Accident at Ponderosa RV Resort - Lotus, CA - April 20, 2021

 We arrived at the Ponderosa RV Campground after a long travel day. I pulled up to the check-in area and the Ranger wasn't in the shack, so I called her. She said she was coming. While I sat there,

another car pulled up and wanted to exit the park. There wasn't room to get by me, so I pulled forward a little. And a little more...and a little more. Now I was sticking our in the lanes of travel. The car got by me. Then another car came around and wanted out too. I thought, Crap! I will just turn the corner and park in this nice wide area till the Ranger comes. 

As I puled forward, and gave it plenty of gas, cuz it was uphill, I heard a terrible crashing/crunching noise, and saw in my side mirror, that The RV just climbed a concrete barrier and crashed down from it. Uggg!!!

It is a wonder that the RV (and us) didn't tip over. Here is the concrete 'ramp' we went up.

Right away, I saw the damage to the driver side of the RV, below the slide.

The saw where the RV rose so high that the front cap dug into the side rails of my truck.

Then I saw where the wall came into contact with the back corner of the rig.

Needless to say, we were bummed to the max. Ugggg!

We did check in and proceeded to our site D19, and attempted to setup. I couldn't lower the tailgate! it was hosed up.

So we just opened the slides (thank goodness they worked fine) and hooked up power and water. Upon closer examination, we lost 2 tank drain valve handles too. One grey, and the black.

I contacted our insurance company, National General, and filed a claim on the RV and truck. I took lots of pictures of the damage and they will get back to me with a dollar amount. We plan to get it all fixed up while we are in Washington. Needless to say, we are speeding up out trip again. This is my first big accident in all my years of driving. I guess it is finally time to use my insurance.

The next day, I worked and worked to get our truck tailgate open. The passenger side rear fender was pushed out and the side rail was jacked up too. After removing some bolts, and a large screwdriver and sledgehammer, I got the tailgate open. Cool! Now I can unhook the RV and get it level. And fuel up the truck. 

I jerry-rigged a solution to close the tailgate for traveling. 

Oh well. What can I say. It could have been worse. We could have tipped over. We could have tore the plumbing out from under the rig. As it is, when the RV rocked back and forth so violently, many cabinets popped open, pictures came off the walls, broken cups and glasses all over. I had to fix trim on the slides and trim around the refrigerator. 

But we are resilient. God is good! and we carry on. Can't wait for the insurance company to let us know what the $$$$ is. This too shall pass.

Here we are, heading north to get fixed up.

The Fergs out .......