It was close. Damn close. If it weren’t for Brianna saying “BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!” I might not have braked and we very well may have plowed the car and truck in front of us.
I was cruising down the freeway in the slow lane. Traffic was moderate, but moving along at a reasonable pace. Suddenly, I see a “gator” on the road and it’s unavoidable. I can’t swerve in time to not run over this large piece of tire, so I hit it and yell “UNAVOIDABLE!” to Brianna.
It was a pretty hard slap under the RV, followed by a loud thump when it hit the trailer we were towing. I watched in my driver’s side view mirror as it spit out sideways into the lane to my left about 4 ft off the ground. I was fully expecting the car back there to hit it when it clicks that Brianna is yelling “BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!”
I avert my eyes back forward and I’m doing about 60mph and the two vehicles in front of me are only doing about 10mph.
OH FUX.
I got on the binders pretty hard. I never got into ABS, but I was braking harder than I’ve ever done in the RV, for sure. I could hear everything in the cabinets crashing foward under the hard decel. I was also trying to watch my mirrors as there was a truck towing a trailer behind me as well.
Somehow, ALL of us made it out without contact with one another. The guy behind me did a fantastic job of not hitting me too, as it was close back there as well. The video doesn’t really look all that dramatic…it never really looks as dramatic as it feels in real life…haha!
My exit was 2 more exits down where I stopped at the gas station. The second I stepped out of the RV, I see my exhuast pipe for my generator sticking out about a foot further than it’s supposed to be, and at a 45 degree angle backwards. BLARGH!
I climb underneath with a flashlight and start inspecting. It sheared the mount for the exhuast, bent it back, and kinked the pipe entirely. I don’t know if I can fix it. I might have to buy a new exhaust for it. I continue to inspect underneath and the only other visible damage I can find is where it hit the front of my trailer. Dented the diamond plate skirt pretty good. I might be able to bend that back. Also, it might have hit some wiring somewhere back there because I have no more 12v in the inside of the trailer. I’ll check it out further when I have time.
All in all, Brianna saved our asses in that one. If it wasn’t for her, we’d have kamakazi’d into the guy in front of us who was only trying to to a good deed.
Yeehaw. Life on the road.
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