Well, we just bought our first travel trailer this weekend…and already had our first accident. In fact, we have had some of the most serious events in towing occur on my first weekend of towing any trailer since I towed my parent’s 16 foot ski boat when I was a teenager.
After leaving the dealer in Cookeville, TN, we headed back south to Chattanooga and while we were in the mountains, what I presume to be a drunk, pulled out of a convenience store on the opposite side of the road and tried to merge into my lane. Only thing is he didn’t wait ’till I passed and there was a car coming from the other direction. Not only did he nearly side-swipe my truck, he also apparently didn’t see this big ole 30 foot Airstream attached to the back and I had to drive off onto the shoulder to keep from being hit by him.
We had to stop along the way and move everything we had packed in the bed of the truck into the trailer because of the threat of rain. We could see the menacing dark gray sky and flashes of lightening as we peered out over the valley from the highway we were traveling on.
Crease ran from door to seam at rear corner
Next, when we arrived in Chattanooga it began to rain so hard that I couldn’t see the traffic in front of me and had to pull over. So, if being run off the road by a drunk and torrential rain, when we left the campground at Raccoon Mountain I cut too short and hit the guard rail with the side of the Airstream. This left a crease from the door all the way down the side to the seam at the beginning of the radius panel of the rear curb side corner. Talk about a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Now for the good news. While we were a little disappointed in the campground at the caves at Raccoon Mountain, we had a great time being led through the caves by a real nice young guide. She was very knowledgeable about the caves and every detail along the way. We were fortunate enough to have her all to ourselves.
When we left the Raccoon Mountain campground, we headed to Rock City and took the boys on a tour of this famous and historical tourist attraction. While the kids enjoyed Rock City, they later admitted that they really liked the caving at Raccoon Mountain better.
Fortunately, the rest of the trip home was uneventful except one thing: when the dealer set up the weight distribution hitch the bed of the truck was loaded down pretty heavy. After moving everything into the Airstream, there was apparently enough of a difference in the weight distribution that I did have a good bit of sway. I’ll have to have that adjusted.
Tags: Airstream
