We were in a campground in Provo, UT just killing time. One morning at 0830, the guy next to us (in a Beaver motorhome) started getting ready to pull out. First, he started his engine and ran it about 2-3 minutes and shut down.
Then he unhooked a big ladder from the rear of his coach and started working on the slide-topper awnings that came down over his slides. At least an hour later, all but one bedroom slide was in. Then, he started the engine again, ran it about 30 seconds, and shut down. I assume to put up his jacks.
With ALL hoses and cords still attached (including cable TV run through the driver’s window), the wife starts the coach, he is holding all the hooked-up hoses, cords, and cable in his arms, and he hollers at her to drive. She pulls the coach forward about 10 feet (it’s a pull-thru site). He hollers again and she shuts down. He then walks around and picks up all the jack pads and tossed them in the back of his toad (an SUV).
Then he pulls the toad up to the rear of the coach and starts to hook up the tow bar. Yes, all the connected hoses, cords, and cable are still in place and the bedroom slide is still out. He hooks up the tow bar. Next, he again hollers at the wife and she starts the engine and pulls the coach forward until the tow bar locks in place. Then he attached one of those horizontal rock screens under the tow bar.
Next, he got into the driver’s seat and started the coach, ran the engine for about 30 seconds, and shut down. I don’t know why.
Finally, he started unhooking and putting away the hoses, power cord, and cable. After that, the bedroom slide went in. This part of the process took at least 45 minutes—seriously.
Then the wife started the coach, ran the engine for about 30 seconds, and shut down.
He slow-walked around the coach and toad at least 10 times—checking, I guess.
He got in, started the engine, and they pulled out of the site (which was next to us) and pulled in front of our coach, stopped, and left the engine running.
Then he got out to check the lights. This is a bit hard to explain but he stood very close to (within one foot) of each individual light as it was checked. For example, he stood BETWEEN HIS TOAD AND COACH to check the COACH taillights (brake, turn, warning, and taillight on), did this on each side, and then moved to the rear of the toad and stood behind EACH individual TOAD taillight to check it (brake, turn, warning, and taillight on) on each side. All during this time, the engine was running. Next, he went to the front of the coach and proceeded to check all the coach’s front lights the same way (standing close, etc.). Now, to make this even more complex, he had a different hand signal for each lighting position (brake, turn, warning, and taillight on) and one special hand signal for “okay.” This “okay” signal was the same as the French chef who kisses his fingertips and moves the arm forward while opening the hand – seriously. (Think about this process. With six lights (two front and rear on the coach and two on the toad), he used 48 hand signals to check his lights!!!)
Next, he opened the driver’s door on the toad and started messing with something—I couldn’t see at first but assumed it was a supplemental braking system. As he stepped back, I could see there was no portable system in there but he had a black cable/cord in his hand and was untangling that. As it untangled, he would move farther back toward the rear of the toad. This cable (whatever it was) reached to the rear of his toad. He then gathered all the cable up in a ball and tossed it in the drive’s seat on the toad.
Then he started securing the stuff to his coach ladder. He had a 10-foot stepladder, one of the Blue-boy portable tanks, and two other containers. All this stuff was strapped on. All this time, the engine was idling. By now, it has run (while they are parked in front of our coach) at least one hour. He walked around the coach another 5-6 times.
At 1200 (noon) they drove away. 3.5 hours after they started working on it this morning. I never saw the guy take a break or even slow down during the entire process.
I hope this made your day a bit brighter. I’m not making fun at serious checking before driving away but this was the extreme.