I blame it on John Dodge and the MAK board

[Christyhicks]

So, I blame it on the MAK board membership, and specifically on John Dodge  . . . I'm sitting on the side of the road, oil up to my elbows, and I'm thinking about all the guys on MAK waiting for stories, yeah, you know WHO you are, and if John had not spilled the beans about that Flea Market, well, things might just have gone differently.  The question is, differently good?  Or differently bad?  We'll never know, will we?  Ok, I guess I ought to start from the beginning, it's a very good place to start, when you read you begin with "A, B, C" when you sing you begin with "Do, re, mi". . .  Whoops, sorry, got carried away there.

So we're sitting at the rally barn, chatting with John  & Lois Dodge, on New Years Eve, and he drops a remark about a great Flea Market in Webster, FL that's open the next day.  Well, that's all it took, we just KNEW we had to pack up that night, so we could be on the road early the next morning, making sure we had first shot at all the good deals.  As we rolled out that morning, we felt bad that we couldn't go and say goodbye to every single person we met, but we probably would have had to take a whole day just to properly say goodbye to everyone, ha ha. 

So, we're on the road, coming through Tampa, and I just sent off e-mails to some family members saying how well things had gone, which was the final nail in our coffin.  All of a sudden Larry feels a small bump, looks into the camera and exclaims, "The car is loose!"  I look into my side mirror and see a headlight from the Jeep.  Now, driving a bus, you NEVER want to be able to see the headlights of the tow vehicle. . That's just a reeeaaaally bad thing! 

Larry stops as quickly as possible, pulling into that small triangle of space between the right hand lane and the entrance ramp coming up onto the highway.  We leap out of the bus and make a run for the Jeep, which is stopped about five feet behind the bus, and  at this point, we're thinking that we've just got a hitch/tow bar problem.  When we got to the rear of the bus, we saw that oil was spewing out from under the engine. . Looked like we had a garden hose on.     Of coruse, Larry's thinking, "Man!  I JUST changed that oil before we left!"  We immediately appraised the situation and turned into the Keystone Cops  . . .Larry makes the mad dash for the bus to get it pulled over off the highway before he runs out of oil, and I race for the car door, only to realize that, crap, my keys are in the ignition, LOCKED INSIDE THE CAR!  So I race back for the bus door and tear it open, yelling, "Give me your Jeep key!" Larry starts fumbling with his keys, but he can't get the darn key off the ring, and he's panicking because he knows he only has so long before we're totally out of oil!  Finally, he just yanks the keys out of the ignition and throws them at me.  (He claimed he threw them TO me, but let me tell you, he threw them AT me! )  I start fumbling with the stupid key ring myself, finally I force myself to slow down so I can get my fingers to work right.  I throw the keys back AT him and he starts the bus up and gets her off the road up ahead. 

I run back to the Jeep and start removing the tow bar off the front, so I can get it off the highway, because I'm thinking we should have just drawn a big red bullseye on the back!  About the time I get it all disconnected, Larry comes running up and yells, "Get in and get the Jeep off the highway, quick!"  Well, I just turned around and looked at him, and held up my hands.    I was covered in Delo 100, CF2 oil, practically up to my elbows!  What a mess!  So we run back to the bus and clean up, then I finally get the Jeep pulled over on the side of the road.  All in all, you probably took longer to read this convoluted post than we spent running around like headless chickens getting those vehicles off the road, but boy, when we were bleeding oil, we couldn't get her moved and shut down fast enough. 

The next step was two-fold, I call FMCA (since we have towing insurance) and get on the MAK board and start waiting for someone to see me in the bus garage.  In no time, Dallas came in  and it's a good thing, because if I had to rely on FMCA, we'd probably STILL be sitting along side the highway, (my experiences with FMCA  will be another post).  Dallas was able to call Jack, and someone talked to Ace who gave them Brenda and Dick Wolfords # and before we knew it, we had a place to take TempBus. (at least, it went SOMETHING like that.)  I finally managed to get Steps towing to send out a landall, and I sure am glad this bus didn't have a raised roof, or yes, I may STILL be sitting along side the highway.  As it is, we dropped the air out of the bags and he still had to let the air out of a tire to get us low enough to haul us legally.  Any taller, and not only would they have needed permits, but they would have had to wait another day, as you can't haul oversized loads on a holiday!  We sure did watch in the rearview mirror when he went under that first bridge!  I just could see the tops of the air conditioners becoming one with the bridge,  . 

Then, of course, since we had planned on TOWING the Jeep, we weren't concerned about fuel. . .so wouldn't you know, we didn't have enough gas in the Jeep to make it to Brenda's place!   Luckily, about the time we needed to pull off the highway to fill up, Brenda and Dick caught up to us and pulled up next to the landall and honked to let them know they would be taking the lead from there on in.  We probably broke a record in filling a Jeep with gas, because we managed to catch up with them just as they were ready to pull into the yard.  Talk about timing! 

I can't say enough good things about the group with whom we spent that evening and ½ the next day!  Dick and Brenda and that whole group were just great.  We had a place to stay, safe and secure, we had more qualified bus mechanics than anyone deserves, and even though we hadn't even met them person-to-person at the rally, we felt immediately that we were among friends.  Bus people are like that, they are truly the friendliest people on earth.  They also like brownies!

By the following afternoon, we had a patched oil pan, the belly was full of oil, we had a re-mounted hitch, and we were ready to roll on down the road.  We left out, a day behind schedule, no flea market waiting for us, but you know what, we felt like the luckiest people in the world.  I mean, really, how many people do you know, that lose their tow vehicle, and have it pull to a stop five feet behind the rv.    You got to hand it to the brake buddy! And then, to be where we were, that very day, with all those busnuts in the area offering to help us, it just doesn't get any better than that.  We had phone calls, offers on the forum, e-mails, for a couple of days afterwards even, just making sure we were OK.  To think we had choices, actually had CHOICES of whether to take TempBus for the repairs!  Can you imagine!  I wish I could mention everyones' names, (I don't even know all the names of the people who were involved in helping us), but I just want to express my heartfelt thanks to each and every person who took the time to try their best to help us.  You all are the best, the BEST!   Christy Hicks

[Ncbob]

Wow!  What a story....and well told Christy!  All I can think of is to sat that you're absolutely right in your statement that BusNuts are the greatest.   But then too, good things come to good people.

So happy to know that all ended well and all concerned are safe.

NCbob

[Dreamscape]

Christy,

Great story!

What chapter of your "Bus Adventures" book is it? I hope it is not chapter 13.

What did you determine was the cause of the problem? Broken weld, loose or broken bolts???

Hope your next story has a happier note.

Happy Trails,

Paul

Dreamscape

[Gary LaBombard]

Christy & Larry,
Your trip to and from Arcadia has been quite the experience and I for one am very happy you are both fine and no one was hurt.  It was such a pleasure to meet you at Arcadia after talking as often as we did on the bbd etc. 

I read intently all these happenings that I am happy also that everyone shares with us in our travels, some of them make us want to run out and inspect our rigs to be sure we do not have a similar problem.  Paul above asked what the problem was that caused the break away of your toad and I believe we all would like to know but most of these problems come back to us inspecting our rigs and toad connections before leaving on a trip of any length.  A short run can be just as disasterious as a long one but thank God nothing happened to either of you or any one else in this case.   You thanked your (Brake Buddy) for keeping your toad as close to your bus at the breakaway as it did and that has really made me think.  I have seen a few toads being towed without any braking assistance of any kind attached between the bus and the toad and you can rest assured that this won't ever happen to us as your story has surely enforced the need to have a brake assistance for what ever reason.  Just think if this happened at 70 miles per hour on I-95 on the inside lane!!

Like Paul also again I hope you will tell us what was the cause of the brakeaway so we all can re-inspect our towing connections.  Could it be the actual towing bar between bus and doad or be caused from using lower class bolts without lock washers or lock nuts or welds or what ever this should make everyone aware it is possible.  I cringe when I see a bus passing me doing more than 70, on the inside lane and towing a toad, I try to stay away from them  just incase they did not inspect their connections of the towing rigs and the toads themselves & knowing they may not have a brake buddy or some other apparatus to stop the toad on a brakeaway. 

Thanks again Christy and Larry for this information, thank God you are both alright and again you have helped us all think of being better and safer busnuts from your experience and also thanks for sharing it with us.  Many thanks also to those that assisted you in this ordeal no matter how small an assistance it was there was many pulling to help out a friend in need.

If anyone else does not mind sharing similar experiences to prevent us from having a disaster on the road please post your experience here and what the causes were and your personal recommendations for prevention to anyone else.  This is such a powerfull tool we have here and the best media to pass it on to the entire world.  Admitting to a mishap that may have happened does not mean you will be ridicluled in public but in the reverse, you will be thanked by many such as me this very moment to Christy & Larry.  "Complete" (Pre-trip Inspections) before every trip has to be the most important thing we can all do of our rigs, I even do this with my S&S right now but my family is just as important in that rig as in a bus and anyone else we meet during our travels. 
Take Care.
Gary

 

[Christyhicks]

It was that the stupid nuts came off the stupid bolts!

Larry had checked everything before we left of course, and then he had visually examined the hitch when we were putting on the Pressure Pro sensors at the rally, but he didn't actually put a wrench on them (he decided THAT was a big mistake,   )  

It's interesting that the Brake Buddy did it's job, even though we really didn't have it hooked up like we should have.  We had the safety cables and the break-away switch hooked to the hitch mounting plate, because there wasn't really any other good place to hook them, and he just hadn't had time to get under there to add anything.  A lot of things were planned for after the shop was built, and that was one of them. . .we just left too soon I guess .

So, the hitch came completely off, Larry noticed the car pulling off to the side, but evidently the hitch at some point did hang in the bracing under the oil pan, putting a crease and small hole in it.  We think that the Brake Buddy "felt" Larry stop and went ahead and stopped the toad, because it was about five feet behind the bus, sitting dead in the road.  To me, the brake buddy paid for itself that day!  When we hooked it back up after the repairs, we stretched that break-away far enough to reach a small hook under the bus. . . Larry was afraid that the stretch was too much for it, but it seems to be fine, so we'll hook it there from now on until we can get something mounted.  We'll also be mounting hooks specifically for the safety cables.

Here's the deal:  We really didn't think that things like this happened very often.  I mean, who really thinks that the car will come off?  We thought we were being safe by using a brake buddy and a good quality tow bar, and the hitch was mounted to the frame, but we just were shocked that the hitch seemed tight, and the bolts "looked" tight, when we hooked up that morning, and a few hours later, the car is off on an adventure by itself.  After this happened, we've heard story after story about toads and trailers that have come loose, broken hitches, you name it, it seems EVERYONE has a story!  This happens way more often than we thought!  So, here's my advice:

Good quality safety cables hooked to something OTHER than the hitch mounting plate, a Brake Buddy or similar braking device that stops the toad/trailer on both a SURGE situation, AND a break away situation, and make sure the break away is hooked on something OTHER than the any portion of the hitch.  Visual inspection and wiggling the hitch is not enough, you have to check the bolts/welds, etc., because yes, welds can brake too!  We've heard the stories!  Have a camera or some way of being able to see your tow vehicle, because Larry was able to see the car start to move over, long before it would have shown up in his mirrors, since we and the car were moving at the same speed, the car was simply following us, just veering a bit to the side.  And then, of course, it never hurts to have friends to assist you if you do have a problem .  Christy Hicks

[Dreamscape]

Christy,

I am sure you have thought of this but I will post it anyway.

Nuts, bolts and securing them. There are several ways to do this. Double nut, locknut with teflon or crimped, heavy duty lock tite, put on a tack weld if you are not going to remove it, hole through nut and bolt to insert a wire for security. I am sure there are many more.

That is scary loosing your nuts on the hitch.

Good post, thanks for sharing your mishap!

Happy Trails,

Paul

Dreamscape

[pete81eaglefanasty]

Christy and other bus nuts, we had a similar experience last summer, we were traveling thru Iowa when I became ill, we stopped at wal mart in Storm Lake, Ia, for the night because I didn't feel well, my wife disengaged the jeep and told me that the tow bar looked low.  We stayed at wal mart for two days because of how bad I felt (the people at wal mart were really nice about us  staying there), when we got ready to leave I checked the tow bar, it was really low, upon examination I saw that the nuts on the tow bar assembly going to the frame of the bus had one bolt missing, one bolt bent and hanging out, one bolt with no nut and one bolt all together but loose, these were bolts supplied by reese hitch..  We disconnected the car and my wife followed me to Spencer, Ia where we saw Ron The Bus nut, he took us to a friend of his that has a business that fixed our tow bracket with new nuts and bolts.  He also suggested we reinforce the bracket with vertical bars, because the bus sways from side to side and that causes the nuts and bolts to loosen and the bracket to bend, we did that when we got home, but haven't drove it yet.

I guess we were lucky we didn't have to rely on the brake buddy and the brakeaway switch, because we caught it on our morning inspection.


          Pete and Jean
            Fantasy

[buswarrior]

Thank you Christy!

Knowledge is power, and sharing it makes you powerful!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

oh yeah, John Dodge is definitely to blame!!!!

[gumpy]

I'm parked down here at Camp Conrad with John and a few others. I told him what you said. He didn't deny it, so... I think he's guilty.

I'll tell you what, though, he cooked some really good hamburgers tonight

[plyonsMC9]

Christy,

You are truly a gifted story writer!  Have you ever thought of submittnig some of your stories to Bus Conversions Magazine?   For sure - those would be about the first things I would read!!!  My wife enjoys your writing as well.

Thanks for sharing with us, and educating me as well.   

Kind Regards, Phil

[Christyhicks]

Thanks for the kind words, Phil.  I hated for my post to be so long, but it was just hard to fit it all in a really short one.

I'm glad our adventures entertain everyone too!  The way I look at it, a person just has to have a sense of humour when owning a bus, well, really, you just need to have a sense of humour in general!

It's nice for people to be able to read these stories and feel like there's someone else out there having "issues" come up, and if you never have issues with your bus, well, you've not got a "REAL" bus, or you've got enough money to buy a  new one!  

The best post will usually generate at least a little discussion, debate, or just plain arguing, , but it gets people thinking.  If we can make them think, and if we can make them chuckle just a bit, well, then it's definitely worth the effort to put a few notes down on paper. 

I do appreciate the feedback,  , because sometimes I worry that the posts are too long or that someone groans when they see I've taken up their time again, ha ha.  As long as a few people let me know they don't mind them, or even enjoy them, well, I'll just keep plugging along.  Christy Hicks

[edvanland]

Chrsty:
I agree with Phil keep them comming.  When I see one of your post I am ready for a good read, some glad it was not me, some been there and done that, but most of all glad that you will share it with the rest of us.  Keep up the good work and may all your bus troubles be little ones.
ED
MCI 7

[Green-Hornet]

Good story. Some of the simplest things can give you the most grief. I bet everyone is guilty of being a little too rushed to check the details. Maybe it will make me think before hoping in and going somewhere when I finnaly get my real bus. If things like this do not happen to you during a trip it probably won't be memorible a few years from now
Thanks for sharing!