Long Trip Baptism of Fire

[1nshort]

Taking my Encounter 37TZ on (only have 3200 miles of mostly local camping) a 5 week cross country trip. Have the Blue Ox TruCenter, TigerTrak, Banks Cold air Ram injector installed. First leg took me from Annapolis area to Columbia MO (daughters home). Impressed that negotiating the. mountains o MD and West Virginia (towing a 3600 pounder) I averaged 7.01 MPG. The rolling hills of Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, averaged 7.3 MPG. Next phase will be to Tombstone Arizona area.....more to follow.

1nshort

[go6car]

Glad to hear you're out and about, and having a good time!

Farthest trip we've done (to date) is about 10 hrs - would love to get in some real cross-country trips, but this "work" thing keeps getting in the way!

[1nshort]

Work thing in the way too. Not for much longer. Target retire looks like June. Had 7 weeks leave on books, had to use 3 of them or loose them so I added two more. Heading for Tombstone Arizona Friday. Will post more ' on the road' messages later.

[go6car]

Fantastic!!! Enjoy! (I'm jealous!)

[1nshort]

Well, the bad news is, in El Paso Texas we were sideswiped by an 18 wheeler who turned into us. He hit a pickup truck and flipped it into the front of the RV and drove us into the Jersey Barrier. Bad news is the RV most likely will be totaled. More on that when we get the police report and the insurance people weigh in. Our insurance included replacement RV. We will see how that works. Better news, despite all that both myself and the DW are fine/ Now to share some observations and experiments I did on the way out concerning performance. I did a tank of gas through the rolling hills and flat lands of Missouri and Kansas at 64 mph. The MPG was 6.4mpg. Next I did the flat lands of Kansas and Oklahoma but 55-60 mph. The mpg was 8.3. Next tank was rolling hills and flatlands of Oklahoma and Texas at 55-60 mph. MPG was 7.4.
The BluOx TruCenter and TigerTrack did a wonderful job of stabilizing the chasis. When trucks passed I barely felt them and steering was rock solid no push or sway, no tail wag the whole trip (such as it was). Regretfully made national news, they forgot to mention the Semi though..there goes my faith in news persons getting ANYTHING right.
The toad came through with only a scratch or two.
1n

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by 1nshort

Work thing in the way too. Not for much longer. Target retire looks like June. Had 7 weeks leave on books, had to use 3 of them or loose them so I added two more. Heading for Tombstone Arizona Friday. Will post more ' on the road' messages later.

I have spent many days in Tombstone, just like the whole area around Bisbee, Sierra Vista, Hereford has much to offer.
Have always stayed with family in the area but look forward to some RV time there.



And be sure to visit Kartchner State Park.

[CAT-RN]

Wow now that's some bad luck. Glad the two of you are ok. Good luck with the insurance companies

Russell

[MtnGuy]

Denis and Gail, so glad y'all are OK after what could have been some serious injuries. The camper can be replaced.

[Duckogram]

Very happy to hear you folks are OK. We just saw a Winne at Forest City that was hit by an OTR truck. Not much there to protect you. We were clipped by a swerving semi on I-75 in KY last week. Fortunately he just hit the mirror with his mirror. Our mirror was pushed against the coach but it did not break. Used the side view camera until we could get to a rest stop to fix it. We now have a battle scar to help us remember our close encounter.

[LittlePM]

Glad to hear that you are both ok, sorry to hear about your MH, but they can be replaced or repaired. I hope they take care of you and that you have a nice rest of your trip

[ResQfrog]

Glad to hear you were OK.

[vinmaker]

OUCH! So sorry to hear about your accident. Hope that replacement rider is what you thought it was.

Vin.

[go6car]

OMG, Denis! Thank goodness you both are OK!!

Please keep us posted about what your next steps are. I have that same coverage on our coach too. Hoping that you'll be able to continue your adventure in another new rig (that you'll have to re-mod!)

I'm so glad you are both safe!

[Roll]

Just read your post. Wow. You are lucky to be alive. I'm convinced that these coaches will explode much like an airplane when it hits the ground. There is just no structural support strong enough to protect occupants. Like putting a long wooden frame/wallboard room on a flatbed truck.

A new replacement sounds great but when I think about how long it too me to get our coach just right... well its a lot of work both by the dealer and me and don't even mention the money and time.

On the other hand if you can get something that suits better it might not be a bad thing. Cindy and I agree, you have to use a coach for a week straight to begin to really know what works for you and what doesn't. A bigger shower for instance is a must in any new coach for us.

Best of luck Denis and let us know how the settlement goes and what you get.

Gary and Cindy

[1nshort]

First and foremost, thank you everyone for your concerns and messages of encouragement. We are back home now and are starting the MH recovery repair/whatever process. We are insured by Allied Insurance a division of Nationwide insurance. Once their support kicked in the different divisions took over and contacted us to confirm details and got the MH released by the police and towed to a repair facility. The insurance adjuster gets there on Monday/Tuesday next week to make a determination. We are in the process of acquiring the Police Report and the Accident Report. So this part of the adventure is just beginning. But first some stats about that stretch of I10 in El Paso courtesy of the DWs sister in law. From the time of our accident to the Monday after the accident there were 6 more accidents with two fatalities all caused by OTR trucks in the area of our accident. During the year 2013 there were 13 thousand accidents on that stretch of road. The NTSB states that the area of I10 in El Paso has more accidents than all interstates across the country. It is referred to as the 'Spaghetti Bowl'....if you were to look at it from the overhead using google earth it would look like a bowl of spaghetti. I am in the process of pulling pictures off my cell phone and will post soon. The MH frame held up admirably, seats stayed put and the seatbelts kept us safe.

1n

[CAT-RN]

Glad you are back home. I have Allied insurance also. I'll for sure be watching your progress to see how you come out.

We stayed at a campground SE of El Paso and the owner there gave us directions on how to by-pass that down town area. We went North at the East side of town. Then across the North end. Worked out well for us.

Russell

[Roll]

Sure would like to see the pics of the coach after the accident Denis?

[1nshort]

Just have a couple more to convert from my phone. Then I'll have to get them down to forum size. Update on insurance claim: the adjuster got the coach released from the police investigation and had it towed to a repair facility...in this case Camping World facility at El Paso. CW does a repair/damage report sends it to the adjustor then they go over everything to determine status i.e. repairable or totaled. If totaled I shop and they pay up to the replacement value that I insured it at. So I am still in a waiting state. I mustsay that Allied has kept me informed at each step. In all I have heard from/provided info to four different divisions of Allied (a division of Nationwide Insurance) most within 2 days of the accident report by me. Definitely a complex process.

[1nshort]

Well, here goes for pictures. Let me review the situation;
We are on I-10in El Paso Texas, I am next to an 18 Wheeler about 3/4 the way up on his trailer on his left. Traffic is moderately heavy, posted speed is 50, I am at 40-45 as is the 18 Wheeler. All of a sudden the 18'er turns into my lane (I see the tractor do this) My comment is OMG then nothing but pure reaction. I believe he side swiped me twice (DW provided that detail). I see a small pick up hit by 18'er it gets thrown into my path like it was a toy. I am impacted by Pick Up (he is sideways passenger side towards) pushing him about another 15 or so feet, I am already into the Jersey Barrier. All damage photos are front and passenger side as I am merged with the Jersey on drivers side. DW sustains minor injuries from Side view mirror sheering off and shattering the window showering her with safety glass. She received 26 glass punctures in fore arm which healed in a few days. Little red car you see is my toad which came through virtually unscathed. We drove home in it.

Forest River Forums - 1nshort's Album: Baptism of Fire

There you go.
1n

[Roll]

Well its awful Denis. But I am surprised the impact didn't crack the windshield (from what I can tell from the photos).

Hard to imagine what the inside might have looked like, stuff everywhere I would guess.

I thought the side damage was repairable but didn't like the look of the front end and if you rode the divider there must be significant damage on the left too.

After 39 years in the insurance industry, much of it handing claims, I have to say you seem to be remarkably calm about this. Many people I met over the years were not.

Neither solution, new or repair, will be a perfect fix.

If they total it: They may balk at paying you for all your enhancements; you might insist (if they deny the cost of additions and enhancements) that you be permitted to remove anything they won't pay for that is still in working shape. Also, you will face the entire scope of quality control work left to buyers these days when buying a new coach. Can be aggravating. Less for some, more for others, (a year to work out problems for us). You'll undoubtedly want to make upgrades and additions again too; having just finished much of that on this coach.

If they repair it, be prepared to make additional trips back to the garage. They will miss damage, it's unavoidable in such a complicated piece of machinery. Once you accept it, then try not to blame everything that fails from that point forward, on the accident. People have a tendency to do that; it's a normal reaction when there is a lot of damage.

If I were in your shoes, (if they are going to repair it) I might tell the adjuster that when the coach is stripped down but before repairs start, I would want to do my own inspection. It's a long trip but you might feel better about the repairs if you can inspect the open coach personally. Have the adjuster and shop super conduct the inspection with you. Gives you a good opportunity to ask questions and understand just how the shop plans to go about repairs. Worth the cost in travel and lodging and may give you peace of mind down the road.