1st RV experience

I am your "friend" from Texas who has ordered several of Mark's videos
on the care/maintenance/and operation of a Class A Motorhome. I just
recently rented a Monaco Executive 2001 Diesel pusher coach
43' long with two slides and drove from the Dallas, TX area to.....
Mark/Dawn,

I am your "friend" from Texas who has ordered several of Mark's videos
on the care/maintenance/and operation of a Class A Motorhome. I just
recently rented a Monaco Executive 2001 Diesel pusher coach
43' long with two slides and drove from the Dallas, TX area to
Kerrville, TX (in the TX Hill Country). Kerrville is northeast of San
Antonio, TX.

We booked a reservation at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville....site
6049 which is somewhat isolated right by the river. The park has all
concrete roads and concrete pads with full hookups and WIFI and cable.
Mark, after watching your video on Class A Motorhomes, I set up the
coach on the pad in less than 20 minutes.....

I shut off the engine.....leveled the coach....put out the two slides
and hooked up the cable, electric, water and sewer and we were fully
functional. For the first three nights, we sat outside on our pad at
the picnic table and the sky was so clear that you could reach up and
grab the stars ....in fact my girlfriend, Debbie, actually saw three
shooting stars in the sky one evening. It was picture perfect and the
park/site and environment was perfect.

Well now for the fun stuff......on Thursday 8/16, Tropical Storm Erin
hit the Texas coast and spread across the lower part of the state. We
were getting drenched with rain and since we were one of the LOWEST
spots in the park, all the water was running toward our coach and down
a drainage ditch and into the river. I told Debbie, IF the water
starts to crest and come up on the banks, we are moving this coach to
higher ground....we both agreed.

We attempted to go to dinner but the local roads were flooded so bad
that we could not even get to the restaurants and I did not want to
chance it so we came back to the park. We ran into the "work campers"
driving the golf cart who told us ...."No need to move your coach, we
have never seen this park flood" and here is another way to get into
town to have some dinner.

We attempted taking I-10 East to Kerrville and finding a restaurant but
it was late, dark and water was everywhere so again, we just came back
to the park and ate in the coach. We watched TV that night and after
the local news when the Jay Leno show was starting, I got up and went to
look out the front window of the coach and here is what I saw:

water was pouring over our pad between the wheels and we could not even
see the concrete; the water was rising in the river to the top of the
grass just in front of our pad

I called Debbie over to see what I was looking at and we both said
...."we need to get the hell out of here now".

I told Deb to move the rental car...which was parked behind the coach
and I would disconnect and move the coach. I literally walked around
the side of the coach holding on to the front mirrors, windshield
wipers, just so I would not be swept away into the raging waters. I
attempted to "unhook the coach" ..the water was up to my "behind" and I
pulled out the sewer hose, unhooked the cable, and believe it or not,
turned off the breakers for the 50 amp service and pulled out the plug
while standing in at least three feet of rushing water in bare feet. I
could not unhook the water hose at the pedestal so I unhooked it at the
coach and just let it drop into the raging waters.

I then climbed into the coach and started it up ....pulled in the slides
and backed it off the pad and turned left heading for higher
ground.....unfortunately not knowing that I was cutting the street off
and driving over a decorative rock on the curb ( I could not see the
road or curbs due to all the rushing water). I scraped something
...backed up and then went forward again. We picked out a site higher
up on the hill and parked the coach and re-hooked it up ....nervous,
scared, and in a little panic. The TV cable got wrapped around the
black tank dump valve and as I pulled the cable wire, (I had not put the
sewer hose in the ground yet) it opened up the black tank dump valve
and started dumping on the concrete and in the grass before I could shut
it off. The "Work Campers" Hosts couple who told us that we did NOT
need to move our coach, brought their water hose over so I could use it
to rinse the "stuff" into the sanitary opening and use it for water that
evening. Actually late that evening, they came by with our water hose
that they retrieved from our site ( I guess the water subsided and they
were able to unhook it and return it to us).

Turns out I bent the generator exhaust pipe and it had to be removed and
replaced. We had the park mechanic come and remove the broken exhaust
pipe and determine what parts he needed to fix us up. We then used a
wet/dry vac to remove standing water from inside our rental car...let it
dry and sprayed some conditioner to make it smell clean and eliminate
any mold or mildew.

It cost me $430 to have the exhaust pipe replaced on the coach so I
could use the generator. We got the car pretty good before we returned
it to the rental car place.

On the way home, we stopped at another RV park in Elm Mott, TX (just
north of Waco, TX) and parked .....as we walked around the park, I
noticed that the front AC unit on our rented coach ...the AC cover was
missing....so it made me wonder....where was it and how did it come
off? And if it came off...did it fly back on the road and damage
anyone's car behind me?

At that point , I just wanted to get the coach back to the rental
company in Plano, TX. We returned it on Monday 8/20 after emptying it
and the rental manager was impressed that we were returning it with no
damage (guess he did not realize the pipe for the generator exhaust was
different) or did not see the missing AC roof cover.
We told him (Debbie and I ) that we would now want to rent the 2002
Dynasty they have and he told us that the current renter stopped for
fuel ( possibly put in regular gas into a diesel engine) and after
leaving the station, noticed flames coming out of the coach at the
back. The entire coach burned ...so I guess I should count my
blessings....obviously that guy is having a worse day that me.

Heck, I could have had a totally useless car (water in the oil) and a
motorcoach that could have become a houseboat!!!!!!!

Anyway, I thought you might appreciate this story......I did learn some
valuable lessons:

1. Your videos were "right on" and it made me look like a pro at the
park hooking and unhooking

2. NEVER stay in a low spot in an RV park when it is raining...move to
higher ground immediately

Needless to say, we really did have fun but the experience was a little
nerve wracking....to say the least.


Hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed telling it to you. Keep the videos coming.....they are really terrific.


All the best,
Eric & Debbie
------------------------------
Hi Eric,

What an interesting and exciting first RV trip. Not many people will be able to compare their first outing to this one. What I have always found interesting is of all the things we do, RV trips and experiences seem to be our fondest memories. You and Debbie will never forget your first RV adventure and you will look back on it as one of yur favorite memories for years to come.

I'm glad to hear the videos were helpful too.

Thanks for writing,

Mark Polk
author of "Insider's Guide to Buying an RV"
http://rveducation101.com/detailedinformation.asp?ID=1428
Training DVD's:
http://rveducation101.com/trainingvideos.htm?siteID=0