DENTED

It scared me at first. The bright orange plastic cone came flying out of the on coming line of traffic. Then anger quickly replaced the fear. The interstate highway had narrowed down to two close, tight lanes of traffic in a construction zone. The usual four lanes of traffic traveling 65 MPH, with two lanes going in each direction separated by a wide grass median, had been temporarily rerouted.

We were in closely packed lines of vehicles traveling at 45 MPH, worrying about how tight the lanes were, when we first saw it. We weren’t sure at first what it was. Then we felt the impact and heard the slamming sound. A quick glance in the mirror revealed it to be a bright orange cone that had came flying out of the on coming line of cars, to strike our fifth wheel trailer.  Instant anguish !

With less than a thousand miles on our new Coleman 325, we could hardly stand the idea of it being damaged.

At the first opportunity we pulled over to check the damage.

Knowing that it wasn’t our fault didn’t seem to help at all. Who was the idiot that sent the traffic cone flying into the side of our trailer ? There is no way that we will ever know.  Weeks have passed since the incident and we are now able to refer to it as the “cone incident”.

On our next two jobs we will be staying in private parks and will likely not have a chance to wash our trailer. So, today we decided to get a quick coat of carnuba wax on it. Washing that damaged area refreshed our memory and renewed pangs of anguish.

The cone hit our trailer just in front of the highway side axles. Right on the dining room slide out. It made a dent in the sheet metal skirt. Everything works well, but we now have a new travel story to tell, and our trailer is beginning to develop some character.