Doh, de doh, doh, doh, doh

Barney Rubble said it so eloquently, I had to use his line for my title today. We awoke in a nice enough campsite in Bearsmouth, Montana. (Yes, there is a place with that name!) After a breakfast of blueberry eggos with strawberry preserves, you would think a guy's brain would be in perfect working order, but not today.

As I did my walk-around in order to get ready to hit the road, I remember looking at the water connections and thinking "Hmmm, I don't think I need to add any more water to the tank. We are going up some major climbs today, and at 8 pounds per gallon, I don't think the RV needs any more weight to carry." I thought about unhooking the water and the power line, then determined that I should wait, in case Willa needs the electric to run her hair curler. Besides, there is a herd of mosquitos swarming around the PEWK (poop, electric, and water kabinet) and I am hoping that if I return to unhook in a little while, the mosquito herd will mosey on over to the neighbors and suck all their blood, instead of mine. So, I move on to stacking all the unburned firewood back into the Trail Limo. That turned out to be a pretty big deal, since I had to unload, and reload, the Jeep in order to get the wood and axe at the bottom of the load.

After reloading the wood into the Trail Limo, I take a short pause to reflect on how much better it is loaded than it was yesterday. Not every man can stack junk in the back of a vehicle and make it smaller. I am soooo goood! I move on to carefully coiling the dog line and putting it neatly back into the basement storage cabinet of the RV. Of course, it is even neater than it was yesterday, so I have to stop and admire, once again, my masterwork of loading.

I gaze around the area jist to make sure there is nothing laying about that I can stack neatly into the RV. Seeing nothing there, I jump up into the RV, and notify Willa that everything is ready to go on the outside. I spare her the pompousity of telling her what a wonderful job of stacking wood in the Jeep and coiling the cable, and then I verify everything is ready to go on the inside.

As I ease down into the driver's seat, I turn on the leveling jacks and raise them up, feeling the RV settling down onto the springs, ready to roll. Then, I start the RV and put it in gear, slowly pulling away from our site. After a few seconds I look back in the mirror, and see something laying in our site. It is quite large, and I really don't recognize it. Then, I happen to notice something else in mirror. It is my water filter system, water hose, and power cord, all being drug down the road behind the RV! "Craaaap! I forgot to unhook the water and power!!!"

I stop, throw the tranny into "Park" and run back to see that the large object I had first noticed is the power box for my site. It tipped over when I drove off with the power cord still connected. Apparently, the power cord is very stout, as it was able to tip over the power box, even though it was mounted to a pole and set in concrete. I ran back to look at the damage, and saw that the power box was miraculously still in one piece, albeit laying on the ground, and the wires that feed it were still connected at the base. I tried to prop it back up, but the ground is pulled up around the cement, and it won't go back down without some digging, so it will take some skilled labor (shovelling) and probably should be down with the power off before somebody gets too close to the feed wires. I leave the box leaning at about a 45 degree angle and go back to assess the damage to the RV.

The water hose was still in excellent shape. I had a pressure regulator between the faucet and the hose, and apparently the manufacture of the regulator had know I would be using my water line to try and uproot the faucet, so they made the regulater very weak. That was excellent design, as it protected both the hose and the faucet very well.

As for the power line, whoever designed it did not, apparently, consult with the designer of the water pressure regulator. The power line was strong enough to uproot the cemented-in power pole before it then ripped off the connector, which was still plugged into the box. I didn't want to go back and try and retrieve the connector, as it was a molded plug, and would not be worth anything. Beyond that, I wasn't so sure the box may have power shorted out, and I thought this repair would probably be better done by the park operator.

I looked around the park, and it seems that the only fortunate think about this whole morning calamity was that everyone must have either still been in bed, or already gone fishing. There were no people to be seen. I did search down the owner of the park, and told him what a bonehead I was. He wasn't really that happy to get the news, but he did thank me for letting him know. I guess he was really happy that I gave him a nice repair job to do on the day before the 4th of July hoards of tourists attack his pet herd of mosquitos.

Note: I really don't suggest that any of you who happen to be camping use this technique for doing a speedy disconnect from the hookups. I plan on going back to the more conventional method, myself!

Tonight, I put on a new power connector and cleaned up the rest of the water and cabling. When I leave Ray and Colleens, I think I'll check 3 or 4 times to make sure nothing is left undone. Back to the checklist!

Doh, de doh, doh, doh, doh
I'm and idiot, and I blunder my way through life,
I keep laughing, 'cause I know
Crying doesn't help me get though this strife
But I'm sure glad that as I go
I've got a very understanding wife!
Doh, de doh, doh, doh, doh

Gil Doh