Picture of my OH NUTS moment and other things. (sorry, long)

My NUTS!!!!!, moment in Yellowstone NP. I was trying to back into our site at the Bridge Bay campground which was a short but wide site. The campground road was narrow and one way only and our campsite was my the drivers side. The only way to get into the site was to allow the front of the truck to drift off the narrow road into the dirt area on the passenger side of the truck. My first attempt failed. On my second attempt I was backing very slowly, and I mean VERY SLOWLY because the truck was scrapping tree branches from a small pine tree on the passenger side of the road. I was hoping the whippy pine branches wouldn’t scratch the paint on my brand spanking new truck. Suddenly the truck stopped backing and wouldn‘t move. I thought for sure I had somehow snagged the breakaway cable on the Wildcat and locked up the trailer brakes. I got out of the truck to investigate. Nope! That wasn’t the problem. When I walked around to the passenger side of the truck I discovered my OH NUTS moment. Naturally I didn’t say OH NUTS but I can’t use the words that flew from my mouth on this forum.
The rear of the right front tire of the truck was resting against a post about the diameter of a telephone pole and about 16 inches high. Incredibly the post had rubbed against my step rail and shoved it in and under the truck. I didn’t feel or hear the damage occur. The sight of the damage to my new truck made my stomach turn. Fortunately the only damage was to the step rail and not the body of the truck. I was PO’ed at myself, I was PO’ed at the national park, and I was PO’ed at Xanterra for assigning me this site.
I later learned that the pole was placed there to protect the tree. WHAT!! If they wanted to protect the tree with a pole they should have made the pole much taller and topped with an international orange cone so RV’ers could see it. What a crock!


While this was the first time I’ve had a mishap, Yellowstone is notorious for damaging vehicles in campgrounds. Back in 2004 we stayed at the Madison campground in the B loop. This loop road is “U” shaped and at the curved section of the U there was a damaged pine tree on the turn heading in and the turn going back out. It was obvious from looking at the scrapes on the tree bark that these two trees had caused serious damage to many RV’s over many years. Both trees were right next to the blacktop. I love trees as much as the next person, but I don’t think they should be protected in a campground where they can cause serious damage. It’s not like Pine trees are becoming extinct. As you can see in the following photos, the damage on the trees begins almost at ground level and extents up to about 10 feet up. We drove through this campground in 2010 and those two trees are still there and still causing damage.




OK, I have one more Yellowstone story and photo for everyone. This too occurred in the Madison campground in 2004. A tent camper was leaving the campground and became so engrossed looking at the wildlife in the area that he failed to see that the road was becoming more narrow in front of him. Where the road narrowed, rocks had been placed just off the road in the dirt to protect the “environment“, AKA dirt. His car struck a rather large rock and climbed right up onto it and the car became stuck on top of the rock. He actually moved the rock about 5 feet from its original position.
The driver called for a tow truck, but when the truck arrived the operator refused to move the car until a park ranger had come to inspect the environmental damage and make out a report. The tow truck driver left and it was five hours before a ranger finally showed up and made out a report. When the tow truck returned and removed the car from the rock, the ranger made the driver of the car roll that large rock back into its original position. The car wasn’t damage very badly and the man drove off. I later learned that the car was a rental.

I feel for you Richard....When I was out there I felt like I needed 12 sets of eyes to get backed in my spot.At least it was just the nerf bar and not the truck or the cat.

Richard, I think we have all had an "Oh Nuts" moment but, you were man enough to publish it. How many people have waved to people as you leave a campground with you antenna up or something dragging behind you. My best moment (but not the only one) was after arriving at a campsite at 11 pm, not 4 pm as planned. We had a flat to start the day, took a short cut that went over two bridges that my truck mirrors were inches from hitting all to stop for diner at a restaurant that my wife saw on Food Network (Lambert's Cafe, The Only Home of Throwed Rolls). The family waited 1-1/2 hours just to get in while I sat in the truck with the dog on a slow burn. By the time that we got to the campground it was one of those nights that the headlights don't penetrate. I never saw the speed bumps that were almost as high as your pole and didn't see the power hook up that was cleverly disguised as a bush. Was able to straighten the power hook up, but not as easy for the scrape down the side of the cat.

Richard, your pictures went AWOL.

TC

Well I don't have any pictures of it but I will share that our first outing with our wildcat Bruce backed in to one of those poles too. We weren't backing in the camper. We were returning from the store, backing in to our site and he scraped the rear quarter panel. It was like blam! "what was that"? It just appeared out of nowhere! Dented and scraped with that red paint they paint 'em with.
Those poles are too short and I agree they should be marked with a flag or xtra tall cone. I guess it could have been worse!

(Lambert's Cafe, The Only Home of Throwed Rolls).

Sikeston, MO? I am up that way at least once a year. My crew and I always make it over to eat there, but we try not to go at peak hours. If the lines to eat look like you are at Six Flags, then I just don't stop. They really can zing those rolls.

You are right. They were bringing in people by the bus load, but my wife just had to stop.

BobnPi wrote:

(Lambert's Cafe, The Only Home of Throwed Rolls).

Sikeston, MO? I am up that way at least once a year. My crew and I always make it over to eat there, but we try not to go at peak hours. If the lines to eat look like you are at Six Flags, then I just don't stop. They really can zing those rolls.

YA'LL WANT'A ROLL??

Great experience!!

TC