I guess the title of this post gives a hint that I didn’t swing wide enough and wasn’t watching my trailer in my mirrors.
We were a couple of hundred miles down the road from home and had just left the Texas Travel Welcome Center at Texarkana, planning to get off I30 soon to get fuel. On the first exit, I spotted a station I thought I could get into. However it was on the wrong side of the road and the lanes, combined with traffic were such that I could not get into the turning lane at the light. So, I turned into the right hand lane and, seeing some parking lots where I could turn around down the road to the right, I turned right at the light – and then left, less than a block away, into the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant. I thought I had plenty of room, but…
I guess I felt it in the way the truck and trailer were moving. I really didn’t hear anything. I turned way too short and the side of the trailer just forward of the living room slide came in contact with a 1995 Pontiac – fortunately the only car on that side of the camper. The car was pushed forward over the curb, breaking off a water line and sending a fountain of water into the air.
The trailer wasn’t damaged severely. There’s some metal from the corner of the slide that is pulled up and away, exposing some wood underneath, and the plastic doorway to the waste tanks’ slide valves doesn’t stay closed. Looks like a job for duct tape. We plan on continuing on with this trip and, before we get into any wet weather, I will have that area protected to keep the wet out!
Lesson learned the hard way! – Swing Wide and use your mirrors!
