It seems that many RVers can relate to the unannounced, uninvited “” and perhaps unwelcome “” motorhome visitor. This month, FMCAers share some of these encounters by answering the question:
Have you ever had an unusual “stowaway” in your motohome?
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We were on our way to Cedar Point, in Sandusky, Ohio, and stopped at a campground an hour away. The girls got the basketball out of the motorhome basement and headed to the court, leaving the door open. I closed it. That was a Tuesday. On Wednesday, we went to Cedar Point. Early Thursday morning, my grandfather passed away. We left Sandusky around lunchtime Thursday. Once home, we tended to funeral affairs only. The following Monday was the day to clean the motorhome. My husband had left the basement door open when he got something out. I walked over to the door and saw a scared, skinny gray cat beside the motorhome. I screamed and the cat ran. I asked my husband whether he saw the cat. He said that he hadn’t, but that could explain the cat hair on the TV. We searched the basement compartment and found cat hair everywhere, and one rug apparently was its litter box. The cat is still around. He took up residency in the barn up the road and occasionally comes back and visits the spot where the motorhome was.
Cathy & Doug Davis, F341562
Centre, Alabama
EEK! A mouse was in the house, actually in our motorhome, in Acadia National Park this past summer. At bedtime he scurried across the living room, ducking from under one chair to the other. Cute, brown, tiny, and quick “” how to catch and release? (You know, you are not allowed to harm federal wildlife.) One bowl, one cork, dental floss, and peanut butter on a cracker did the trick. Place the cracker on a small cookie sheet and cover it with the bowl propped on the cork wrapped with the floss. Hold one end of the floss and wait quietly. Our stowaway was hungry! Five minutes later, he was under the bowl and on his way out the door to freedom. And our dog slept through it all.
Sally Hungerford, F335009
Leesburg, Florida
Our stowaway took up residence within the walls of our 1969 Franklin Type C motorhome. She was an 8-foot black snake. We always wondered why we never had a problem with little rodents trying to nest in the coach during storage times. One day we had the answer when we found her shed skin on the floor. But we couldn’t find her. As far as we can tell, she lived there for years and traveled with us from Sudbury, Ontario, down as far as Disney World in Florida. When we made the motorhome into a 2 1/2-ton flatbed truck, we found many more skins within the walls. It was then that we actually saw her move out, and we lost our traveling companion.
Dave & Diane Friedel, F324683
Glenwood, Maryland
Our white cat, Sugar, is deaf. She has been with us for 7 years, has traveled to many FMCA rallies and conventions, and even has been in articles about her RV lifestyle. Sugar loves to sit on the dash. Tiffin built a stand for “her” TV/DVD (she loves cat videos). Our stowaway story occurred during one of our overnight stops, and it is a good lesson for other owners of RVs and cats. Sugar managed to work her way through a slideout, under a cabinet, and into the bay directly under the bath and shower. There was no access, unless you took the piece off from the outside. Our calls to her did no good, as she could not hear. We tried to gain access by removing sides, barriers, etc., to no avail. We could not bring the slide in, as we did not want to crush her, so we spent an extra, and sleepless, night, worrying about how to get her out. About 8:00 a.m. the next day, we looked underneath, and she stuck her head out. We were then able to grab her “” barely! Owners with cats need to position pillows, etc. to prevent their pets from working their way under beds, slideouts, or slide mechanisms. We never bring in any slide until we see Sugar and her brother.
Steve & Cynthia Ecton, F287228
Heber Springs, Arkansas
The only stowaways we have had in our many years of travel involved a nest of ants. We were parked at a campground in Florida, and I noticed a bunch of anthills around our site. I thought I treated them all with ant killer, but evidently that was not the case, as in our subsequent travels we had ants. Not all the time, but now and then they would appear, sometimes a few and sometimes a bunch. We tried everything, but they kept coming back. Later that summer we went to the Country Coach factory to get the fresh water tank repaired, as it had developed a slight leak that kept the water bay wet. When the technicians removed the cover to access the tank, there was a good size ant city built up the side of the tank. I guess the moisture helped to sustain the village. All was evacuated with a big shop vacuum, and we had no more visitors from the village.
Bill Hendrix, F761s
Erie, Colorado
Recently, our main hydraulic hose burst, leaving us with slideouts that crept out a few inches at the bottom but were not fully functioning. The space left open at the bottom was large enough for small visitors to enter and set up housekeeping, though we didn’t realize that fact until later. Our first clue was the gray mouse my husband discovered next to the bed, which he dispatched to mouse heaven. The next clue was the second mouse I spotted on the opposite side of the bed. The final clue was the vacated mouse’s nest I found in the bottom of my closet the next morning. Pieces of my exercise clothes stored on the floor of the closet had been chewed to make the nest. We truly don’t mind most drop-in guests, but those mice were the exception!
Pamela Pelc, F378729
Livingston, Texas
On a recent visit in southern Arizona, after being there a few days, I began to hear scratching noises in a wall at night. Driving 80 hard miles to Tucson over bumpy road, I figured our stowaway would fall or jump out. It did not. I went to Home Depot and purchased several electronic devices designed to get rid of mice. I placed one inside where the sound had been coming from. No more mice. I now have four of these devices, one by each tire.
W. Ross Tate, F408486
Fresno, California
Future questions:
1. Describe a memorable attraction or scenic view that you accidentally discovered during your motorhome travels.
2. Do you recycle when on the road? If so, how?
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