Doofas time. Any body else do this?

[BrianW]

A week or two ago when I was replacing the regular bumper on my van with a step bumper, I found a magnetic key case that the previous owner left on the inside of the bumper in a pretty obvious place. Good to know! Glad I found it and not somebody messing around at a trailhead while I was away. I'm relocating it to a less obvious place. The PO was 75 years old and I don't think was too into crawling under the van too far. I'm thinking of putting it somewhere less convenient to get to, but still reachable if I moderately crawl under the van.

I like the keypad idea. Not sure if one can be added to my 1998 Ford easily, though. Might look into that this week before my trip.

[twogone]

New Doofas to report! After spending 5 days in the Yosemite Park area, and driving no faster than approx. 25 miles per hour for all that time, Christine and I left the area, back out on the big highway. The speed limit went to 55, the roadside shoulders reappeared, passing zones opened up, and the SLOPE STAYED THE SAME!

So, I lost the mental game.

Drove too fast for too long on the twisting, steep highway and smoked my brakes... no pedal, rolled to a stop on the shoulder in a flat place, got out and enjoyed the smell of hot brakes for about 30 minutes. Cranked up and went on our way after consulting with Ray about potential damage. No damage, just blushing at being a dumb@$$. Coulda been awful...

[rionapo]

Continuing my roof-raising skills (I earlier reported that raising the PHT without unbuckling the back end didn't work), the hook behind the driver's seat caught the belt hanging below the latch and engaged in a mighty tug-of-war until the creaking and popping sounds became loins enough to wake me. All this was happening above my head, I was leaning across the gaucho to press the lift switch, and completely out of my line of sight. Result: slightly bent lift arm, roof appears intact, and a new item on the preflight list: Watch all three lockdown points until hardware is clear.

[joey2cool]

Crushed tire chock. 'Nuff said...

[AKSeeker]

Here's a good one about leaving something behind,.. When I was a teenager (late 1960s) my dad rented one of those original Dodge camper vans with a fixed fiberglass high top for the "great family camping vacation" road trip up the California coast. It had front bucket seats and a bed platform in back (I think they were referred to as F^*#-Trucks!). Anyway, we had been driving for hours, it was starting to get dark and all of the campgrounds were full. After a quick hamburger stop, my mom and younger sister crawled into the bed in back and fell asleep. Dad was driving and I was riding shotgun, and we went on a hour or so and then stopped for gas at about 8 pm. Not a word from the back, so we bought some snacks in the quik stop while paying for the gas, went back to the van and hopped in. Still no lights or sounds from the back, so we figured that we would let them sleep and drove on for nearly another two hours and finally found a vacant campsite! However, when we parked and started to set up camp, we discovered that my mom and sister weren't in the back after all. We figured out that they had gotten out of the van to use the restroom while we we paying for the gas. After a rather fast hour and a half drive back to that gas station, we found two very pissed off females standing outside the gas station quik stop, which had just closed at 11 pm. Of course we apologized, but I think my dad and I were laughing a little too much while we did. That was the last trip that I remember ever going on as a family. Perhaps a check list or a memory string would have been a good idea!

[86Scotty]

Thanks for the morning laugh AKseeker! My wife and I now have stomach aches from laughing. Unfortunately these 'family building' exercises hardly ever happen anymore with the cell phone generation.

[redrock]

Funny story. I had a similar event a few years ago in Montana. I had stopped at some river and went for a hike with my two Jack Russell Terriers. Afterwards the dogs and I got in the van and drove off. After about a half and hour I realized that one of them wasn't in the van. Apparently she had jumped in the van and I left the door open for a moment while I checked something before departure. I didn't notice that she had climbed back out again in the meantime. I drove back looking for her but she wasn't there (and it was a hard place to find again, too). But she had a collar with my home phone number on it and as soon as I realized she wasn't with me I remotely changed my home outbound message so it gave out my cell number for anybody who found her. So after about an hour I got a phone call and in another 45 minutes of driving we were reunited. The other Jack Russell was completely unconcerned that her sister had been abandoned in the wilderness.

All's well that ends well, but the moral of this story is the same as yours: Do a head check for every departure.


Your story and mine combine to remind me of the old test of true love:
Lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car for an hour.
When you open it, find out which one is glad to see you.

[AKSeeker]

Hey redrock, I like your "test of true love,"... After raising three good Labs over the years, I'm pretty sure I know who would pass the test and who wouldn't. I'm currently dogless as my wife made me take a "no more pets pledge" so that we can travel easier when she retires next year,.. I said I would agree to it if she would "wiggle her ass and look like she was happy to see me more often." You can probably guess how well that went over.

[redrock]

Originally Posted by AKSeeker

I said I would agree to it if she would "wiggle her ass and look like she was happy to see me more often."

I'm going to use that line some day.

Probably with this emoji:

[Mtlsmb]

Hi
Just want to share that I drove out of my campsite with the penthouse up. I drove maybe 6 feet but still I felt doofassy. thanks for letting me know I am not alone.