A nasty practical joke
 

On May 11, 12:07*am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. *Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. *The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. *I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. *The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. *The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. *I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? *I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. *Dang, I hate thinking like that.

I dunno' if you were being sent a message, could be... Either way,
it's time to start a new practice like we do here.. Every time, and I
do mean every time, rain or shine, snow, tired, hurried etc. I start
the truck, The Mouse and I do a "walk around". We are not sperstitious
but it must be done the same way *every time* we are hauling a
trailer.. I start by sitting in the drivers seat and turning the key.
Then, and only after touching the seat I leave the truck and check the
tires and drivers side, move to the back of the truck and check the
hitch, chains, locks, spare tire, etc.. Moving around the back of the
trailer I look at the tires, doors, lights and come around to the
passenger side where I check all again. Finally I come around the
front of the truck and look of obstructions in front of the wheels,
leaking fluids, etc. get back in and drive away. The Mouse (my
youngest) does the same in the opposite direction. When I say every
time, I mean it. We do a walk around in the driveway and go down to
the bottom of the hill for gas, and do another walk around three
minutes later before leaving the station. If God forbid anything ever
happens to a trailer of mine, I will know I did everything I could..

A nasty practical joke
 

A nasty practical joke
 

On May 11, 9:16*am, Jim22208 wrote:
wrote:
On May 11, 12:07 am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. *Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. *The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. *I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. *The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. *The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. *I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? *I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. *Dang, I hate thinking like that.

I dunno' if you were being sent a message, could be... *Either way,
it's time to start a new practice like we do here.. Every time, and I
do mean every time, rain or shine, snow, tired, hurried etc. I start
the truck, The Mouse and I do a "walk around". We are not sperstitious
but it must be done the same way *every time* we are hauling a
trailer.. I start by sitting in the drivers seat and turning the key.
Then, and only after touching the seat I leave the truck and check the
tires and drivers side, move to the back of the truck and check the
hitch, chains, locks, spare tire, etc.. Moving around the back of the
trailer I look at the tires, doors, lights and come around to the
passenger side where I check all again. Finally I come around the
front of the truck and look of obstructions in front of the wheels,
leaking fluids, etc. get back in and drive away. The Mouse (my
youngest) does the same in the opposite direction. When I say every
time, I mean it. We do a walk around in the driveway and go down to
the bottom of the hill for gas, and do another walk around three
minutes later before leaving the station. If God forbid anything ever
happens to a trailer of mine, I will know I did everything I could..

You are so fortunate to own a trailer and a truck strong enough to pull
it. ;-) ;-)

Once again, reason saves me from thinking too badly of my neighbors.
I realized that my trailer was the only one there. Thus, the incident
probably was NOT about skin color and was only about one person being
a jerk. Still a nasty thing to do.

A nasty practical joke
 

Frogwatch wrote:

On May 11, 12:07 am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. Dang, I hate thinking like that.



Or the pin could have just slid out on its own. No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight
in slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

I've never used a just a pin to secure the hitch to the receiver. I use
a hitch-receiver lock, basically a solid steel bar with a keylock on one
end. They're not expensive. I use one like this:

http://tinyurl.com/pxlzxw

A nasty practical joke
 

On May 11, 10:19*am, HK wrote:
No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight
in slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

Of course you meant to offend... That's why you made an offhand
comment based on your imagination, out of context, and plain made up
conjecture... You are a very hateful person, who are you trying to
fool?

A nasty practical joke
 

On May 11, 10:32*am, wrote:
On May 11, 10:19*am, HK wrote:

No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight
in slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

Of course you meant to offend... That's why you made an offhand
comment based on your imagination, out of context, and plain made up
conjecture... You are a very hateful person, who are you trying to
fool?

He's WAFA!

A nasty practical joke
 

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:00:26 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Once again, reason saves me from thinking too badly of my neighbors.
I realized that my trailer was the only one there. Thus, the incident
probably was NOT about skin color and was only about one person being
a jerk. Still a nasty thing to do.

It might not even be that.

It could have been kids playing around, or it could have vibrated
loose. I use a locking pin on my ball mount/receiver. Doing a
thorough check out of the trailer, hitch and lights before driving off
is an excellent idea.

I once had a hitch ball start to vibrate loose after a 300 mile run
even though it had a lock washer and had been well tightened with a
wrench. Weird things sometimes happen to heavily loaded components.

A nasty practical joke
 

"HK" wrote in message
m...
Frogwatch wrote:

On May 11, 12:07 am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. Dang, I hate thinking like that.



Or the pin could have just slid out on its own. No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight in
slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

I've never used a just a pin to secure the hitch to the receiver. I use a
hitch-receiver lock, basically a solid steel bar with a keylock on one
end. They're not expensive. I use one like this:

http://tinyurl.com/pxlzxw


I use a padlock to secure my coupler... whether to the vehicle hitch, or
when it's sitting in my driveway.
The hope is that it might discourage would be thieves.

A nasty practical joke
 

Don White wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
m...
Frogwatch wrote:

On May 11, 12:07 am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. Dang, I hate thinking like that.


Or the pin could have just slid out on its own. No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight in
slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

I've never used a just a pin to secure the hitch to the receiver. I use a
hitch-receiver lock, basically a solid steel bar with a keylock on one
end. They're not expensive. I use one like this:

http://tinyurl.com/pxlzxw


I use a padlock to secure my coupler... whether to the vehicle hitch, or
when it's sitting in my driveway.
The hope is that it might discourage would be thieves.




The only "theft" I've suffered related to boating was the loss of my
trailer license plate while my rig was parked in the lot at a boat ramp
in NE Florida.

A nasty practical joke
 

Don White wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
m...
Frogwatch wrote:

On May 11, 12:07 am, wrote:
My sailing fiasco was yesterday. Today for mothers day, my very large
family decided to get together at a lake at a national forest rec area
where 40 yrs or so ago, my family would camp for a monyth during the
summer cuz nobody had air conditioning so camping at the lake was
nicer during a blistering humid N. FL summer. The place held many
fond memories for my mom.
So, I took my small trailer with my daughters kayak and ancient 18'
Grumman canoe along.
Being sorta melanin challenged, my large family certainly stood out
amongst the darker people who have made this their swimming place but
all was friendly, or so I thought.
Afterwards, I drove back to my parents about 20 miles and then started
for home. I turned a corner and suddenly the trailer started
fishtailing wildly and I barely got off the road under control.
Looking at the trailer hitch, the trailer was held on by only the
safety chains. The hitch had slid out of its receiver because
somebody had either removed the heavy steel pin or more likely the
clip that holds the pin while we had been at the lake. The pin had
held long enough to get to my parents house but had slid out when I
rounded corner. I know I had put the pin an clip on this morn because
I had to find said pin in the back of my truck first.
Was somebody sending a message that us pink people are not welcome
there? I hope not cuz I have never in my life worried about such
around here. Dang, I hate thinking like that.


Or the pin could have just slid out on its own. No offense, but I am not
impressed by the visage or description of your belongings, your delight in
slapping stuff together, and in some of the risks you take or want to
take.

I've never used a just a pin to secure the hitch to the receiver. I use a
hitch-receiver lock, basically a solid steel bar with a keylock on one
end. They're not expensive. I use one like this:

http://tinyurl.com/pxlzxw


I use a padlock to secure my coupler... whether to the vehicle hitch, or
when it's sitting in my driveway.
The hope is that it might discourage would be thieves.


What do you use to secure the receiver to the hitch?