room windows and I do recall driving it in a Toyota Land Cruiser once. Pretty easy in a Land Cruiser. 
We had two somewhat similar experiences this summer. I say somewhat because, we didn't have anything remotely close to 3 miles to back out. The first time, we saw the sign at the entrance to the tiny provincial park saying no RV's over 20' long. It wasn't clear whether they meant the RV or the combined length; either way it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out our 30' long TT and 53' LOA might not fit. But, I thought I'd do the mature thing and walk in a bit further and take a peek before committing to driving in anyway. Except for the detail that the entrance road was flooded from the river, the first 50-100 feet of park road past that looked OK. We made it through but we did get a few 'looks' if you know what I mean.
A couple of months later in the trip we were exploring a Lake Louise park in the Yukon (not THE Lake Louise). It was late in the season and the park was deserted, but we wanted to check it out for future reference. Like so many places up north, it wasn't designed for larger RVs, but we pressed on regardless. Eventually, we found ourselves with the right front tire off the road and the grill guard pushing the bushes out of the way, while the left wheels of the trailer were off the road on the inside of the turn and the trailer itself just starting to touch a small tree with a much larger tree ahead. Going further forward wasn't an option. Fortunately, we didn't have any witnesses, but you can be sure that it took us a while to get out of there. Afterwards, I discovered that I did kiss that tree with the thumb knob on a compartment door.
As for the original topic, Blue Ox doesn't make a Bedsaver for our SuperGlide 18K but we're making arrangements with them to ship our hitch to them so they'll use it for a pattern and send us a new Bedsaver when their done. We'll be triple and quadruple checking our hitch in the mean time hoping to miss out on this particular Chapter of the Stupid Club. We just won't talk about my honorary position as Past Commodore of the Sailing Chapter.
Steve & C. J.
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jetboater454
FL
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Joined: 07/21/2009
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Just wondering how high some raise their jacks off the ground when they do their pull test?If you only raise them an inch or so,you can never hit the bed if it's miss hooked-Some thing I can never see being done to start with.I have my jaws painted white so I can see that they are latched.
"If momma not happy  ....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys  .
2008 3500 Dodge Ram CTD dually 4X4
2007 Gulfstream Endura Max 40
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richfaa
Ohio
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Joined: 04/24/2005
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"Just wondering how high some raise their jacks off the ground when they do their pull test?If you only raise them an inch or so,you can never hit the bed if it's miss hooked-Some thing I can never see being done to start with.I have my jaws painted white so I can see that they are latched. '
Yes that is absolutly correct. Do that every time, never forget, never get distracted, never make a mistake. We do that every time, our jaws are painted white. Both wife and myself do a visual check and have never dropped the camper.....we have a bedsaver.
06 Montana 3400. 08 Ford F-350 6.4L
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rhochnadel
Colorado
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Joined: 09/08/2008
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I am a charter member of the club. We have a large ponderosa tree next to our driveway that I have become intimate with, also the low eave on the house opposite the tree. I am sure I will do many, many more stupid things.
'05 Keystone Challenger TPK
'01 Chev 2500HD Duramax/Allison
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Veebyes
Bermuda & Maryland
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Joined: 11/24/2003
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Every day more chairs are being added to the Stupid Clubs meeting room. Gonna need an auditorium soon.
My favorite, done on an all too frequent basis, is trying to drive off with chocks still under trailer wheels.
I have left a number of broken chocks in dumpsters around the country.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
40+ night per year overnighter
2007 Alpenlite 34RLR
2006 Chevy 3500 LT, CC,LB 6.6L Diesel
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larry barnhart
wenatchee. wa usa
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Joined: 03/30/2001
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Pull test makes us feel better but when we do it some folks watching us yell, your landing gear is still down. MH folks of course.
chevman
chevman
2001 35 ft avalon alpenlite RK
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fdonham
Paris, Arkansas
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Joined: 10/08/2003
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I always do a pull test before I start out. This, however, occurred when I was unhooking the trailer and decided to reposition it after I had unlatched the hitch. I am usually very careful, but we all have our moments. Thank the Lord I had lowered the front jacks enough to prevent damage to the tailgate and bed. The bed rails are going to cost $4500+ to repair($500 deductible). I am glad I have an excellent body shop that I trust.
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Nolan
Full-timing
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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Your not alone on dropping the trailer on the rails. Seems like a lot of people with pickup trucks do that. We have never had a problem. But then we have a trailer saver hitch. Once the jaws clamp around the kingpin and the handle goes into the lock position we are hitched up. Really don't even have to do a pull test with the hitch we have.
Nolan and JoAnn
2000 Kenworth T600. (The Little Blue Truck)
2004 NuWa Hitchhiker Champagne 33LKTG
2003 Kawasaki Nomad. The Cow. (mine)
2004 Harley Road King. The Hog. (hers)
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BruceStarkey
Ontario, Canada
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Joined: 05/02/2004
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gregOrn: reaching that bypass would have been my limit and I would have unhooked the trailer lept up on the bed of the truck and immediately held an auction "who'll give me five, gimme five, big five, do I hear five?"
Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!
'04' International 4400 LoPro 10 spd 310Hp/950FtLbs Harley/RV Toter
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nelsbells
Southern Arizona
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Joined: 08/26/2006
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While backing into our spot in South Texas in April of this year, i noticed that I forgot to pull the lever to move my slider hitch back so I could turn sharper. Well my STUPID hitch has 2 levers: the red one releases the locking pins so the hitch can move back and forth and the black one releases the king pin............i think eveyone left in the park came over to offer calming words(god bless them)........but the fact remains the I alone was the cause of this STUPID mistake.
oh, my fifth-wheel is a Carriage 35' so it is heavy and when it crashed down on my bed rails the sound could be heard for miles....unfortunatly.
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