March came in like a lion for us… Yikes…
Day started off good, as we got all our stuff arranged in time for a 10:00 departure from Desert Hot Springs, heading for Borrego Springs, which was about a 90 mile drive.
Everything was fine till we got to the 70 mile mark or so and then the wheels fell off… kind of…
We mount our two bicycles on the back of the motor home on a Blue OX bike rack, that was specially built to fit our Blue Ox Tow Package for the Jeep. The problem that we had today, was my bicycle decided it did not like living up on the bike rack and decided to come lose from the rack and actually fall off the back of the motorhome…
Now, if you remember, our Jeep is pulled behind the motorhome… and yes, the bicycle fell off and sort of landed on the front of the Jeep and then the Jeep did what they are meant to do… drove right over the bicycle… hmmmmmm…
This did not go well, and the Jeep sustained some front end damage… the front bumper is totalled, the nice plastic piece below it is gone… the front hood took a big dent in the front… get the picture…
Hood damage…
This crack was not there on the fender… the fender is made of plastic… probably a good thing…
All the plastic on the front end kind of came apart… and a big hole you see below on the passenger side…
This piece came off, from below the front bumper and is toast…
We did make it to the camping area at the Clarke Dry Lake Bed… and got all set up. Thankfully the motorhome sustained no damage for the event… so this afternoon, I made the calls to our Insurance Company who has it all under control, and we will await to hear back from the claims adjuster on getting our Jeep fixed. The damage thankfully is all plastic parts broken, and out expensive tow equipment is in good shape!
So you think I would leave the day at that, settle down and have a drink or something and call it a day… no way… I decided to take out the airplane and fly it down on the dry lake bed which is a perfect spot to fly… today there was very little wind and the conditions were great… here I am getting it all set up to fly…
Heading out on the dry lake bed for take off…
Ready to go!
Take off was great and we were off flying… check out the small speck in the middle of the picture below…
I was probably up in the air after making some required turns for about 2 to 3 minutes, and then while trying to make another turn, I lost too much altitude and the plane came down rather hard onto the dry lake bed… this plane is very sensitive to fly, much harder than the simulator was… have to talk to Park Zone about that… hard to show you the pictures below, but the plane took a hard hit and sustained damage…
The black spot in front of me is where it hit, and it did not bounce or anything… the wings are broken and some damage to the body, but you will not believe what some crazy glue and gorilla glue can do for you so it is off to the repair shop, no insurance claim here!
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Don’t worry folks, it will fly again… can’t say the same though about my bicycle… simply a mangled pile of steel on the side of the road… toast!
So now you get the drift how our day went, hope yours was better… but no one got hurt other than a bunch of plastic and Styrofoam so all is good!
Will try again tomorrow…
Till tomorrow…
sorry to hear about your 'accidents' today!..onward to dealing with the insurance company!..hope the repairs won't be too painful!
ReplyDeleteO my goodness. I am sure your hearts had a da-thump when that happened. We are glad you made it and no one was hurt - other things can be fixed. We are heading to Imperial and Yuma on Thursday - perhaps we'll meet up again?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your accidents today John. Sounds like an unusual amount of bad luck came your way. The old saying is thing come in 3's, so with the Jeep, your bike and the airplane all damaged, I hope you're now in for a streak of good fortune.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I didn't think my BBQ was getting any propane tonight so I bent my head over the grill to listen for the hiss of propane and stupidly pressed the ignite button. Guess what? The propane was on - lots of it and I very nearly blew my head off!! No damage but it sure scared the wits out of me.
A strange day indeed!
Wow, very sorry to read about your bad day. I feel fairly confident that Wednesday will be much better for you. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteJohn
relaxedrush.blogspot.com
Attached things falling off an RV are always a big worry. We carried bicycles for two years & then gave up the idea. Hope the insurance company comes through for you with no penalties down the road. Did you know this whole Clark Dry Lake Bed was once a gunnery range for aircraft. Thought that was kinda ironic when I saw the pics of you & your plane on the Dry Lake. Keep your eye out for spent 50 caliber machine gun rounds. I just found another one over on Coyote mountain a few days ago. We'll have to take a drive around today & see if we can find you guys. There are 2 other fellow RV bloggers here at the moment. Ivan just rolled in a couple days ago but we haven't seen him yet.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwwwww... you had a rough day!!! I can't even imagine our bikes falling off but you know "Murpheys Law". If there is a chance! So sorry your plane crashed too. At least you kept a good attitude...I'd a been pulling my hair out.
ReplyDeleteHope your day is better today!
Travel safe
Donna
Hi John....been there with the bike situation....3 years ago on our return from Manitoulin Isl with our 2 bikes attached to a mount on our rear trailer hitch we had to stop for road construction....I noticed in my side mirror a young girl running up the shoulder of the road with this panicked look.......Sandy rolled the window down and the girl could only stammer out bikes....Well as it happens the trailer hitch had cracked and gradually over the miles had bent to the pavement....you can imagine how pavement acts as sand paper on steel at 60miles an hour. We now had 1 half bike and 1 3/4......
ReplyDeletethat kind of day makes you want to stay in bed the following day, fear of what might happen.......GOOD attitude though!
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't the pilot eject?
ReplyDeleteWow, hope your run of bad luck is over. At least no one was hurt. As for Rick's comment...Just thought we should warn you Rick, that lighting a match to check for propane leaks in the RV is not a good idea either....just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteGosh, what a day you've had. Hoping the winds of change find favour for you....and that your little plane will once again be airborn. Nice looking plane though.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
OMG, what a bunch of bad luck you had! I think you should go to bed and cover up your head and just stay out of trouble for awhile.
ReplyDeleteHi None of my business really but just wanted
ReplyDeleteto touch base with you as far as putting in a claim with your insurance company with something so minor. I worked for SF for 20 years
and know how insurance companies work so would be my suggestion you ask if your rates goes up with this reported loss. I always suggested to my clients that you save your insurance for the BIG claims cause the issue is if you have another one within a certain time frame, your rates will go thru the roof - just a thought and may help to save you some money down the road. A lot of times the insurance companies neglect to inform you of this