# Worst. Trip. Ever.



## mswalt

Well, many of you know this was the weekend for our Texas Outbacker Rally in Fredericksburg, Texas. Great little town, nice KOA, great fellowship expected. Well...........

Things started off with a bang! A big bang. Hooked up the Cardinal in the storage lot on Thursday preparing for our trip to Fredericksburg. Pulled out, very slowly......BANG! Trailer comes off the hitch and falls on the bed of my truck! Jaws were clamped and ready to go. Or so I thought. Now what to do?

Trailer is lying on the bed of my truck, hitch up against tailgate and bent out a couple of inches. Can't get it open. Can't get my jacks down. Can't get my pigtail out far enough to hook up to my rear receiver hitch to get my jacks to work. For some reason, the front pin won't power my jacks.

Had to call a friend of mine who owns the local General Tire store. He sent his repairman out with a large bottle jack and we finally get the trailer jacked up high enough to clear my pigtail so I can power my jacks. We get the trailer high enough to maneuver my hitch back under the trailer pin and hook up. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to uncouple. The tailgate won't budge. It's warped and the handle is too taut. The man with me pries the release handle with a screwdriver and I finally pop it open. We take it off and I leave it at the storage facilty. Who needs a tailgate anyway, huh?

Well, anyway, off we go.

Get to Fredericksburg and get to our site. Things are looking up. We're the first ones there so we start to set up. Unhook, pull away from the trailer and drag out my power cord. Three feet too short to reach the power pole. Hook back up, pull forward. Go all through it again.

Get hooked up and standing there with my wife next to the trailer when all of a sudden the trailer seems to lurch forward a few inches. What the heck? Walk around the trailer and notice the front jack bracket is bent and the jacks have slid all the way down to the ground. Nothing else seems out of whack so we chalk it up to "what the heck" and move on. Set up, go into town to eat.

Come back to the truck and notice a puddle under it. Something's dripping under my cab. Not sure what it is. Oh. well, will look at it in the morning. Next morning, take it to the local Chevy dealership. Ruptured fuel line. Had to sit around for a couple of hours while the mechanic repairs the diesel line with a new hose. Fixed! Back to the RV park.

Have a great couple of days with a great couple of Outbacker families (profssional, and Ghosty). Standing in the kitchen proffsional notices my ceiling over the main slide is coming down. Great! One more thing to worry about. Oh, and a couple of the lights fixtures aren't working, either. We do figure out (well, *they* figured out) I shouldn't have any trouble hooking back up with the broken jack bracket in the morning to leave. We didn't.

Leave this morning. Get hooked up, ready to go. Made sure the hitch was secure and readied the trailer for lift-off. Dumping the tanks and running the quickie flush. Can't hear the quickie flush. Run inside to check things out. Toilet is overflowing with chemical water. Black dump valve is not working!! Have to bail out the toilet with a pan (DW throws it away afterwards) and tow it back full. One more thing for the service department to check out tomorrow when I drop it off for service.

Oh, well, we're home now. Unpacked.

The trip is done. Had a great time with my fellow Outbackers (all three of us SOBs now, though). Couldn't have made it without them.

Well, now time to relax.

Mark


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## john7349

Wow!







Hopefully you got all your bad luck out of the way for the rest of the year. Nothing but good times ahead.


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## my3chis

Sounds like you got it all out of your system this past weekend.







Should be smooth sailing from here on out. Glad you had a great visit with other OB'ers. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


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## WACOUGAR

Boy, and I thought it was bad this past summer when DH hooked up the trailer at the storage lot and drove off and the differential on the truck broke. I think you're weekend just topped that. So sorry to hear about it. One good thing though----at least you got to go camping through all of it!!!

Hope you get everything fixed up.

Kelly


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## OutbackPM

I think this is the 5th wheelers worst nightmare. Pulling away then finding the hitch has not locked. I have found that WD40 keeps the mechanism loose so it does what it is aupposed to do. I am not sure what hitch you have but I am sure it is similar with all hitches. I have found my a Pulright slider to be very positive when locking. It will either lock (handle fly across) or not do anything. For me the trick to lock every time is to have the camper a little lower to push the plate down as it engages.

Sorry to here of your troubles. Hope you can get it all fixed up. sounds like you have the right attitude and not let it get you down.

Take care


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## rsm7

WORST. TRIP. EVER.

Boy you weren't kidding.

I guess the only way to look at it is that its all just metal. No flesh and bones, and you have a great story for years to come. Later on down the road when you're telling that story to friends you can mention that you saved the pan for old time sake, then mention, matter of fact I cooked your dinner in it!


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## proffsionl

Well, having been there, it just seemed like one of those weekends for mswalt. It made for a lot of investigative work to find out what had happened. He just couldn't catch a break. Thankfully, his rig is under warranty.









However, we did determine that this was the first "official" SOB Outbacker rally (aka the first Outbacker rally without any Outbacks). It's looking like the term "Outbacker" is becoming a state of mind rather than just owning an Outback (although we all owned them at one time).

It was small and quite relaxing with good friends. We even had the park owner come over and shoot the breeze for a while...they are really investing in the park and encourage anyone looking for a nice park to consider the Fredericksburg KOA (I heartily recommend it).

I'll also put a plug in for Rob (ROB&JUDY)...Rob lost his Father right before the rally and was unable to make it. He was in our thoughts all weekend and hoped he was doing as well as could be expected.

Mark, I'm glad you made it back okay (I was sitting there on the drive home wondering what else could go wrong...sounds like nothing did). Just drop it at the dealer and make 'em fix it!









See ya at the next rally!


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## Just Add Dirt

Well besides that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?


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## brian j

sorry to hear about all the problems, i've had similar trips where it seams nothing goes right.


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## rdvholtwood

Wow! Sorry to hear about your trip - hopefully now everything is fixed and next season will be problem free!


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## proffsionl

rdvholtwood said:


> Wow! Sorry to hear about your trip - hopefully now everything is fixed and next season will be problem free!


Next season? We are just getting into our prime camping season in Texas!


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## mswalt

proffsionl said:


> Wow! Sorry to hear about your trip - hopefully now everything is fixed and next season will be problem free!


Next season? We are just getting into our prime camping season in Texas!








[/quote]

Not for us. I believe we're done for the season. Getting the rig winterized while at the dealer.

Mark


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## Nathan

Mark, sorry to hear of the problems....









I guess that's what insurance and warranties are for.

The thought of dropping a 5'er alsways scared me enough that I would raise my gear an inch or two and then try to pull away with the trailer brakes manually engaged. Then when it held back the truck, I'd go back and raise the gear with the snap pins and be on my way.


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## Tex Ag

Mark, 
Sorry to hear about your problems, but glad to hear you had a good time inspite of them.

We spent the weekend in Ft Davis with the Indian Guides. Had a great time.

Hope to see you in the spring.

Keith


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## egregg57

Ha! And I was worried about some smoke from my exhaust! Sheesh!!


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## Carey

Just a gental tug with the jacks down work great to see if your solidly connected. So just back into the pin, then slightly tug forward to make sure your good. This always works and if you do pull away, no harm is done.

Carey


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