CONFESSIONS OF AN RVer (or screw ups) WE ALL CAN ADD TO THIS!

PUG

Pug
All RVers have times we would rather not talk about but I have found the best person to make fun of is myself. Not only am I easy to pick on but sometimes I think it might give someone else a good laugh or maybe even help them from pulling one of my bone head tricks.

I purchased a Heartland Cyclone toy hauler about six years ago. I had never owned any kind of a RV trl before or even a camper. My biggest camping item was a four person tent and my wife said no more tents or she was staying home. We researched RVs for months prior to retiring but one think I wasn't going to do was to buy some little trl and six months later trade up to a larger one which seemed to be what people did. Go for broke. Just buy the biggest thing you can afford that fits your needs. We found that the Heartland 3950 met our needs of size and I insisted on a toy hauler to haul my dirt bikes, street bike and or four wheeler.

We found one in Rigby Idaho (one heck of a cold place) and went over and looked it over. Looked good to our novice eyes so we bought it. The dealer runs me though everything on how it works. He checked all of the plumbing for leaks, checked pumps etc and winterized the coach. This was all done inside a nice heated shop. When we hooked it up and pulled it outside he took the sewer caps off and opened the valves to dump the water out onto the parking lot (about 4 inches of ice). He then put the caps back on.

We get home back to Boise and decide February is as good of time as any to head south to Tucson where my brother (the idiot one) was with his motorhome. I put a little traveling water in the tank and light the furnace to keep some heat on to keep it from freezing. Well we head south and stop a couple of times dry camping, using the facilities which is a pretty natural function I have heard.

We arrive in nice warm Tucson, get backed into our space and start hooking things up. Idiot brother, my wife, and a helpful neighbor were there adding their confusion to the process. We got the electricity hooked up and all checked out fine. We hooked up the city water source and flushed out the anti freeze, filled the water heater, etc. which all was fine.

Next comes the sewer hose hookup. Idiot was standing there coaching me telling me I had to remove the sewer cap and hook the big floppy hose to it and then to the drain. That would have all been fine but of course everyone thought the valve was shut. I mean everyone always shuts the valve right? I think the service guy at the dealership was getting even at me for asking so many stupid novice questions.

Ok squatting down and directly in front of the cap I remove the cap and immediately get hit directly in the center of my chest with a full four inch stream of piddle, brown trout, and toilet paper. It knocks we flat on my *** with no end in site. I get to my feet and start trying to put the cap back on. (to stupid to shut the valve off) The juices are squirting all over the place but I get'r back on to show those people who were rolling on the ground laughing. I turn around to them and here I am all soaking wet, patches of brown stains and stuff stuck all over me and toilet paper stuck to my forehead and hanging off my ears.

These so called helpers did not want a hug from me but did offer to hose me off throughly outside.
This was my very first time of setting up a RV and I guarantee I have not made that mistake again. Of course idiot brother has to tell everyone and I mean everyone about this little goof up.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
That's funny....made me laugh out loud.
Film at eleven.
You should have called Gorniky.

Peace
Dave
 

2psnapod2

Texas-South Chapter Leaders-Retired
The first time I flushed the Black tank, I forgot about it. I went in to use the bathroom, opening the toilet I realized I had a problem. Not really sure why, I opened the valve letting the water go down from the toilet. It worked. Latter on after talking with the neighbor, I notice water coming from the roof. Very strange to see water coming from the roof not by the AC stream. I then realized the tank was still being flushed, and ran to the valve to turn it off. Now I set a timer on my phone and remind myself it is running.

Not near as bad as yours but, it could have been a really bad situation had I not opened the valve a couple of times.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
I had the same mess on my flip flops and feet in 115* weather and the shower hose was on the otherside of the coach. TP is eally hard the wash off of hot asphalt. :mad::eek::(
 

dbylinski

NE Reg Dir Retired
Sometimes a situation like yours becomes an opportunity to make a friend, a very, very close friend! When we attended our first HOC Rally we were eating dinner when our now friends (known to us as Ma and Pa) made a similar mistake. It surely didn't make the steaks taste any better but it did result in one of the closest friendships I have ever experienced. Pa is now known as our "The Super Dooper Dinner Pooper". Love ya Pa!
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
To this day I still remember my old Vietnam partner saying "maybe you have to pull this handle to get the thing started . . . " while we were standing in front of the drain pipe on a motor home we had rented to go from Texas to Oregon after one of the kids said the toilet was filling up. Of course the handle was the black tank valve handle. I guess it happens more than I thought
 

evolvingpowercat

Well-known member
I bought an Edge M21 and no one showed me how to release the latch on the trailer hitch. I stood there for 15 minutes pulling up like the latch on my dad's boat trailers and tent camper trailers always worked with no joy. Finally my neighbor walks over and 5 seconds later he has pulled it back and viola. Stuff happens.

My Edge M21 has windows that swing out and are held out by a rod only on one side with out a little and locked in place, out some and not locked in place, and out a lot and not locked in place . I leave the windows full open and leave for 4 hours. Come back and while gone the wind had picked up. Ripped one of my windows almost completely off the trailer. At least I did not leave the awning open too. Know now to never leave windows wide open with trailer un-attended for hours.
 

jnbhobe

Well-known member
Sometimes a situation like yours becomes an opportunity to make a friend, a very, very close friend! When we attended our first HOC Rally we were eating dinner when our now friends (known to us as Ma and Pa) made a similar mistake. It surely didn't make the steaks taste any better but it did result in one of the closest friendships I have ever experienced. Pa is now known as our "The Super Dooper Dinner Pooper". Love ya Pa!

Hey I remember that day very well !! LOL
 

Invizatu

Senior Road Warriors
While boondocking, I have started the generator to top off the batteries and after about an hour or so I go out to turn it off and realize I had forgotten to plug the trailer power cord into the generator. I hate to admit it, but more than once! lol
 

jimtoo

Moderator
You know... I just cannot beleive any of the Heartland family would make the kind of misteaks all of you are admitting to. I just knew all Heartland folks were misteak free. :) I have never done anything like that and don't intend to staart making misteaks now. :) Especially ones like you have wrooten about.

Jim M
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
While boondocking, I have started the generator to top off the batteries and after about an hour or so I go out to turn it off and realize I had forgotten to plug the trailer power cord into the generator. I hate to admit it, but more than once! lol

But Hey! At least the genny got a little run time.:p Keeps the fuel flowing...
 

PUG

Pug
My next blunder involves a CPAP. Now I have to suppose that not all people know what a CPAP is. I have a condition called "sleep apnea". What this is is when you sleep, the muscles in your throat relax and block off your airway so when this happens you wake up with a real "start" gasping for air and scaring the crap out of you. Not a fun experience and in my case the sleep study said I wake up on an average of 68 times per hour with this "start". No wonder I was falling asleep at stop lights and at home with guests over.

Okay to fix sleep apnea they sell you this handy dandy little super pricey gloried air pump. It is a smart little guy measuring all kinds of stuff but it is still an air pump. You hook a special hose up to this thing and then onto a mask that fits on your face. Mine fits over my nose while others fits over the whole face which is even stranger looking. This mask makes you look like Darth Vader in drag. It does not do anything for your sex life believe me. I'm not to cute but this thing can scare the **** out of my grandkids.

My CPAP has dual power supply. It plugs into the household AC and with another plug it connects into Battery DC current. When plugged into AC it also heats water in this little reservoir to give you nice warm moist air to breath. In DC it doesnt heat the water so you are breathing pure old air from the room. Now stay with me now cause this is where things start to get interesting.

Besides a 5th wheel RV I have this medium sized sailboat. Of course it doesn't have AC power so no nice warm air is expelled from my nifty little air pumping CPAP. Now one night aboard the sailboat with about 25 degrees in the boat, no heat, I was getting ice cream headaches from breathing this really cold air. Being a little bit "McGiver", I thought to my self, self you need how to fix this little problem. Either no sleep or ice cream headaches!

The only source of heat was under the covers with me, my wife, and two little dogs that put out a ton of heat. I slip the little air pumper machine under the covers next to my waist with all the accompanying hoses and lo and behold I start getting some pretty nice warmed air. Problem solved.

Sometime during the night I apparently had a bit of gas or maybe it was one of the dogs. Here comes the ending to this rather long story. I wake up with air being pumping into my nose that is straight from the lower bowels of ****. I mean this gas was a hair twister, a sinus burner of the greatest magnitude. I woke up gasping and gagging for air.
The mask gets torn from my face and I indulge some clean mountain air. The wife wakes up also gagging for air, the dogs crawl out from under the covers and head for the dining area shaking their heads and coughing.

This was about as close to a near death experience as I have ever come. I now have a portable heater installed in the boat so I don't get the ice cream headaches which are mild compared to the alternative.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
Hey Pug, I know these situations probably weren't too humorous when they occurred, but they certainly are now especially with your beautiful and detailed very graphic descriptions of each event. Reading them makes me feel like I am standing there watching as they are taking place. Thank you for sharing. We all need a little humor.
 

CTD2005

Active Member
Pug, you should write a book with these stories, "Confessions of an RV'er". It just might make a mint! I know they weren't funny at the time, but with your story telling ability they are now hilarious! Definitely some side splitters! Thank you for sharing and making me laugh!
Nick
 

wdk450

Well-known member
The Good Sam magazine, "Highways" has one of these "humorous" stories featured every month. They don't pay anything, though.

I had them print a (beginner) story of mine, about trying real hard to hitch up with the hitch lock in place on the kingpin, and ruining a $1200 hitch while on the road and on a tight schedule.
 

dave10a

Well-known member
This could happen to anyone, but will the real idiot brother stand up :)
 
Last edited:
Top