RV accidents

I saw somebody's post on the http://www.rv.net/ forum where the person had driven their motorhome somewhere they shouldn't have, and took out their roof air conditioner. We've never had any kind of serious accident with the motorhome, but we've had a few minor ones...

The first one was in Hope, British Columbia. It was when we first started out in the motorhome in the fall of 2007. We had driven across Canada from Ottawa, 4,400 kms (2,700 miles) without incident.

We had arranged to stay a couple of nights in the driveway of some couchsurfing hosts that we had contacted. Cory and Elaine have a nice little bungalow in the beautiful town of Hope. We arrived at their house, went and knocked on the door, introduced ourselves, and proceeded to back Sherman into the corner of their house! Wasn't a big deal...little scratch on Shermans right rear cap, and a little bit of a bend in the rain gutter and flashing on the corner of their roof. We proceeded to have a few drinks which enabled us all to forget about it!

The next one was in Tijuana, Mexico in December of 2007. We had just crossed the border, and we were going to the tourist office where we had to get the proper vehicle permits. The parking lot was PACKED and not really suitable for RV's. But we had no choice. I made it in okay, but had to make a tight left turn and Sherman's rear bumper hooked the front license bracket of a parked pickup truck. Turned out it belonged to one of the guards at the tourist office, and it cost me $40 cash to get out of the situation. I straightened Sherman's bumper against a tree at some point, but it's still a little bent as a reminder.

Then, in March of 2008 we were in Florida overnighting at the Miccosukee Casino near Miami. We were in the RV and truck parking area, and I was backing up alongside the curb. I knew there was a bus shelter there, and I saw it. Ruth was behind, guiding me. But the bus shelter roof extended past the curb line! Who builds something like that?? Anyhow, Ruth wasn't looking up at the time and we crunched into the bus shelter. Left a bit of damage to the shelter roof, and I don't think we were the first ones to do so. But we also cracked the rear cap on that side of Sherman, and had to seal the seams with some caulking so the water wouldn't get in. Yes, its still like that. Oh well.

On December 9, 2008 I cut a corner too tight and bent Shermans entry steps up against a palm tree stump. Those steps were finished, and we now have a single manual fold out step instead of the fancy double electric step.

But that's it. Nothing more serious than that, and the lesson to be learned is that you should ALWAYS have someone out checking and guiding you in tight areas. Always. And make sure that person looks up at the roof line occasionally!