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Evacuation caravan

Yahoo Message Number: 106344
So many times we nitpick our coaches here on the forum, well I have a story of how when the chips are down, in a tight situation, my coach came through. We were simply picking the coach up from the shop where I was getting new house batteries installed. The shop is only about 2 hours from my house, we picked it up about noon, and it was already raining hard. Since I didn't want to get all wet hooking up the Jeep, I just had my wife follow me. I was also very low on fuel but we were close to the house.. So we leave the shop, separately with low fuel into a severe thunderstorm. Well about an hour down the road, Hwy 59 north of Houston has flooded out, 3 ft high water under a bridge. I sit there, with maybe a thousand other cars and trucks listening to the situation on CB from all the truckers. Those guys are great in an emergency! We sat for about 4 hours, then heard on CB road was closed, construction zone was damaged, would not reopen until 10 AM the next day! I'm idling away watching my fuel gauge, and you can imagine with all the chaos and people, it was going to be really tough to find fuel, which of course is causing me great anxiety. The state troopers had us all pull into an old abandoned truck stop/vacant lot. Imagine that, maneuvering around 1000 other crazy people in cars with my 45 ft coach! So we sit there for a few hours, getting dark now, and they get us all in a caravan to vector back the other direction through back roads, and I am leaving with about 1/8 of a tank of fuel. We had to cross the freeway median, very wet and muddy, really steep dip. I lifted my tag, raised the coach some with the HWH, and drove right through it. I was amazed. There was a gasser behind me, he was slipping/sliding, got stuck. Now it is pitch dark, and we (all 1000 of us) are on tiny, dark, back roads, lots of tight turns, I am alone in coach, wife in toad behind me, fuel gauge on E. Many tight, crowded, high water, rough road conditions, and my coach just chugged through them all -- great power, traction and maneuverability. I finally got far enough along, knew where I was, so I pulled out of the caravan to get a little fuel. We later caught them again, and in the end, got home safely about midnight. The coach came through for me when I needed it the most. They are awesome, and totally overbuilt for an emergency. I love my coach! I will say, I learned my lesson about heading into rough weather with low fuel thinking I will just get some down the road... Anyway, go give your coach a big hug!

Greg

06 Magna 6642
2006 Magna Rembrandt C13
2016 Jeep GC toad

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106345
I always try to fill up at about a half of a tank you never know when in an emergency you might be hours from fuel

On Saturday, May 28, 2016 5:37 AM, "greglabadie1@... [Country-Coach-Owners]"  wrote:

So many times we nitpick our coaches here on the forum, well I have a story of how when the chips are down, in a tight situation, my coach came through. We were simply picking the coach up from the shop where I was getting new house batteries installed. The shop is only about 2 hours from my house, we picked it up about noon, and it was already raining hard. Since I didn't want to get all wet hooking up the Jeep, I just had my wife follow me. I was also very low on fuel but we were close to the house.. So we leave the shop, separately with low fuel into a severe thunderstorm. Well about an hour down the road, Hwy 59 north of Houston has flooded out, 3 ft high water under a bridge. I sit there, with maybe a thousand other cars and trucks listening to the situation on CB from all the truckers. Those guys are great in an emergency! We sat for about 4 hours, then heard on CB road was closed, construction zone was damaged, would not reopen until 10 AM the next day! I'm idling away watching my fuel gauge, and you can imagine with all the chaos and people, it was going to be really tough to find fuel, which of course is causing me great anxiety. The state troopers had us all pull into an old abandoned truck stop/vacant lot. Imagine that, maneuvering around 1000 other crazy people in cars with my 45 ft coach! So we sit there for a few hours, getting dark now, and they get us all in a caravan to vector back the other direction through back roads, and I am leaving with about 1/8 of a tank of fuel. We had to cross the freeway median, very wet and muddy, really steep dip. I lifted my tag, raised the coach some with the HWH, and drove right through it. I was amazed. There was a gasser behind me, he was slipping/sliding, got stuck. Now it is pitch dark, and we (all 1000 of us) are on tiny, dark, back roads, lots of tight turns, I am alone in coach, wife in toad behind me, fuel gauge on E. Many tight, crowded, high water, rough road conditions, and my coach just chugged through them all -- great power, traction and maneuverability. I finally got far enough along, knew where I was, so I pulled out of the caravan to get a little fuel. We later caught them again, and in the end, got home safely about midnight. The coach came through for me when I needed it the most. They are awesome, and totally overbuilt for an emergency. I love my coach! I will say, I learned my lesson about heading into rough weather with low fuel thinking I will just get some down the road... Anyway, go give your coach a big hug!

Greg

06 Magna 6642

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106347
Thanks for sharing Greg, and glad you both got home safely. And yes, these coaches are amazingly designed - and if we posted as often about the positives vs the times we find something to complain about - this board would have 100's of thousand more posts:)!

And yeah, we're in the group that looks as our coach as our family emergency lifeline. We're out of San Diego, and have had wild fires, power outages, and who knows when THE BIG ONE earthquake may hit.

We top of fuel before we park it, keep tanks dumped and the water full, fridge stocked with non perishables, and have enough food, medicines, dog food too, for 14 days.

We have extended family in the area, and have three different courses of actions laid out based upon what is going on. San Diego being a military town, this includes a post 9/11 type problem too. We've also instructed family members to use texts to report in and check up on each other, vs voice calls. And have assigned different people to check in on our one or two senior leaders of the family...

As my wife and I just drove from San Diego to Indy (For the race...), we changed our schedule and our course three times based upon weather. If we had stayed on our 1st planned route, we'd have been in Kansas when the F4 touched down for 90 minutes. And from San Diego, we just do not have experiences with tornados, or heavy hail. And sure glad we rerouted three times on our way East... Only having one storm with pea size hail while we took two days in a State Park South of Springfield, IL. Neat for us to see, and since no damage OK for the residents too. (Of course the Camp Host explained to us that 'Oh that, well that was just a tad bit of weather - not really a storm...' - Fooled us, as we were rocking and rolling and the light show and thunder were very noticeable to us:)!

Best to all, be safe, be ready, but also - have fun,

Smitty

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106348
Great that things turned out the way they did. Boy I bet you think differently next time about letting the fuel get that low.

But I have a question... You said....We had to cross the freeway median, very wet and muddy, really steep dip. I lifted my tag, raised the coach some with the HWH, and drove right through it. I was amazed.

I understand about raising the "TAG", but how did you raise the HWH and proceed? There has been a couple of time I would have loved to be able raise the coach a bit (especially the rear end) and drive, but I have never been able to do that.

Once I put it into "Drive"the HWH system kicks in and the coach goes to "level".

Dave


07 Country Coach Allure 430 #31495 12 Jeep GC Toad

Mountains of So Cal and
Henderson, Nev

From: "greglabadie1@... [Country-Coach-Owners]" To: Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2016 5:37 AM Subject: [Country-Coach-Owners] Evacuation caravan

So many times we nitpick our coaches here on the forum, well I have a story of how when the chips are down, in a tight situation, my coach came through. We were simply picking the coach up from the shop where I was getting new house batteries installed. The shop is only about 2 hours from my house, we picked it up about noon, and it was already raining hard. Since I didn't want to get all wet hooking up the Jeep, I just had my wife follow me. I was also very low on fuel but we were close to the house.. So we leave the shop, separately with low fuel into a severe thunderstorm. Well about an hour down the road, Hwy 59 north of Houston has flooded out, 3 ft high water under a bridge. I sit there, with maybe a thousand other cars and trucks listening to the situation on CB from all the truckers. Those guys are great in an emergency! We sat for about 4 hours, then heard on CB road was closed, construction zone was damaged, would not reopen until 10 AM the next day! I'm idling away watching my fuel gauge, and you can imagine with all the chaos and people, it was going to be really tough to find fuel, which of course is causing me great anxiety. The state troopers had us all pull into an old abandoned truck stop/vacant lot. Imagine that, maneuvering around 1000 other crazy people in cars with my 45 ft coach! So we sit there for a few hours, getting dark now, and they get us all in a caravan to vector back the other direction through back roads, and I am leaving with about 1/8 of a tank of fuel. We had to cross the freeway median, very wet and muddy, really steep dip. I lifted my tag, raised the coach some with the HWH, and drove right through it. I was amazed. There was a gasser behind me, he was slipping/sliding, got stuck. Now it is pitch dark, and we (all 1000 of us) are on tiny, dark, back roads, lots of tight turns, I am alone in coach, wife in toad behind me, fuel gauge on E. Many tight, crowded, high water, rough road conditions, and my coach just chugged through them all -- great power, traction and maneuverability. I finally got far enough along, knew where I was, so I pulled out of the caravan to get a little fuel. We later caught them again, and in the end, got home safely about midnight. The coach came through for me when I needed it the most. They are awesome, and totally overbuilt for an emergency. I love my coach! I will say, I learned my lesson about heading into rough weather with low fuel thinking I will just get some down the road... Anyway, go give your coach a big hug!

Greg

06 Magna 6642
Dave & Jodi
2007 CC Allure 40’ Tag #31495
2012 Jeep GC
Big Bear Lake, Ca & Henderson, Nev

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106349
I just pushed "raise" and went for it, had to. Seems to me it allows up to 5 mph before it lowers back to "travel". I dumped and went back to travel after I got past obstacle.
2006 Magna Rembrandt C13
2016 Jeep GC toad

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106350
I believe once you raise it, you can pull a fuse to make it stay that way, Would think one with not go very far.

Wally & Elta Mae

2007Allure 470 #31535

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106351
From a T shirt I got in Mexico -- Bad Decisions make Great Stories...
2006 Magna Rembrandt C13
2016 Jeep GC toad

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106352
Smitty, it is excellent to read this from you as well as the wonderful post about how good our coaches are. Mike and I really enjoy reading all of your posts too, Smitty. We too do the same whenever we're in the coach "" watching the weather and deciding where to go and when based on avoiding storms. We rode out a storm while camped in Traverse City, MI, an unexpected one at that, a year ago that was so strong and so amazing to us that we didn't topple over. We'd like to avoid those. Your information re how you handle being in touch with people is very important, and I was grateful to read that.

Best to you and your wife and you all out there in a wonderful CC!! Mary and Mike Frederick
06 Inspire 51784

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106353
I often pull up to a dip and want to raise the rear.

No shifting, maybe don't even stop, but slowly approach the dip, push raise which the HWH does, wait a couple seconds; drive through the low spot, then go back to travel.

Lee (leozbrowski@...) President, CCI

2007 Country Coach Intrigue 12153
CAT C-13

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106354
We learned to gas up before parking at home if the tank isn't at least 3/4 full.

Back in 94 the Northridge earthquake hit and we lost power. House was fine motorhome was fine parked next to house.

Pulled it onto the street just in case this was not the end of it. Figured if power stayed off more than a couple hours start the generator and run cord in to run freezer and fridge.

Couple hours pass try to start gen and won't fire cranks fine. Finally turn ignition on and watch fuel guage. You guessed it 1/4 tank!

We learned not much if an emergency plan if no fuel.

Same for full waste tanks or dry freshwater tank.

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S® 4 mini â„¢, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

---

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106355
One time I had to stop and turn around and the dip was deeper than I thought and found my rear wheels spinning. So I retracted the duals and tag a bit slipped my plywood blocks under the tires. Then I extended the duals fully and easily drove out of the dip. No damage no problems. Thanks HWH. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106356
When winterizing or storing a coach its always recommended that you fill your fuel tanks to the brim to prevent the growth of Algae, etc. And as we like to travel on a moments notice I always like to pull into the rv park with either a full tank or at least enough fuel for two days travel. 500 to 600 miles. That way if I need to get out of Dodge, I can on a moments notice. When we used our first RV for work we could get up in the morning have breakfast and be on our way in less than 35 minutes. But seems like today even with all the conveniences of a motor home over an Airstream it easily takes us over an hour to get moving. Isn't the RV life style fabulous. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731.

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106358
I always make sure my fuel tank is full for storage to minimize condensation /water build up inside the tank. Water in the tank can cause problems like algae and plugged filters.
Larry, 03 Allure 30856

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106359
Greg that was a great story I too would like to know how you raised your coach and kept it raise while you were Drive mode. I have been to HWH in Moscow Iowa and they wouldn't tell me how to make this happen but I assume you could disconnect or connect halide from your neutral to do the function they didn't like the idea because of some damage that could occur while traveling either traveling raised or lowered or worse yet forgetting about the position when starting off

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106360
By the way Greg I'll have to tell you guys a story in my sob when I first began traveling 10 years ago 15 miles west of San Antonio Texas a tornado snuck up on me on the back end and ripped off the whole top of my coach antenna satellite and all the kvh satellite flew up I don't know how far and ended up about a mile back on the center median upside down turn the Coach around went back in my little VW Cabriolet put it in the car and proceeded into San Antonio to Camping World we pulled the top off which was highly damaged bent a couple of things and believe it or not it worked bolted it with bigger bolts on the top of the coach proceeded to Lazydays Florida and traded the Coach In. I have traveled all over the US and don't like the central areas. I live in California but I'll take an earthquake way over a tornado

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #17 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106367
Attached are a couple of pages from my HWH manual. As you can see, as long as you are below 5 mph, you can raise or lower the coach by just hitting the "Raise" button or "Dump" button. I was inching along, stop & go traffic, and saw the caravan ahead turning to cross the median, saw the big dip, and had time to hit the raise button and let the coach raise up a couple inches, took a few minutes. Then I raised the tag axle and drove through. Once on the other side I hit "Travel" button, and it lowered back down to correct ride height, and lowered the tag.

Greg

06 Magna 6642
2006 Magna Rembrandt C13
2016 Jeep GC toad

Re: Evacuation caravan [2 Attachments]

Reply #18 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106368
I put a bi-pass switch in.. So I can raise it as high as I want, and go threw any dips in a driveway. ect..

Bob

03 Allure 40 3 slide tag #30814

On Sunday, May 29, 2016 5:33 AM, "greglabadie1@... [Country-Coach-Owners]"  wrote:

[Attachment(s) from greglabadie1@... [Country-Coach-Owners] included below] Attached are a couple of pages from my HWH manual. As you can see, as long as you are below 5 mph, you can raise or lower the coach by just hitting the "Raise" button or "Dump" button. I was inching along, stop & go traffic, and saw the caravan ahead turning to cross the median, saw the big dip, and had time to hit the raise button and let the coach raise up a couple inches, took a few minutes. Then I raised the tag axle and drove through. Once on the other side I hit "Travel" button, and it lowered back down to correct ride height, and lowered the tag.

Greg

06 Magna 6642

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #20 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106395
Just this past week, CC (Eric) inspected the Coach and found a leveling bar needed an adjustment. CC service seem to be going strong.

Wally & Elta Mae

2007Allure 470 #31535

Re: Evacuation caravan

Reply #21 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106404
Way to go!! I want to do this but I haven't taken the time to figure out the power source. Do you remember how you wired it?

evacuation caravan

Reply #22 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106408
There are times that I need to raise or lower the coach [99 Allure]. If I need to lower it, I push and hold the DUMP button until I'm clear of the bridge. My coach is 11' 9" and will drop 4". When doing this, I am going very slow and the ride is terrible. When clear of the bridge, I release the button and it goes back to ride height . Same procedure to raise except it takes a minute to gain height. Newer coaches may have different control panels, so one may have to experiment a little .

Bill Dane

99 Allure 30326 208,000+ miles
 

Re: evacuation caravan

Reply #23 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106411
On my 98 you had to hold the button down while moving the coach. On my 04 coach you dump the air and it remains that way until you hit the travel button. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731