looking for your best RV stories
Hi, this isn't necessarily an RV story, although it does involve an RV. You can decide. Also, it is long.
In 1992, my husband and I and our 3 dogs went camping outside Tres Ritos, NM in a 1969 Starcraft Pop-up (driving up from Dallas). I had told him to put the dogs' leads right inside the door so that I could secure the dogs as soon as we got to the campsite and BEFORE setting up the camper. Sure enough, we got there and he hadn't done it and we had a big fight about it. Our two older dogs, Cecil and Zipper, were out wandering around and we figured they were okay. My husband unhooked the trailer and asked me to pull the pickup forward about 4 feet. I did and heard wailing sounds. I thought I had run over a child. Nope, I had run over Squirt (thus the screen name), our 3 month old puppy, who had curled up under the pickup tire. I jumped out of the truck (after putting it in what would have been "Park" on my car, but was actually "neutral"), and my husband is screaming at me to get back in and put on the brakes as the truck rolled into a log. Now, we are on the mountain in the middle of nowhere on Saturday night, closing in on 5:00. We got the puppy up, wrapped her in towels, put the other two dogs in the back of the pickup, and raced down the mountain to find a phone. We happened upon one in Tres Ritos and called into Taos and found a vet who was getting ready to close but said he would wait for us. We flew down the mountain and made it into Taos (think Tourist) just in time for the 6:00 rush hour, and of course, the vet was on the far side. The puppy's pelvis was broken and one hip was dislocated. Had her head been under the tire instead of her bottom, we would have lost her. As it was, as young as she was, her bones moved and he thought he could fix her up.
So, we leave the puppy at the vet (think $$$) and go into Taos to get something to eat. While eating we realized we had forgotten our lawn chairs so we checked 3 places (in July) and none of them had lawn chairs. Back up the mountain we went and got to our camp about 10:00. My husband started putting the pop-up out and leveling it and all that since we had just left it chocked. I took the other dogs for a walk since he was in no mood for company. Next morning, Sunday, we were supposed to call the vet to check on the puppy. He recommended putting a pin in her hip, but we said no, she was too young and we'd call back later after he checked with his more experienced vet. Back up to camp we went, spending most of the day moping about sitting on logs. Went down later and called and the older vet said no pin so we could pick her up on Monday.
We had planned to go to Chama to ride the train on Tuesday, so we couldn't take the puppy with us, so we left her boarded at the vet on Monday after we checked on her. We drove over the mountain to Chama and found a beautiful campground and while we were driving around, one of the wheels on the pop-up came off. Ka-THUNK! The lug nuts were stripped so the thing had just vibrated loose. We scavenged enough lug nuts from the other tire and the spare to get the tire back on and limp into a campground. The next day, we left our dogs in camp (no problem there) and rode the train. It rained on the way back, the roof leaked, but only over the seat we were in. We get back to Chama (pop 1200) about 4:30 and have to find lug nuts. We also found lawn chairs. Up to the campsite, finally, after getting some supper because we were too tired to cook or even light a fire. Got to the camper and found some of the canvas torn, which had to be repaired before we went to bed because it was raining.
Next morning, Wednesday, we head back down the mountain to Taos to pick up Squirt. we pull in, expecting a huge vet bill and were pleasantly surprised that it was only $300. Her hip was bandaged up tight and she was walking on 3 legs, but she was walking. About the time we left the vet to get some lunch, the brake light came on in the pickup (which we had just had new brakes put on). We had to find a mechanic in Taos to have that checked. While we were waiting, we took the dogs with us across the street to Lott-a-Burger and had lunch. We get the truck back and they haven't found anything wrong with it except now the check engine light was on. We had them check it out again and they found a screw or something that wasn't quite right, so at least that was minor. Back up the mountain we went. We finally got a fire going that night and had some place to sit but we were pretty worn out.
Next day, Thursday, we just laid around the campsite and tried to get in some relaxation. Our oldest dog, Cecil, was chasing chipmunks and my husband was chunking rocks at them. You guessed it, he hit Cecil with a rock, just above the eye, tore it open and it bled. We went down to Chama to have a vet see if it needed stitches - NO vet. Do we go back to Taos or just leave it alone? We decided to wait a day and see how it was (after it stopped bleeding). We were out walking and came across some other campers, one of whom was a vet. He looked at the cut (gash) and said it looked okay and didn't need stitches.
Our plan was to drive to Amarillo on Saturday, unload the pop-up, put it in storage (it belongs to my father-in-law), and drive to Dallas on Sunday. Friday turned out cold and rainy so we said the hell with it and drove to Amarillo Friday evening. Pulling into Tucamcari, NM, we hear an odd thumping noise. One of the trailer tires was flat (not the one that had come off, the other one). We got out the spare and it was flat (we had checked it before we left). It was about 10:30 at night and we had to find a service station to get the flat fixed. We finally got to Amarillo early Saturday morning, slept in, took showers (we camp without water or electric hookups), cleaned out the trailer, and spent the evening with my in-laws. We drove home on Sunday, thinking all the way something bad would happen.
It was by far the worst vacation I have ever had. We hate going to (or even through) Taos and ended up there at least 4 times. We took the puppy to our vet 10 days after the accident to have the bandage taken off and he asked "did I put this bandage on? I can't remember doing it". He had to hear the whole story.
It didn't discourage us from camping, but it sure was one hell of a trip. We lost Cecil in 1999 to a rare disease and Zipper died of old age in 2002. We still have Squirt, who is now 13. I panicked when it happened and was scared to death I had killed the dog.
