Stupid is as Stupid Does

Well, here we go again.

Since no one else seems to have ever made a mistake, i must be the only one who does.

Simple idea: Drive about an hour to share the Super Duper Bowl on the big tv.

NOT BEING CAREFUL ENOUGH, (will I ever hear the end of this one), I kinda didn't put the coffee pot completely in the sink before hitting the road. Made it a good 40 minutes or so and it bounced out of the sink, with a rather nice arc, landing on the floor, splashing most of the walls, floors, etc.

Good news is that I cleaned it up.

Bad news is that I told Helen what I did.

Now THAT was a mistake.

Jeff, That can't be any worse than me driving the bus around my building the other day before I noticed I forgot to unhook the electrical connecton. I am sure I turned off the annoying light and beeper that told me to "Unhook". It took me about an hour to repair the damage to the cord.

I was getting on the Hwy once and found out that a combination of too much mass in the fridge door along with too fast an entry around the ramp is perfect combination for allowing the fridge door to swing open. Out came two full bloody mary mixers that were in glass. Crash onto the tile floor. I finished getting on the ramp then put the brakes to stop and clean the mess and the braking caused it all to slosh forward into the carpet. Got it up without a stain somehow. Learned to reduce mass in the door and buy plastic containers when ever possible. Figured out a way to clamp the fridge door closed on my prior bus but not this one yet.

A Marathon comes with a little latch that is screwed to the top of each of the double doors and it locks them in place. You should look at one and you will easily be able to make one for $2.99.

I could take a picture if you like.

But, you still have to remember to latch it.......


Peter vS
94 Marathon XLV

Jeff, I would mention the day at POGII when I was flushing my black tank and I was having a great conversation with Steve from California Coach and, well the rest is up to your imagination(or the top of the porcelin).
Kevin

Lets see. where do I start? My Flubs usually involve driving. Like driving my Monaco off road and sinking down to the front axles, or Driving on a two lane road in Vancouver, Canada where only sports cars and motor cycles can manage and then attempting a U-turn in the road at Cliffs edge with my 42 foot County Coach. I haven't ripped out any hoses or cords yet but I'm still young! Gary

Let me count the ways or maybe I can't. At least I can say I only made each mistake once. Well except for the fridge door falling off. Probably over grossed. If I only had pictures, it probably would be a best seller

John

Jeff,

I could not begin to count the mistakes I've made in motor homes, airplanes, cars and "life". When given the chance, I try to keep most of them as quiet as possible. Every once in a while I make one that I think is kinda funny and will share it with my wife and it usually ends up bad.

One thing I have learned well "take the entrance ramps and exit ramps at or below posted speed", as the rattle of pots and pans dumping out of the cupboards is scary as hell. Refrigerator door opening is even worse.

I think were going to put granite down the length of the bus, then I can just raise the back, lower the front and hose it all out the door when disaster strikes.

Ah, the adventure of it all.

Mike, I did notice you had your coach shampooed the last time you were at ORA. Must have been right after one of those ramp corners out at rt 95 at PGA exit 121. That corner is a bitch and and have heard horror stories about being so close to landing and they take that corner faster than they should.

How much would the granite weigh, ha, ha?

Lew

I like to keep things in working order, as much as I can, and well I like to try and fix small things.

Nothing real complicated, ya know, just little things like replacing 2 light bulbs in a 3 light fixture over my dinette. I really need the extra light to be able to see what I am eating...:)

Well I started on this repair over a month ago :( Changed the good light bulb to the other two sockets, but they didn't work, so took the lamp to a repair facility and he promptly replaced all the sockets with new, and tested it there by plugging into 120v source... Worked Great.

Put fixture up in the bus and no workie ! Crap Tested the wires coming in on my AC handy dandy tester, and no power. Checked the fuses, all good, checked the on/off switch, good too.

Called Panterra Coach to ask them what the H*** am I doing wrong and what do I check next?

They said did you put 12v bulbs into the lamp? :eek: 12v bulbs, it is a 120v fixture that was tested and worked perfectly in the shop, why would I put 12v bulbs in it....?

Cause that is the power coming to the light fixture... WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK :( Works great now !

Gary S.

Well where can I start. Maybe saying that I have never made any mistakes that I cannot repeat later on, except a few biggies:

1. Fueling up my new Turbo Arrow back in 1979. was in a hurry (very bad) finished up jumped in took off popped the gear and looked right to see fuel coming from my fuel cap, looked again and saw the cap leave the wing, this I will not repeat soon.

2. Took my first helicopter flight lesson in an R44 had a passenger in the back taking pictures out of the open door, was wearing glasses at the time and a baseball cap, turned my head and my $700 Titanium glasses went out the back door straight into the tail rotor, glasses strap from now on, I can't see beyond the panel without glasses, very interesting ride. chipped the rotor. Not good.

3. Changed my own oil in my 60' power boat, transmissions and mains to Ames Oil synthetic. Thought I had completely filled them, decided to take the boat out for a test ride by myself, this was in December in Annapolis Md. untied, put the boat in gear and left the dock, went to place the shift in neutral so I could maneuver out the marina and found that I had no response from the transmission, you can figure the rest, never actually filled the transmission fully enough to apply pressure to engage the transmission.

4. Picked up my new boat in Fort Lauderdale Florida one summer, really hot July. New boat right out of the factory (Blackfin) and started back to Maine for a great summer ride, encountered a bunch of new boat issues. noticed a smell in the bilge opened it up to find raw black water in the entire bilge, plumbing had come apart. Decided to handle this quickly and efficiently had a shop vac on hand, placed it in the bilge and started filling it up, going like crazy, until the ball stop flies up and stops the flow, if you have ever used your shop vac to clean up water you know what happens when you have over filled the shop vac, it is not pretty especially when you are standing right over the vent.

These are just some of the lesser mistakes.

Knock on wood the bus has been less of a learning curve so far.

I was in a VERY nice RV Resort this winter and I was dumping the holding tanks...( thank goodness no one was on either side of me)

Well.......it seems the hose was not connected to the bus as well as it should have been:eek:

I spent the next two hours with a squeege and a hose redirecting the disembowelment that had occured:mad:

Lesson learned: From that point forward I test my dump seal with a bit of "grey" waste first:rolleyes:

First off, our current Marathon has a magnetic refrigerator latch that activates when you start the coach. I could have used that when I dumped a 12 pack on the tile floor out of our previous bus.

Let me also just say the we used to subscribe to the "if its yellow let it mellow" rule to conserve tank capacity because we primarily dry camp....something to remember to check before heading out on a twisty road in Colorado.

It happens so often, I'm beginning to think I have Attention Deficit Disorder. Simple things like leaving water running to overflow on the fresh water tank, Leaving lights on outside all day long, or forgetting my keys to the fuel tank lids and driving home on fumes.

Like when I tried to back my way out of a tight spot at 1am...and got into some soft ground...could have sworn there was a road there. 1 tow truck and 2 bags of gravel later...I was out.

But one of the best was learning that gallons of milk and water can move in the resi refigerator when you hit an on ramp. A quick trip to wally (after stopping to clean it up...you can cry over spilt milk) and the purchase of a baby latch for both doors...problem solved.

A couple of things you all need to realize about this thread: First, there is no POG requirement that you post something stupid that you have done in the past. If you think Skiffer is going to give you a renewal discount for posting the dumbest act, think again. It won't happen. Second, if you can top Bruce's numb nuts acts you should be spending all day every day on your knees in church thanking the Good Lord for sparing your life, instead of piddling around on the internet. Another option, run for office.
We've all done this stuff. I've done it so recently that I get choked up just thinking about it, but I ain't going to post the gory details. Yet.
I guess confession is good for the soul, so go ahead and post away. But, don't be surprised when no one wants to park next to you at OKC.

I'm adding a seminar session for OKC.

"HOW TO BLOCK A FOUR LANE FLORIDA HIGHWAY"

Of course I would never do that, (there are no photos to prove I did) but I think I can teach the process.

Hey, can the magnetic refrigerator latch be retro fitted to older coaches. What is the name of the manufacturer of the latch?

Jim, after a wine/ketchup/milk spill while going through the Smokies we added wide velcro strips at the top of the freezer / refrigerator doors. Quick and easy and not only that, when going down the highway it is easy to remove the strip and open the doors.

Ted,

I hope you don't chock you chicken and choke your wheels.

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Originally Posted by lewpopp

Ted,

I hope you don't chock you chicken and choke your wheels.

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Those East Texas Boys know what to do with their chickens...:)

Thanks, Lew, I fixed it. Gordon, you are right about knowing our chickens. Jan decided a couple of months ago that she wanted a flock of chickens this spring. We haven't fooled with um for a few years so I had to rebuild the chicken house and rework the run. The owls are bad to kill chickens down here, so the run is covered with shade netting to keep them out. Jon won't like reading this, but we picked the first bunch of tomatoes this evening. His whole garden will be overgrown with weeds by the time he gets back from NY. Nice timing A-1. The lady who runs a big peach orchard up the country a bit brought me a big basket of the seasons first this morning. East Texas is about to burst forth and life is good!!:)

Hey Mel.........

I have 100 cubic yards of mulch recently spread on my property along with many gallons of Roundup to prevent or kill any unwanted growth. I don't have to worry about no stinkin weeds.

I just wish we were pickin maters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jon Wehrenberg

Jim, after a wine/ketchup/milk spill while going through the Smokies we added wide velcro strips at the top of the freezer / refrigerator doors. Quick and easy and not only that, when going down the highway it is easy to remove the strip and open the doors.

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Jon,

Email pats@marathoncoach.com at Marathon Coburg, Pat is the service manager for Marathon Coburg. tell him you are a friend of mine, ask him to send you their Marathon latch that they use on their refrigerators, they are simple and easy to install. I think they made these latches, not sure? Older style ones, not the magnetic ones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tdelorme

Thanks, Lew, I fixed it. Gordon, you are right about knowing our chickens. Jan decided a couple of months ago that she wanted a flock of chickens this spring. We haven't fooled with um for a few years so I had to rebuild the chicken house and rework the run. The owls are bad to kill chickens down here, so the run is covered with shade netting to keep them out. Jon won't like reading this, but we picked the first bunch of tomatoes this evening. His whole garden will be overgrown with weeds by the time he gets back from NY. Nice timing A-1. The lady who runs a big peach orchard up the country a bit brought me a big basket of the seasons first this morning. East Texas is about to burst forth and life is good!!:)

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Got 8 "mater" plants going this year - couple starting to yield this week.....nothing like a proper E. Texas breakfast with fresh Tomato.:D

Enjoy them maters from TX now. In a few weeks everything in the entire state will be dried and brown.

But its a dry heat, right?

We got our Mators out just before the Mississippi Dan Outing and got back to frost last Sunday Night. So it will be a while till we get them mators. Did get some fresh lettuce and onions with hot grease. That's called a wilted salad around here. It was good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rfoster

We got our Mators out just before the Mississippi Dan Outing and got back to frost last Sunday Night. So it will be a while till we get them mators. Did get some fresh lettuce and onions with hot grease. That's called a wilted salad around here. It was good.

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There used to be a little cafe in downtown Oklahoma City that was famous for their wilted lettuce salad. They used bacon drippings to wilt the lettuce. Just good Southern cooking. I think there is a law against serving something so good these days. I never figured I'd live to be as old as Lew anyway, so if it's on the menu I'm gonna order it.