On The Road Again

It's been a quiet month here in Crossville, Tn. without meeting any TT drivers for a meet & greet. We leave here on Sunday morning July 31 and are stopping at Loves in Mosheim, Tn. on I-81 then heading to Max Meadows, Va. just 1/2 mile from the Flying J at exit 80 for Sunday night. We leave Monday morning August 1 and travel to Emporia, Va. on US 301 just about 5 miles from Hwy. 58 and Hermie & Elliott Sadler's Pilot. We'll be there for the month of August and hope some of you are traveling thru and would like to chat. I hope to meet some more drivers like I did in years past. I have had the pleasure of meeting PackRat, IdMtnGal (Laura) and BigScott from CFI. It is a real honor to meet any of you and I always buy lunch or coffee. Be safe and give me a shout if you are in the area.

It's been a quiet month here in Crossville, Tn. without meeting any TT drivers for a meet & greet. We leave here on Sunday morning July 31 and are stopping at Loves in Mosheim, Tn. on I-81 then heading to Max Meadows, Va. just 1/2 mile from the Flying J at exit 80 for Sunday night. We leave Monday morning August 1 and travel to Emporia, Va. on US 301 just about 5 miles from Hwy. 58 and Hermie & Elliott Sadler's Pilot. We'll be there for the month of August and hope some of you are traveling thru and would like to chat. I hope to meet some more drivers like I did in years past. I have had the pleasure of meeting PackRat, IdMtnGal (Laura) and BigScott from CFI. It is a real honor to meet any of you and I always buy lunch or coffee. Be safe and give me a shout if you are in the area.

I'm still waiting for Ohio in the mix, haha!!

I almost thought about trying to get you hooked up w/former TT'er Patrick Croff from H.O.Wolding, but he took a big family vacay himself, and apparently is switching to a local driving job, himself.

I still keep up with his wife, you know how us women are, haha!!

Safe travels, good sir!!

~ Anne ~

Well it finally happened. After driving for a total of 56 years, of which 44 years in a big rig and 4 years with the 5th wheel I had my first accident. We were fueling at the Flying J on Chapman road in Wytheville, Va. and completed the fueling and began to exit. All of a sudden I catch a car coming around on my left between me and the store front so I instinctively turned the wheel right to avoid this clown and forgot the swing on the left rear near the fuel pump. Bam, I caught the yellow steel poles that protect the fuel pumps with the left rear corner of the 5th wheel and got hung up. The only damage to the fuel area was the nozzle broke off the fuel hose and paint scraped the steel pole. The 5th wheel pushed the lower body metal in and tore a hole from the pole but worse the pole hooked the rear panel and pulled it away from the coach. We secured everything with HD bungee cords and gorilla tape, called my insurance company, filed the claim and cancelled the last 2 months of our trip to head back to Winter Haven, Fl. It goes into the shop on Monday and at least there is no deductible because of full time rv coverage. To add to insult when we got home and went into the house and fired everything up the AC isn't working so now we are waiting for service but not until Monday. Thank God we have the 5th wheel to sleep in with AC. I can't seem to win. Oh well I'll try and post some pictures next week and the total damage. S__t happens but as they say, "Why me"! I hope that guy who had to go around me in the fire zone had a good excuse because I wasn't going to hit my Ram. I'll post later.

s__

Really feel sorry for your mishap. I hope it all gets fixed soon.

Well it finally happened. After driving for a total of 56 years, of which 44 years in a big rig and 4 years with the 5th wheel I had my first accident. We were fueling at the Flying J on Chapman road in Wytheville, Va. and completed the fueling and began to exit. All of a sudden I catch a car coming around on my left between me and the store front so I instinctively turned the wheel right to avoid this clown and forgot the swing on the left rear near the fuel pump. Bam, I caught the yellow steel poles that protect the fuel pumps with the left rear corner of the 5th wheel and got hung up. The only damage to the fuel area was the nozzle broke off the fuel hose and paint scraped the steel pole. The 5th wheel pushed the lower body metal in and tore a hole from the pole but worse the pole hooked the rear panel and pulled it away from the coach. We secured everything with HD bungee cords and gorilla tape, called my insurance company, filed the claim and cancelled the last 2 months of our trip to head back to Winter Haven, Fl. It goes into the shop on Monday and at least there is no deductible because of full time rv coverage. To add to insult when we got home and went into the house and fired everything up the AC isn't working so now we are waiting for service but not until Monday. Thank God we have the 5th wheel to sleep in with AC. I can't seem to win. Oh well I'll try and post some pictures next week and the total damage. S__t happens but as they say, "Why me"! I hope that guy who had to go around me in the fire zone had a good excuse because I wasn't going to hit my Ram. I'll post later.

s__

Well, DANG... I'm so sorry to hear. Yessir, when it rains (or doesn't...) it still does. I was trying to pin down Patrick Croff in TN; (former member, LDRSHP) as I keep in touch w/his wife; but they were out and about on their 'own' VRBO vacation, and I believe, he's going local in TN; not sure where or for whom.

Wonder if Grumpy has intel? Is it still H.O.Wolding? I don't know... sorry!

Well, good sir. . . with the weather here in Ohio, even, I'd have to rent a hotel/motel without SOME sort of AC in this 90 stuff, also! At least you had a fall back/fall guy, LoL ! Still, we are sorry.

By all means, YESSIR .. protect that Ram.. those Hemi bad boys are quite the treasure! I'm not familiar with your camper; not sure if I even know the brand, by the picture... but I'm pretty sure that they are a LOT easier to repair, and less costly.

Those dang yellow poles. I have a picture, somewhere... titled: "When Bollards Attack!" ... and yessir, they do!

Hope things look up for you, man. Always here for ya. (And in Ohio, too!!)

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: What do they even PAY those 'Bollard Placement Engineers,' anyway ?!?!? :( Say hi to the missus; we'll await the updates ~

As the oks saying goes, when it rains it pours!! Sorry to hear this news, at least you got it home and nobody got hurt.

The one thing in our society we have no shortage of is idiots!!!

I was thinking of ya’ll last week when I was down in Fl and this week heading to NY. They seem to have taken a liking to sending me to Fl so hopefully we can finally make it to meet up. Nice part for me is now I have no hard deadlines unless I’m meeting a crane.

Ya’ll take care, things will get better!!

Thanks for all the support everyone. I really appreciate it. I still can't believe that it happened. I have repeatedly played how it happened over and over in my mind to figure out what I could have done differently. If I had not turned the wheel I would have hit the idiot broadside and maybe hurt someone or damaged my Ram. I have AC repair coming out Monday then I'll take the 5th wheel over to the body shop. Oh well it could be worse.

Anne, It's a Palomino Compass which is made by Forest River, one of the larger rv companies who own quite a few brands. It's a good, solid 5th wheel with a lot of extra features and heavy duty things like axles, insulation R values and even an LG 22" 3 door refrigerator! My wife really enjoys the sit down shower too. Just some items to let you know about it.

Wow sorry to hear that. A no win situation.

Hi G-Town, Thanks for the reply. I normally fuel in the designated rv lanes but this time they were full so I went to the regular pumps. I still do not comprehend why this 4 wheeler had to go around me between me and the yellow stripped no parking zone in front of the store. I surely didn't want to hit him with my Ram so instinct made me pull the wheel right to avoid him. After all this he kept on driving and exited the truck stop. We'll survive.