Thanks for your videos! We are retired and RVers now. In the 1980s I was a long haul truck driver. Similar experience, I turned down a nice newly blacktopped road. A couple miles and it was a single lane gravel road. About 10 miles in I came to a bridge that stated 2 ton limit. My rig weighed nearly 40 tons. My only choice was to backup! I kept looking for a place to turn around but the ditches were deep and the road was narrow. Shining a flashlight out the drivers window, I backed all the way out that road! I've told this story many times! I was always good a backing anything but I tell people I learned how to backup a Semi Rig that night!
I feel your pain. Once in Mississippi we got onto a road under construction. No signs to tell us. The further we went the worse it got. Luckily it was not as long as yours was. We survived but was scary at times. Those mishaps go along with all the good stuff. It’s just nice to be able to talk about it. Stay safe
Thank you for reality. It was not dark and some good Samaritans came by. These are helpful tips for others. Thank you for sharing and you remained calm which is great. Don’t let it get you down. Use it for other life experiences. It happens!
I so appreciate your candor and how you are willing to share frustration and anxiety as well as excitement and positivity. Great channel. Enjoy your travels.
My parents were lifelong members of NCHA. They are now in their Mid-80's and have a 35 ft Motorhome...and sadly only get to go out a couple times a year now. I can remember on more than one occasion Dad got himself or helped others out of similar situations. It happens! But they are good memories of many fun times!
Because I'm a single mom and it all the responsibility is on me, I'm ultra detailed about our roads. Google satellite any questionable road. You can get close enough to see gravel or pavement. Google street view. If there is no street view, it's probably not a street. 😬😬😬 Have fun and be blessed.
Good job Brian. You kept your cool. The washboard road brought back a FedEx memory. I used to deliver down those washboard roads and I thought my truck was going to fall apart. It would take me 30 minutes to deliver a package. OMG. Then UPS would zip right by me at full speed a loose me in the dust. He'd say to me go fast and ride above the grid. Yeah Right. I told him listen buddy. You work for UPS and that truck is not use. So why should you care. Where me I am a independent contractor for Fedex Ground and that truck is mine and the repairs are mine. Thank you very much. LOL. Thanks for the reminder Brian. I no longer deliver on dirt roads. Thank you Jesus. Good night my friends.
Wow! Things do tend to go awry in paradise sometime don't they? I am glad everyone and the rig is OK! We wanted to tell you that you are one of our top three full time RVer's that we watch. Despite the content of this particular video you have inspired us to hit the road! In less than a week we will be full time RV living! We've been working on it for months and thanks to a few like you, we have the inspiration as well as a lot of useful information thanks to your vids. Thank you! Maybe we'll see you down the road one day!
Hey guys! Congratulations on your decision to go full time! Thank you for the very nice compliment and we hope you find the lifestyle as enjoyable as you imagine! Take care and safe travels!
Like your title says...life happens. Glad you were able to get out safely with minimal damage to your rig, & maybe just a slightly bruised ego. Happens to all of us though.
Gotta show the good with the bad! It's times like these that restore your faith in humanity. Your in a jam and someone comes along and helps you out. Good for you no major damage. Perfect time to be on the Rim - It's a scorcher done in the valley. Safe travels!
Washboard roads are the worst roads on the earth! Enjoy the star gazing. That is one of the best parts about that area. My wife and I pulled over late one night on our way from Williams to Flagstaff about half way along the route. We turned off the car and laid on the hood and have never seen so many stars in the sky. It was amazing.
Thank heavens for neighborly passersby! Just making memories that's all. So glad you are on your way again and still smiling!!! You are our inspiration :)
Having been single more than I've been coupled up or married and having worked alone for nearly 20 years, I always had figure out how to do things alone without any help. I'm surprisingly successful at this 94.6% of the time. The other 5.4% of the time.... I just gotta have help. I now have the most wonderful immigrant wife that practically lives to help me. So, I've been teaching her how to help guide me while maneuvering and backing up the RV, boat etc. I am teaching her hand signals (important even without a language barrier), what to watch for, where to stand so she can see me in the mirrors and looking up down and all around for hazards. We're experimenting with a couple of small hand held radios to assist us as necessary. As a man and a pilot for 40 years I understand that sometimes (translation: 94.6% of the time) I am stubborn, determined and get a "I'll do it my damn self" attitude instead of asking for help as a good pilot should do. She's still learning these things and is helpful. I guess the moral to the story is that sometimes we need to swallow our pride and ask our wives for help so we can blame th.......I mean, so we don't get ourselves in a jam. "I'm a man and I can change.....if I have to.......I guess."
Oh golly! Thanks for sharing the good, bad, AND the ugly! So glad those guys came by and were able to help you out! A lot of fires in AZ right now. You all be safe! 👍😀
You learn something new all the time:) I have always thought about heat and altitude with inflatable boats and other things....it didn't even dawn on me about the sleep by number bed....duh. Out of sight out of mind!
Working in a parking lot on a corner in Jackson Hole wyoming on a Sunday afternoon changing a starter ! Lucky the Napa on Main Street had one. In the morning we were smoking the brakes on or Toad coming down the pass. I Feal Ya Brother. Its always an adventure ! Dont beat yourself up its part of life. I got mine Stuck in my Son inlaws front yard !
I love how real you are!! We RV'd when my kids were little, cant wait to take my grandson out! Maybe Hit the road full time some day...Keep up the fun and real videos!!!
Curios about our first travel day mishap almost a year ago to the day? Check it out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Sr2QRCj2Cao.html
Found ourselves in a right pickle in late 90's, with quite the audience watching on as got stuck in Santa Cruz where we should never of been in huge 5er and truck = young invincible newbies back then LOL. Had to back up real curvy, steep area we'd come down to park where it was full to the brim with others, hubby was not happy with my directions! Ho hum, lesson learned. Are you currently off FR300 close to the rim (about 10miles in?). Hope the known wind isn't too rough for your visit and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for fossil seashells = weird to see thousands of feet above sea level today, but helps you imagine many years ago what the area might have been like. FWIW, we love to boondock/disperse camp by choice but often google for reviews of our next wilderness plan to see what others have to say but also check out satellite/google earth views as much as possible to see where potential turnarounds are = 2003 38ft Class A, particularly do when going onto non-paved roads. All's well that ends well for sure, and campfire stories to tell in future years.
In 2011, took my 88 year old mother on 7,000 mile rv trip. Stayed in Williams, Arizona and would definitely love to go back. Really sweet town. Mom passed 2 weeks short of 89th. BIrthday. Grand Canyon....all the way up to Montana. Great trip. Will definitely go back to Williams, Az.
Good vid guys. And yes stuff like this just happens sometimes when you get out there. It's all part of the journey right? But good recovery. Thank God for those two trucks who said, "we're going to help these guys. Did they also have all those straps with them or did you have them on board? When I saw that this vid was just released like 4 hours ago or something like that and already had a "thumbs down". I couldn't understand that. WHAT? Then I got hit with several Monetization ads. Personally I hate those things and usually sign off. I thought, "ah ah"...that's probably where the thumbs down came from. But I stuck in there. BTW...our coach is almost like yours. We have a 2012, Winnebago Vista, 35F on a 22K chassis @ 35' with 1.5 baths. Anyway nice vid. thx for sharing and LIKED.
I don't and never have owned or driven a motorhome so take this for what it is worth but I am constantly amazed at what folks do or try to do with these giant vehicles with relatively teeny tiny tires. Still I am sure I would do the same. Live and learn.
Anyone willing to adventure has a day like this once in a while. Thanks for sharing and you're right, it makes for good stories and experiences that are meaningful beyond scenery and relaxation. The trick is keeping them well spaced. ;-)
Now that I know you are a pilot like me I can suggest perhaps it was a case of “gethomeitis “? Always trust your instruments, keep your situational awareness and above all, relax and figure it out.
I appreciate your honesty and just subscribed to your channel. Beautiful camping spots. We hope to get on the road this fall and I need all the advice and real life scenarios I can get. I got stuck in our door yard last spring and our neighbor pulled me out. A load of gravel took care of that little dip - but that is not going to work on the road. Thank you for sharing!
You guys are great! Everyone makes mistakes, and I have seen worse. Everything worked out, and you got a beautiful spot. Don’t stress! Keep up the great videos!
Steve and Rocky are awesome! You are so right about that being part of the REAL lifestyle and it’s great that y’all aired it. We have found ourselves on roads like that one several times and it stinks! Travel day experiences are reality and they are filled with useful information to pass along. After many various GPS tries we use RV Trip Wizard which factors in size of rig and RV Life GPS allows for a “No Dirt Road” setting and so far so good.
We had our own awful travel day yesterday, which was almost comical with the amount of things that went wrong. Most out of our control. It can definitely pull the 'am I cut out for this?' string. But ultimately, bad days will happen and there are definitely more good than bad.
Wow! We just experienced the same type of insanity the past few days.Our very first trip. Those washboard roads are exhausting. And attempting to turn around on a rough mountain side road is umm impossible! 😭 We drove so many extra miles on crazy bumpy roads extending miles, time, effort and gas. Ugh. I noticed the blm locations tend to have those rough roads, though beautiful maybe that's a sort of payment after all. lol!😀
Big RVs like ours shake, rattle and roll something terrible when going slow or fast. We'd rather go slow and limit the amount of potential damage. Thanks for watching!
On our last trip we were going through Nebraska, raining so hard that I’ve ever driven the truck and trailer in since we started RVing and while on I80 we decided to get off the I80 to use our trailers restroom. (I hate stopping on the side of a freeway, especially in pouring rain) I make a turn off the 2 lane paved road onto a road base gravel road to stop (not enough space to get off the two lane road) I see that ahead there are silos that must have gravel to turn around on so off we go. About 200 yards the road becomes so muddy that the rear of the truck is spinning through the road base gravel and into the mud. I shift into 4 wheel high and keep going to the turn around by the silos as this is a single lane road. We get about 100 yards from the silos and they are in the dirt (which is mud now with all this rain) 😳 we don’t have room to turn our 23 foot trailer and truck around. The road has such a crown on it that if I don’t stay right in the middle, I’ll go right into the ditch. We back up for almost 3/4 of a mile on this now muddy road which took us almost 40 minutes to get back to the paved road. Every so often, the trailer would get off the crown heading to the ditch so I would have to straighten it out. All in driving rain.... 🥴 The sad thing is my wife said for us to back up onto the road with maybe 50 feet but I said that I’d rather turn around at those silos... 🙄🙄 Lesson learned.... we arrived after dark in Sioux City and set up camp in the rain. After 550 miles and almost 11 hours, I slept well that night. Nothing harmed or damaged so we learn and go on. Thanks for the video! That road sure looked bumpy.. Take care, Bill
I look at the situation you were in as a learning experience. In 30 years from now you will look back and laugh about it. It wouldn’t be memorable if you didn’t have this problem.
Cindy and I enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing the real life side of full time RV'ing. We are finally out on the road full timing. Take care and be safe!
Hey Guys, thanks for sharing the bad and ugly along with the good. I appreciate the stories, insight and your humor during, or at least after the fact. LOL
I really enjoy your adventures, good and not so good. You guys tell it like it is, Life always throws you a curve one in a while, its easier to chuckle about it a few days later. Enjoy the ride.
Good thing that Tacoma was there to help the Ram, otherwise you would have been sitting there a lot longer :) Glad you got out without doing any damage to your rig.
VERY familiar with the Rim, have property in Heber/Overgaard as well as Snowflake high desert. Loads of great open lands but....! And those forest roads can be treacherous at best. Forget GPS
Hi Wendy. We've camped on the Rim for over 20 years, but it has really changed in the past few years due to the increased camping and fires. This was our first trip back in over a year and we were surprised how beaten up it is. Thanks for watching.
Wow! That looked like quite an experience. Thanks for sharing your reality. How very nice that some guys happened to come along in trucks that could help!
Hey guys trust your GPS lol . You guys seem to have a cool head when those things happen and you figure out what you need to do. Enjoy your journey. But most of all be safe.👍☕️🍀
Hi Nicole. Fortunately we have insurance, so there wouldn't have been a bill. As for the two who helped us...they wanted nothing in return...just like most good people who care more about helping a fellow human being than getting something in return. Thanks for watching! p.s. They are both public school teachers!
I, too, love Williams and Flagstaff, AZ. We were just there two weeks ago. Bearizona is a great 👍 find. You definitely should check it out! It is a drive-thru wild-animal park and a walk-around zoo area. It is very pretty and quaint. Would love to live in that area! So sorry you guys got stuck; that is so frustrating... glad those truck drivers helped you out. So nice of them. Most outdoorsy people are very helpful and willing to help out; aren’t they? Have fun! 😎
Damn! I’d of freaked out! Good job staying calm and thank God for the two good old boys with trucks! I’ve done only a few trip in our rig and one of them would have made a good video except I didn’t film it! Probebly a good idea! Be careful now!
I'm up around the Teton Mountain Range in the forest..great views and my Honda Pilot looks like your Jeep. I like to stay with 3 to 4 hours for the same reason.
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