Our family of 5 loaded up and took off over the holidays for a trip south. We went from MN to Mesa AZ, where we spent 5 days, then on to Galveston Island, TX for for 4 days.
Unfortunately, the trip from AZ to TX was interrupted by a camper accident. Before sun up we headed out and stopped at a truck stop to gas up. The station was overflowing, with trucks parked in no parking zones and others waiting in just about any open space. I was trying to make my way to get in line for a pump, and had to maneuver between the bumpers of two trucks. It was dark with shadows but I was able to see their bumpers in my mirrors, and had more than 2 feet on each side. That's a bit tight but certainly not unmanageable. In my drivers side mirror I can see the camper all the way up to the roof. In my passenger side mirror I can only see about half way up the camper. I had made it past a fair ways and needed to start making a slight turn to be able to ultimately do a loop to get into a line for a pump. I continued to watch their bumpers in my mirrors as I went, and then all of a sudden crash, boom, bang! I hit the brakes and looked again in my mirrors and could see that I hadn't hit their bumpers. I thought maybe someone had run into me from behind. I get out and what do I see? On my passenger side, the semi truck was a car hauler. That had a rack up over the cab, extending out well beyond the bumper. I had successfully managed to hang up the camper on that rack. What a big bummer! I admit that I didn't look hard at what types of semi's I was passing. Even if I had acknowledged that one was a car hauler, I don't know that I would have thought that the rack would have extended well over the bumper. That is a big expensive lesson learned!
I was able to use a ratchet strap to pull back the frame of the wall that was pushed into a slide out, and that allowed us to be able to get into the camper and open the slide. From there we were able to assess the damage and make a plan for how we might be able to save our vacation. We covered the outside gashes and holes with cardboard and duct tape. On the inside we covered it with garbage bags in order to hold out any rain, although we had sun and never had to test that. It did get cold so we hung a blanket on the wall at night.
The camper service center and my insurance had been going back and forth for 5 weeks, and the repeated message to us was that they likely were going to total it. That would have been terrible as the delta between what the insurance would have given us and what our exact model would be new today was over $40k for sure, probably more like $50k. This afternoon we got the news that the insurance company is going to pay for the repairs. That is great news!
Attached are some pics.
Unfortunately, the trip from AZ to TX was interrupted by a camper accident. Before sun up we headed out and stopped at a truck stop to gas up. The station was overflowing, with trucks parked in no parking zones and others waiting in just about any open space. I was trying to make my way to get in line for a pump, and had to maneuver between the bumpers of two trucks. It was dark with shadows but I was able to see their bumpers in my mirrors, and had more than 2 feet on each side. That's a bit tight but certainly not unmanageable. In my drivers side mirror I can see the camper all the way up to the roof. In my passenger side mirror I can only see about half way up the camper. I had made it past a fair ways and needed to start making a slight turn to be able to ultimately do a loop to get into a line for a pump. I continued to watch their bumpers in my mirrors as I went, and then all of a sudden crash, boom, bang! I hit the brakes and looked again in my mirrors and could see that I hadn't hit their bumpers. I thought maybe someone had run into me from behind. I get out and what do I see? On my passenger side, the semi truck was a car hauler. That had a rack up over the cab, extending out well beyond the bumper. I had successfully managed to hang up the camper on that rack. What a big bummer! I admit that I didn't look hard at what types of semi's I was passing. Even if I had acknowledged that one was a car hauler, I don't know that I would have thought that the rack would have extended well over the bumper. That is a big expensive lesson learned!
I was able to use a ratchet strap to pull back the frame of the wall that was pushed into a slide out, and that allowed us to be able to get into the camper and open the slide. From there we were able to assess the damage and make a plan for how we might be able to save our vacation. We covered the outside gashes and holes with cardboard and duct tape. On the inside we covered it with garbage bags in order to hold out any rain, although we had sun and never had to test that. It did get cold so we hung a blanket on the wall at night.
The camper service center and my insurance had been going back and forth for 5 weeks, and the repeated message to us was that they likely were going to total it. That would have been terrible as the delta between what the insurance would have given us and what our exact model would be new today was over $40k for sure, probably more like $50k. This afternoon we got the news that the insurance company is going to pay for the repairs. That is great news!
Attached are some pics.
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