Who knew, right?
I wasn't thinking of this as I packed up the motor home at Bolding Mill for a relatively short drive to Cleveland, GA and Yonah Mountain Campground, where one of the few propane filling stations in North Georgia resides. We've stayed with them a few times over the past couple of years, and likely would have been there now if the camp hosting gig hadn't opened up for us. They actually don't make any money off of the service, but do it as a convenience for their campers and residents.
We've had this issue before, because unless you have a permanent residence in the area (we don't), you cannot become a propane customer in most locations across the country. A few exceptions exist, such as our winter home in Chiefland, Florida (Strawberry Fields for RVers), works with the local propane provider to allow propane trucks to deliver to you ON SITE with no contract. It came in very handy last year when we arrived in Florida with low propane after a particularly cold snap in Red Bay, AL during our semi-annual maintenance visit. Propane isn't normally needed in big quantities in Florida in the winter, but our Truma continuous water heater only runs on propane with no electric backup as a tanked water system can do. And since no hot showers = no bueno, a decent supply of propane is a must.
But I digress.
Back to the present. Our propane supply had dropped into the low 20%, and the forecast was calling for at least 10 days where something more than a heat pump was going to be needed, so it was off to Yonah Mountain for a friendly fill-up. As is usual, I mapped out a route with my Co-Pilot GPS RV app that would take me on approved roads to and from my destinations, packed up everything and disconnected from water, sewer and power for the first time in about 3 months, and headed out on the road. Grover was very nervous, as Barbara was taking care of our newest grandson, William, and she wasn't there to provide a lap for Grover to occupy, but he got over his nervous shaking after about 5 minutes on the road.
Everything was going fine on one of the connecting roads from one state route to another, when a “Road Work in Progress” sign showed up. As I crest a hill, there is a power truck and picker blocking 2/3rds of the two-lane road. Enough room for a car to squeeze on thru by going off the side of the road by a foot or two, but not nearly enough for a 38-foot long, 9-foot wide motor home to accomplish. And while they had set up their lane closure near a right-turn intersection, it wasn't your usual 90-degree right turn. No, this was a 130-degree right turn in the OPPOSITE direction (think of the bottom half of a capital “R” to understand the turn I had to make on a narrow road)!
As is usual for two-lane country roads in North Georgia, there isn't a lot of room on the side of the road which stays level. In fact, many roads have a pretty serious drop-off if you get your wheels more than a foot off the pavement. So I really had to worry about both my front and back tires staying on some semblance of flat surface to make this impossible turn, and there would be no chance to back up once I started the turn.
So my front wheels are getting pretty close to the opposite side of the new road, but it looks as if I am going to be all right. Suddenly, the rear passenger tires drop into one of those drop-offs I mentioned earlier, and the RV tips precipitously to the right. Fortunately, the left rear tires remained on level pavement, or this story might have had a much worse ending. The right rear bottomed out on the pavement of the original road I had been on, to the point where my basement bay doors and chassis were the only things keeping me from overturning the RV! The left wheels stayed on pavement all the way, allowing me to continue the turn to complete my journey. Thank goodness my GPS app found an alternate route without my having to reverse course, or this story could have gone from bad to worse.
I had heard some scraping from the rear end as I bottomed out on that right side, so I was pretty mad at the power company for not picking a better spot for an alternative route a bit earlier, but I couldn't stop and inspect any damage until I got to Yonah Mountain. I did keep looking in the side view mirror to see if my basement bay doors were still closed and latched.
Once at Yonah Mountain, I was able to see the three bay doors crunched in various stages, but it could have been far worse. I could have lost or damaged the rear leveling jack, but it didn't touch at all. Didn't even lose the Snap-Pad installed on it.
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| Last bay door right before the end cap. This will be the second time this door will need to be replaced! |
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| As you can see, no more straight lines moving forward. |
When I got back to Bolding Mill, I contacted my insurance company to start the repair process. We've had Progressive insurance since day one, and had only engaged them once before – for repairs in the same exact area, btw! I pay considerably more for my insurance than many RV-ers do since I have a policy which covers virtually everything (including replacement cost in case of total loss) because it's our home. No deductibles on anything, and lots of extra perks that cover things such as places to stay in case we can't use the motor home while it's being repaired. It's worth every penny I pay for the coverage. It also helps that Progressive has been inordinately responsive when needed, and doesn't nickel and dime you or take their time in getting back to you when needed.
It also helps that their rates have only gone up $40 per month in the five years we've been covered by them, and they didn't raise our rates after the first claim we made more than 3 years ago.
So now we have yet another repair to be
made in our trip to Red Bay next month. It's our semi-annual trip to
the mothership to take care of whatever punch list of items have been
generated in the previous 6 months of traveling on the road that I
haven't been able to fix on my own. On the bay door repairs, they can be removed and worked on without the
motor home being kept in the body shop, so we can still get other
service done. Well worth it to keep our home in
tip-top condition.
However, that trip will be covered in our next report. But for now, you CAN damage your RV getting propane. At least, I can.
