How NOT to park your RV at Yellowstone

[DaveNV]

We're visiting Yellowstone National Park this week. Traffic entering Grand Prismatic Spring was backed up onto the main road, so we parked out there and walked in. Imagine our surprise to find this was the reason for the backup. A tourist in a rental RV tried to turn around in the roadway, instead of looping down and around through the parking lot. He got stuck crossways in the roadway. Oops!

Hours later he was still there, waiting on a tow truck from someplace to come get him out. No idea about damage he did to the drivetrain and undercarriage of the rental. But my guess is this will be a VERY expensive vacation!

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

Yep. If they didn't buy the CDW insurance and relied on a credit card it might be VERY spendy. When nwe were last there it was slow and stop into that parking lot, but it was orderly and people waited at the place where the road opens into the parking spaces so that when someone pulled out they could sswoop in a catch that space. As it turned out we got one of the closest spots to the bridge over the Firehole, but that wasn't guaranteed by any means.

 

[klpca]

Some folks just can't do RV's.

Credit card insurance usually excludes luxury vehicles, and I suspect that RV's may be excluded as well.

 

[Gypsy65]

You are correct. Some. Or most shouldn’t do RV’s

I was recently at a body shop that specializes in custom vehicles and larger vehicles

Owner said an older couple bought a new $500,000 RV and paid in full

Before leaving the dealer they sideswiped their build and the. A pole backing back out of the first wreck

Shop did the repairs at $200,000

 

[WinniWoman]

I still don’t get the appeal of those things. Nothing but a big headache and expense.

 

[geist1223]

I really enjoyed driving a Winnebago around rural France back in the late 1980's for about 10 days. RV's were not common at the time in Europe. We stayed off the Highways and only toured the little Villages. Many times one person would have to get out and run to the other end of the Village to stop traffic so we could make it through. The French were very helpful and friendly.

 

[Passepartout]

I still don’t get the appeal of those things. Nothing but a big headache and expense.

Ever try it? There are times and places where it's darn nice to have the comforts of a well-equipped resort and still be able to enjoy beautiful places without a bunch of other people. Sure, there are times that you have to carefully consider the consequences of how it's driven- as the above example demonstrates, but simply having whoever was sitting in the passenger seat get out and watch where the driver was backing would have avoided this accident.

 

[WinniWoman]

Ever try it? There are times and places where it's darn nice to have the comforts of a well-equipped resort and still be able to enjoy beautiful places without a bunch of other people. Sure, there are times that you have to carefully consider the consequences of how it's driven- as the above example demonstrates, but simply having whoever was sitting in the passenger seat get out and watch where the driver was backing would have avoided this accident.

No. Never interested in trying it. We lived in the woods (soon not to be) all our lives and had the comforts of an actual house.

I like being at a resort. In a condo or renting a home as a second option. Yes- I know there are RV resorts, but those just don’t appeal to me, though we did check one out once. I don’t like being in the RV itself or lugging it around. To me the whole experience is work and bogs you down.

My cousin has a huge one and after 4 years they are going to downsize it. It’s too much for them to deal with. They have had various issues with it since they bought it.

I personally think they are nuts. I would just drive my car (or-gulp- even fly - which I also don’t like) and rent a house or a hotel where they want to be rather than all the work and money they put into RVing. And they rarely use the thing anyway.

But to each his own.

 

[Glynda]

We camped for most of my youth. From tents, cabins, cabin-cruiser boat, tent top camper and finally small RV. Loved all of it. Then. Now, we sometimes think about the freedom of taking a RV and hitting the road to wherever. But honestly, there's not really that much freedom to it anymore. Reservations are usually needed ahead. A car needs to be drug behind it so that you don't have to move your RV every time you want to go somewhere while there. To move it requires locking everything down each time and saving your RV space so no one moves into it while you are gone during the day or steals what you've left behind. There are great friendships to be made in parks and there is something really peaceful about sitting around a campfire that I miss but I think those days are over for us.

 

[Passepartout]

We camped for most of my youth. From tents, cabins, cabin-cruiser boat, tent top camper and finally small RV. Loved all of it. Then. Now, we sometimes think about the freedom of taking a RV and hitting the road to wherever. But honestly, there's not really that much freedom to it anymore. Reservations are usually needed ahead. A car needs to be drug behind it so that you don't have to move your RV every time you want to go somewhere while there. To move it requires locking everything down each time and saving your RV space so no one moves into it while you are gone during the day or steals what you've left behind. There are great friendships to be made in parks and there is something really peaceful about sitting around a campfire that I miss but I think those days are over for us.

We graduated from sleeping bags on the ground to tents and rental tent trailers to small towables and finally to a good size 5th wheel. All that's behind us too. My idea of 'roughing it' is a BnB.

 

[easyrider]

I personally think they are nuts. I would just drive my car (or-gulp- even fly - which I also don’t like) and rent a house or a hotel where they want to be rather than all the work and money they put into RVing. And they rarely use the thing anyway.

But to each his own.

I agree 100%.

I'm to the point I don't even do sleeping bags and air mattresses anymore. The last bike trip was to a condo on the ocean with dinner at an ocean view restaurant. Years ago we would be camping in a tent and winging it. One of our friends says we are wussing out but I think we are now just smarter and lucky enough to be able to afford the comforts.

Bill

 

[presley]

The crazy thing is that in the picture it looks like they should be able to just drive out of the situation. I hope it didn't "ruin" anybody's vacation.

 

[DaveNV]

The crazy thing is that in the picture it looks like they should be able to just drive out of the situation. I hope it didn't "ruin" anybody's vacation.

Not possible. He isn't stuck too much, but he's definitely stuck enough. What you can't see in these pictures is the driver's side back wheels were off the roadway, down well below the pavement, in loose, sandy soil. From the looks of the sprayed sand and gravel, it appears he did try to drive out, and just buried himself further down. The underside of the RV is sitting on the ground. To get them out, a tow truck would have to lift the back end and pull it forward, to get all the wheels back on the pavement.

The bigger point of my post is to question why the guy didn't just drive down and around in the parking lot, instead of trying to pull a u-turn where there isn't space enough to do so. Sometimes taking a short cut isn't so short at all.

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

The crazy thing is that in the picture it looks like they should be able to just drive out of the situation. I hope it didn't "ruin" anybody's vacation.

Once a large vehicle is resting it's weight on it's frame instead of the tires, it's game over. And those rental RVs don't come with equipment to be able to lift and move it even the few inches it would take to get it's tires on the higher pavement. And like the example in post #4 of this thread, many RV drivers never drove anything bigger than the family car before launching into unfamiliar territory in oversized and somewhat unwieldy vehicles. I always allow them some extra room and count on their drivers being distracted.

Jim

 

[DaveNV]

Crazy Driver, Take Two:

Yesterday, while driving home to Washington state from West Yellowstone, we were on the freeway near Missoula, Montana, and I kept seeing bits and pieces of tires scattered across on the roadway. I'm used to seeing that sort of thing, where entire retreads on big trucks will come loose, and slough off. But this wasn't huge pieces of tire tread - this was bigger and smaller pieces of tire, some only a few inches across, that were skipping and bouncing down the road in front of me, as if it was being kicked up by the tires on cars in front of me. I had to dodge some pieces, to keep from running over them.

As I'm watching the cars in front of me, I notice a fifth wheel trailer was smoking from the right side, near the axle. Trailers are not supposed to smoke like that. I saw lots and lots more tire pieces coming from under that trailer. I got up and passed him, and sure enough, the tire on the passenger side back axle (there are two axles on fifth wheel trailers) had blown, and was disintegrating. The tire was shredding itself into non-existence. This could be very bad, as the pressure from one blown tire on that side could force the other tire to blow, and the entire trailer could flip out of control. I had to let the driver know what was happening. Obviously, he was either inexperienced, not paying attention, or very stupid. Certainly, he was unaware of how to monitor his own rig.

As we pulled up alongside the cab, we waved and pointed down at his tires, gesturing wildly. He waved Thanks, put on his blinker, and started to pull over. We continued on our way, glad to know we'd probably saved a life, or at least saved that driver a lot of expense on damage to his trailer, or someone else's vehicle on the road.

BUT! The story isn't over: A few hours later, after we'd made a few stops, for gas, rest areas, and to have lunch in a small Idaho town, we passed the SAME TRAILER west of Spokane, Washington! The flashers were on, and the guy was driving half onto the shoulder, with another car right in front of him with its flashers on as well. He was driving about 40MPH in a 70+MPH area, with the same tire still blown, and his trailer sagging strongly on that side. He was still driving with that blown tire!

What the heck? I have no idea what his point was - but I have a few guesses: He didn't have a spare, he didn't know how to change his own tire, he was late getting home, or he was just an idiot. I certainly hope nobody was hurt by his stupidity.

Glad to be home, safe and sound. It was a great trip, but these two things show me that common sense is apparently not all that common.

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

The story isn't over: A few hours later, after we'd made a few stops, for gas, rest areas, and to have lunch in a small Idaho town, we passed the SAME TRAILER west of Spokane, Washington! The flashers were on, and the guy was driving half onto the shoulder, with another car right in front of him with its flashers on as well. He was driving about 40MPH in a 70+MPH area, with the same tire still blown, and his trailer sagging strongly on that side. He was still driving with that blown tire!

What the heck? I have no idea what his point was - but I have a few guesses: He didn't have a spare, he didn't know how to change his own tire, he was late getting home, or he was just an idiot. I certainly hope nobody was hurt by his stupidity.

Well, once the tire has disintegrated and it is determined that the rim is ruined, not much further damage is done by just dragging it along at reduced speed. Obviously if the companion tire on the other axle gets tired of carrying double it's usual weight. Again, Game over. I'm going to guess that either they had no spare, or jack or ability to mount it, and didn't want to call out a service truck at several bucks a mile- and in that area, it could be a lot of miles.

I was offered a position in the safety department of a very large trucking compny, and had to turn nit down as I have little patience with stupidity, and would have no qualms about assigning blame when it is evident. I also just love to go through the stacks of blown and worn-out tires behind tire shops and see why so many of them got there. Most usually- underinflation. They were simply driven on when flat.

Incidentally, Dave- most of those tire tread fragments you dodge on the highways (we call 'em 'alligators), are from new tires, not retreads. Retreads today are pretty durable and the tread stays put pretty well. But an underinflated tire will flex the sidewalls to the point of failure of the steel belts - those sidewalls just have one ply of steel cords and the tire catastrophically fails.

Sometimes it happens out of the blue. I had a left front steer axle tire blow on a Peterbilt cabover. It took out the headlights, beat the crap out of the steps and floor and fuel tank on that side- some $10,000 damage, and nearly caused me a MAJOR laundry problem before I got it pulled over, thankfully upright.

Jim

 

[DaveNV]

Thanks, Jim. I knew you’d know more about this sort of thing. This guy drove through several towns, including Spokane, between the two times we saw him. No excuse I can think of for that level of carelessness.

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

Thanks, Jim. I knew you’d know more about this sort of thing. This guy drove through several towns, including Spokane, between the two times we saw him. No excuse I can think of for that level of carelessness.

Agreed.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Well, once the tire has disintegrated and it is determined that the rim is ruined, not much further damage is done by just dragging it along at reduced speed. Obviously if the companion tire on the other axle gets tired of carrying double it's usual weight. Again, Game over. I'm going to guess that either they had no spare, or jack or ability to mount it, and didn't want to call out a service truck at several bucks a mile- and in that area, it could be a lot of miles.

I was offered a position in the safety department of a very large trucking compny, and had to turn nit down as I have little patience with stupidity, and would have no qualms about assigning blame when it is evident. I also just love to go through the stacks of blown and worn-out tires behind tire shops and see why so many of them got there. Most usually- underinflation. They were simply driven on when flat.

Incidentally, Dave- most of those tire tread fragments you dodge on the highways (we call 'em 'alligators), are from new tires, not retreads. Retreads today are pretty durable and the tread stays put pretty well. But an underinflated tire will flex the sidewalls to the point of failure of the steel belts - those sidewalls just have one ply of steel cords and the tire catastrophically fails.

Sometimes it happens out of the blue. I had a left front steer axle tire blow on a Peterbilt cabover. It took out the headlights, beat the crap out of the steps and floor and fuel tank on that side- some $10,000 damage, and nearly caused me a MAJOR laundry problem before I got it pulled over, thankfully upright.

Jim

Hi Jim.

You have a beautiful way with words. Thanks for a great laugh. You made my day. Thanks agsin.


Best Regards.
Richard

 

[Passepartout]

Hi Jim.

You have a beautiful way with words. Thanks for a great laugh. You made my day. Thanks agsin.

You're most welcome. but the true wordsmith is my wife. I know she's only posted here a few times, but if anyone can find the right set of words to communicate a thought, it's her. She writes all the words in her symphony orchestra's program notes. I know she reads many pages of biographies and books about her subjects, then simmers it down to a purely original paragraph or two. She never plagerizes a word or phrase without noting it's source and there aren't many of those.

At Blarney Castle, Ireland I had to keep her from kissing the stone for fear I could never shut her off.

Jim

 

[rapmarks]

We camped for most of my youth. From tents, cabins, cabin-cruiser boat, tent top camper and finally small RV. Loved all of it. Then. Now, we sometimes think about the freedom of taking a RV and hitting the road to wherever. But honestly, there's not really that much freedom to it anymore. Reservations are usually needed ahead. A car needs to be drug behind it so that you don't have to move your RV every time you want to go somewhere while there. To move it requires locking everything down each time and saving your RV space so no one moves into it while you are gone during the day or steals what you've left behind. There are great friendships to be made in parks and there is something really peaceful about sitting around a campfire that I miss but I think those days are over for us.

When we used to travel with a mini van we faced the problem of someone taking the spot when we left for the day or taking our things if we left them out to reserve our spot. I remember paying for a campsite and ending up parked on the side of the road when we discovered someone else was on our spot.