h2opup
Senior Member
Site Team
RV LIFE Pro
Yesterday (29 Oct), I drove over Santiam Pass Hwy 20 E on my way from the OR coast to Bend. Beautiful day full of fall colors and very little traffic. Sublime. Just past the summit, I saw an older truck with a pop-up camper coming in the opposite direction. From about ½ mile away, I could see that there was a small car right on its bumper, crowding out across the double-yellow line and then back into the lane when it saw me. Jeez! It really bakes my cookies to see this sort of reckless behavior. So unnecessary and dangerous. The camper was doing a very reasonable clip given the road and conditions.
There was no one behind me, so as we passed, I looked in my side mirror to see if the tailgating jerk had indeed tried to pass across double-yellow lines. What I saw horrified me.
The camper’s rear door was wide open. There was a large cooler with storage bins atop it, right at the edge of the open door. The “jerk” was, in reality, a person putting themselves at great risk trying to get the camper driver’s attention, pulling over the yellow line as far as they dared, and flashing their headlights into the driver’s side mirror in a desperate attempt to inform them that something was wrong. The duo continued around a bend of the road and out of my view. There was nothing that I could do. I hoped for the best possible outcome.
Today, I returned on the same road. A few miles west of where I had seen this incident, the incline steepens and the highway takes a sharpish bend. There was a ‘road work ahead’ sign and closure of the middle lane. Five highway worker vehicles had cleared a small pile of debris from the road.
Whether it was from that camper, I can’t say. But it was just the sort of incline and bend to send that load out of the open door. The circumstances and size of the debris pile were all very suspicious.
I sincerely hope that nobody got hurt. And I learned two lessons:
1) Always, ALWAYS, double-check your load before getting behind the wheel.
2) Yes, there are a lot of jerks on the road. But don’t be too quick to judge.
Stay safe out there!
There was no one behind me, so as we passed, I looked in my side mirror to see if the tailgating jerk had indeed tried to pass across double-yellow lines. What I saw horrified me.
The camper’s rear door was wide open. There was a large cooler with storage bins atop it, right at the edge of the open door. The “jerk” was, in reality, a person putting themselves at great risk trying to get the camper driver’s attention, pulling over the yellow line as far as they dared, and flashing their headlights into the driver’s side mirror in a desperate attempt to inform them that something was wrong. The duo continued around a bend of the road and out of my view. There was nothing that I could do. I hoped for the best possible outcome.
Today, I returned on the same road. A few miles west of where I had seen this incident, the incline steepens and the highway takes a sharpish bend. There was a ‘road work ahead’ sign and closure of the middle lane. Five highway worker vehicles had cleared a small pile of debris from the road.
Whether it was from that camper, I can’t say. But it was just the sort of incline and bend to send that load out of the open door. The circumstances and size of the debris pile were all very suspicious.
I sincerely hope that nobody got hurt. And I learned two lessons:
1) Always, ALWAYS, double-check your load before getting behind the wheel.
2) Yes, there are a lot of jerks on the road. But don’t be too quick to judge.
Stay safe out there!
