"News Flash"

At approximately 14:00 HRS were struck by lightning!

I was less than 2 feet away from my CB radio which took a direct hit. The back of the radio had a brilliant flash and then started smoking and filling up the cabin with smoke. The power plug blew up and melted. There is a burn mark on the carpet leading up from the front of the doghouse. There is a sooty deposit on the lower metal part of the dash.

My initial findings were that the twin 50A breaker in the pedestal tripped. The #3 Circuit in the 110volt panel tripped.

Our TV switch box smells burned and the antenna power amp will not energize. The TV clicker's red IR lamp is lit and won't go off.

So far most of the other circuits appear to be working however the coach will be making a trip back to the service center for complete evaluation.

Colleen Roxy and I were all within 4 feet of the strike and although shaken we are all OK. Roxy is shaken but not stirred!

I have to go and check my generator. Initially there was 1 phase on the gen that wasn't holding when I tried to run the coach on gen.

It's working on 110V now from the pedestal after I reset the 50A-2P breaker.

The Surge Guard is not displaying a fault.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DriVer,

Some time later ....

We attracted quite some crowd over here and the biggest event was looking at my Fire Stick CB antenna. It took the direct hit! The wrappings around the antenna appear to have unwrapped and the antenna looks exactly like it took a direct hit.

The generator won't hold one of the phases and when I try to force it closed is stalls out the generator. Amazing that the gen is affected because the transfer switch was using shore power.

My Cobra CB is fried! I expect that my switch A/V center is fried and my 10 disk CD changer is not playing over the radio. It connects via the antenna on 88.3 MHz.

Still am smelling burnt plastic in the over head cabinets over the windshield.

The cabin is clearing nicely at this time and we have A/C. That was tentative there for a minute since I did not see any digital display on the thermostat.

Duner came by to check and as you all know he posted right before I announced my News Flash. I got witnesses!

Sorry to hear about your incident. I'm part of the 60 or so rigs stuck in thw waiting line to come in. The storm halted all movement on the grass till it dries better. Now appears we will be on hard surface road till morning. What a storm and when that bolt hit so close, I new someone was in trouble. hope service can get you in. If need be I can give you my service # (339) and you take my place. JG

I was in DriVers coach when Brian Funke called back. It's good to have friends in high places. Brian has got him in for service at 11 AM tormorrow.

Poor Mike & Colleen, and the dog Roxy. All of them just sitting there no more than 3 ft from the CB and the path of the lightning. I don't know how DriVer could post anything that soon after, .... my nerves would still be rattled.

My dog jumped about a foot up off the couch when that bolt hit and we're over about 600 ft from them.

There must be 700-1000 rigs here now, what kind of luck to be the one to take a direct hit. I noticed DriVers neighbor had his batwing antenna cranked up which was a little taller than the CB antenna that was hit. How fickle Mother Nature is!

Well we know now that DriVer will be the talk of the town for the next week.

Geez ,thats front page material!!! Glad you guys are allright.If it was me I would probably still be cleaning out my black tank

WOW, we got in just before the storm and leveled as best we could. We are in c10 and not sure if we saw "your lightning" hit but we did see several others. Man that was one freaky storm.
WE are parked so close to our neighbor, that with his slide out and mine both extended I can easily touch his coach out my window.
hope tomorrow is a better, dryer day.

Driver, glad to hear you are all okay, but what a scare. You have had some real "talk about" experiences for the 50 year anniversary.
I think we were one of the last, if not the last coach they let through the gate before they locked it. We got in, parked and set up and the sky opened up. We pulled into Customer Service, un-hooked the car, and signed up for some service before we drove to the grounds, so I am glad we were able to get in and park. I have tried twice to hang the irv2 banner, but the rain beat me to it. I will hang it in the morning if the weather permits. It will be on the back of the coach so it can be seen from the road.
Driver, I am glad you made the announcement about the time change. I thought we had settled on the 6:00 time so as not to conflict with the seminars. I guess the folks at Winnebago decided we were "important" enough to rate our own seminar. When I saw the time in the rally book I thought oh no, everyone is going to miss it and show up at 6:00. I hope everyone is reading these posts. Hopefully the word will get out about the time change over the next few days. See everyone Monday...if not sooner.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Route 66,

I understand that CBS News is going to be here Tuesday. I think I have enough material for them for at least an honorable mention.

quote:

Originally posted by MrG:
What a storm and when that bolt hit so close, I new someone was in trouble. hope service can get you in. If need be I can give you my service # (339) and you take my place. JG

MrG, I want to thank you so much for your kind and generous offer. You sir are a gentleman and I am looking forward to meeting you at the "iRV2 Party" this Monday afternoon at 3:00pm in Seminar D.

quote:

Originally posted by MrG:
Sorry to hear about your incident. I'm part of the 60 or so rigs stuck in thw waiting line to come in...... JG

One of the parkers is the Texas state president (our row) and he said there are about 100 rigs waiting to enter - must be about 60 where you are and there are a bunch more at the airport.

Mike stopped by this evening and Jane and I got first-person account of the lightning event- yikes!

Glenda - in what section are you parked?