In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about how my buddy Greg White wouldn’t take me to Dairy Queen for my requisite sweet treat, and I have to say that I was rather dismayed when one reader made a post to Greg’s blog, congratulating him for holding fast, and even suggesting he feed me a rice cake! What’s that all about? Rice cakes? I don’t think so!
Well, we all know that for everything we do in life, there is payback, good or bad. It’s called karma. And Greg got a dose of bad karma yesterday, after letting me down the night before.
When we arrived here at the Pima County Fairgrounds on Monday afternoon, I got the last 50 amp full hookup site available, and Greg settled for a 30 amp site. The lady who checked us in told Greg that the folks next to us were leaving on Wednesday morning, and he could move over to that site once they were gone, which has 50 amps. Because it has been rather hot, and our motorhomes are both facing west, it gets pretty warm inside in the afternoon, and the air conditioners have to work very hard to keep up. With the 50 amp site, Greg could use both of his rooftop A/C units.
So yesterday morning, as soon as the site next to us was empty, Greg fired up the Cummins engine on his American Eagle motorhome and moved.
And that’s where karma comes into play. Greg had one of those brain farts that we all experience once in a while, and he forget to unplug his power cord. Since the cord wasn’t strong enough to hold back that big old diesel pusher, this was the result.
Actually, it wasn’t that big of a deal for a talented guy like Greg. The wires just pulled out of their connections in his Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) box, and all he had to do was reattach them. No permanent damage was done to the RV, the EMS, or the fairground’s electrical pedestal, though Greg’s ego took a minor beating, helped in no little part by yours truly. It’s called karma, baby!
But Greg took it in stride, and I know it could happen to me tomorrow. We all make mistakes.
Hey buddy, until you find yourself in this situation, you’re doing good. A few years back, in Bremerton, Washington, I proved that you can drive an MCI bus conversion up a hill so steep that your front wheels are on the ground, your rear bumper is in the pavement, and your drive wheels are several inches in the air.
I also proved that, while you can drive into that situation, you can not drive back out of it!
That requires the assistance of a very large tow truck, several police officers to stop traffic, and a haz-mat crew to deal with the 32 gallons of antifreeze that spills when the above mentioned tow truck snags your bottom radiator hose.
But what the heck, it was an otherwise slow Sunday afternoon, and the television news crew and newspaper reporter who arrived on the scene had nothing better to do with their time.
Bad Nick has no time for such foolishness, so while I was outside hassling Greg, he wrote a new Bad Nick Blog titled What Are We Teaching Our Kids? Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – If we are supposed to learn from our mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Are you guys working on a new rally seminar called “Do’s and Don’ts of Pre-trip Inspections”? Let’s see: Nick on tire inspection, Tom on slide lock operation (or not), and Greg on automatic electrical disconnections. Miss Terry, Barbara and Jan can be on the panel to discuss locating emergency road service repairs, financing unexpected repairs, and, locating DQs during a crisis. Should pack the seminar room.
That is why even after 6 years of traveling full-time that we still go through the list EVERY time. We move our rig a lot, we are not nesters at all, we move almost daily at times but we still always go through the list and confirm that each and every important item has been completed. Maybe you guys should think about composing and using one. We also go through it even when we are moving from one site to another. It may be anal, but we have not had a mishap yet and do not plan to since we plan to pull out the list every time as long as we are traveling.
Remind me never to cross you Nick! When I finally meet you, I’ll bring you a pint of Hagen Daaz!
OOPS. I think he was just upset that you got all the attention with your tire mishap. The seminar Cool Judy suggested should be added. It was a quick fix at least. Be safe
That list, It’s an app on the droid called rv check.
Nick, we so remember your predicament going up that hill. We enjoyed seeing it at the time, and we enjoyed revisiting it today. Not that we were laughing at you, but your predicament itself was hilarious. You know we’d never laugh AT you, Buddy, but we can sure enjoy laughing WITH you!
I don’t which ‘entertained’ me more – Greg’s method of disconnect from shore power or your overwhelming desire to get that 15 minutes of fame on local news. LOL Seriously, sorry to both of you for the mishaps. You’re right, it happens to all of us…even us weekend warriors. Weekend RV warriors have an offsetting factor for accidents – they have less experience at practicing good RVing but also they have decreased time to have a brain fart in their RV. Sort of good news, bad news.
Glad ya’ll can take it in stride. Those things certainly would have made for a bad day for me but I’m learning that it’s not all about me either. LOL
I know it’s wrong to say out loud. . .but it is somewhat reassuring to see that even the “experts” have boo boos to deal with.
I once managed to get the fifth wheel in a similar jam. . .it’s a sick feeling when you realize you are “stuck”. . .and hubby was not a happy camper, when in addition to getting the RV stuck, I also put a dent in the hauler.
There was nothing I could do but start “crying like a girl.”
Nice photoshop work, Nick! I can believe in the brain fart notion… I have similar eclipses of sanity, myself. But, all of the other hoses are nicely coiled out of the way and though there appears to be a 50 to 30 amp converter on the pedestal end of the Anaconda (or is that a children’s Playskool toy?).
I have a few problems with the sfx.
1. I would expect to see a lot more evidence of dragging that cord over the distinct tire tread impressions in the dirt.
2. I would expect to see that cord stretched out to its full lenght even if someone had already pulled the plug out of the shore power outlet. Sure, recoil could account for a little rebound but not in a straight line line that. It would be like pushing a 30 lb wet spaghetti noodle.
3. You have already convinced me many times over that Greg White is infallible, does everything perfectly in a planned, boringly methodical way and that the results of his work could not possibly have left that plug able to just be “pulled off” of the end of the anaconda without tearing something significant up, significantly.
Almost impossible to believe your story, Nick…. but…. he is just a man..
Emery,
No one was more shocked than me by Greg’s fall from the pedestal where we all have placed him. But alas, it is true. His story, as commented on by his lovely wife Jan is, as she put it, a “bald faced lie.”