Things You Should Never, Ever Do with Your TOAD

Trust me, I’ve made some mistakes since we’ve started RVing!  But none of them have been more embarrassing than the things I’ve done with our TOAD.

Let me back up a step for those who are new to the RV life to explain what I mean.

Prior to hitting the road full-time, we wanted to find a car to tow behind our Class A motorhome. After a bit of research, we settled on a “new to us” 2015 Subaru Crosstrek as our towed car (or TOAD).

The Crosstrek seemed like a solid choice. The car was lightweight and provided decent cargo space for all our outdoor accessories. It got great gas mileage (especially compared to our RV). And the manual transmission meant it could be towed behind the RV with all four wheels on the ground. That completely eliminated the need for a tow dolly.

Overall, the Crosstrek is a fine TOAD. I have no complaints about the car itself. All my problems with it fall squarely with the realm of “user error.”

So, in an effort to keep you amused, and possibly warn you from making the same dumb mistakes, I’m sharing my most embarrassing moments with our TOAD.

Sure…I’m a little bit rusty

My very first car had a manual transmission. So did my second car. But to be honest, it’s been more than 15 years since I’d driven a ‘stick shift’ on a regular basis.

It didn’t take too long to shake off the dust though. After a few days I could let the clutch out softly. And stopping on steep inclines was no big deal. But, the one thing that didn’t come back quite as quickly was remembering to use the emergency brake whenever I parked.

Sometimes, I’d get to my destination, turn off the ignition, and open the door to get out. Then I’d realize the car was starting to move. Startled, I’d have to quickly remember pull up the emergency brake to stop it.

After so many years owning cars with an automatic transmission, it was going to take some time to remember to leave the car in gear and use the emergency brake again. But, I was pretty sure that muscle memory would come back soon.

Dude, where’s my car?

Our first destination when we started traveling was the Great Lakes. We were eagerly looking forward to a mild summer with the RV. When we got to Minnesota though, summer still felt like it was a very long way off. In fact, it was still dropping down into the 40s at night, even though it was mid-June.

The problem with this unexpectedly chilly weather was our clothing. Keith and I were fine. But, Finn went through a growth spurt right after winter ended. We desperately needed to get him a jacket that fit before we headed any further north.

After a little internet research, we discovered an outdoor store just outside Duluth that might carry winter jackets in June. We left the RV at our campground and jumped into the TOAD to go shopping.

I’m not the type of person who feels compelled to park as close as humanly possible to a store’s entrance. The TOAD is silver, and it tends to easily blend in with all the other neutral-colored cars. Parking it a little farther out makes it much easier to find in parking lots.

So, I just pulled into spot in the middle of the parking lot. The store was just opening and the parking lot was virtually empty.

We frittered away about an hour goofing off in the outdoor store. Finn got a new jacket. Keith ended up buying some fishing stuff. All in all, it was a successful trip.  But since we’d been in there for a while, it probably shouldn’t have surprised us to discover the parking lot now was much fuller than when we arrived.

Heck, I couldn’t even see the car as we walked back toward our parking spot. That wasn’t really an issue though. This was an outdoor store. In Minnesota. So, naturally, a bunch of giant pickup trucks sat between us and our parking spot. I would surely see our little car again once we got past them.

After rounding the third pickup, I turned left toward where I’d remember parking, and discovered my car wasn’t there!!!

I immediately did that slow spin you see folks doing in parking lots whenever they’ve forgotten where they left their car. But I still couldn’t spot the TOAD.

I turned to Keith, and he looked equally confused. “We parked over here, right?” I asked.  He agreed, saying “Yeah, I was sure the car was right past where this truck is parked.”

He was looking around the lot and couldn’t see it either.

Then Finn shouted, “I see the car!  It’s over there.” Thinking we accidentally walked right past it, we turned back to see where he was pointing.

Finn’s arm was completely outstretched with his finger pointed to a spot across the parking lot. Sure enough, our car was ALL THE WAY at the end of the lot!!!

What the heck?!  Did someone try to steal our TOAD?

When we got over to it, all the doors were still locked. And the car didn’t have scratch on it.

It turns out, there was a very slight slant in the parking lot, and it was a very windy Midwestern day. I’d forgotten to engage the emergency brake, and so the TOAD just started rolling across the empty lot until it found the curb to stop its momentum.

We were incredibly lucky that it didn’t hit anything (or anybody) as it rolled along. And we’re equally lucky there was a curb, because just beyond the parking lot was a steep ravine.

I felt like a complete moron. But, it was a good lesson than I needed to be much more diligent.

And my new obsession with the emergency brake is where this story turns even more embarrassing…

Hooking up our TOAD

After the near miss in Minnesota, I became obsessed with putting the emergency brake on.  It didn’t matter if the terrain was completely flat and the car was in gear. As long as the car was parked, the emergency brake needed to be engaged.

I was especially diligent about putting the brake on when we were hooking the car up to the RV. I had this intense fear that the TOAD would accidentally roll forward, and one of us would get our hand or fingers crushed.

I have to admit, we were pretty cautious about the hook-up process all around. After we got the tow system installed, the guy in the shop showed us how to connect everything step-by-step. I took dozens of pictures on my phone from virtually every angle.

These photos were my safety net. I didn’t want to get to halfway across the country and realize that I didn’t remember if this cable went left or right, or that cable went above or below. I could double-check that everything looked just like the picture.

And once the TOAD is hooked up to the RV, towing it is really pretty simple.  There are only three steps:

1. Turn the TOAD’s key to accessory mode;
2. Put the transmission in neutral; and
3. Release the emergency brake.

You did what with the TOAD?!?

At the end of the summer, we had plans to meet up with Keith’s extended family for a camping trip. So we had to drive about 150 miles to meet everyone in a state park in Pennsylvania.

After Keith finished dumping the gray and black water tanks, he met me in a large flat parking lot at the front of our last campground so we could hook up the TOAD.

The process went like it normally does. Once the car was connected, I double-checked the photos on my phone. Everything was EXACTLY the way it should be. Satisfied, I went back to the car to make sure everything inside was ready to tow too. Then we hit the road.

A few hours later, we stopped at a truck stop and went in to grab a bite at Subway. It had been a rough ride into Pennsylvania. There was a lot of road construction and steep climbs. All of us were a little stressed out and hangry by the time we finally stopped to eat.

Stopping for an extended break while you’re towing doesn’t require any special steps. The TOAD stays hooked up to the RV. But, since we’d planned to walk away from everything to get our lunch, I didn’t want to leave the keys in the car. I pulled the keys out of the ignition, and locked the TOAD up.

When lunch was over, I went back to the TOAD to make sure the car was ready to tow again.  I put the key back in the ignition and turned it to accessory mode. I checked to make sure the car was in neutral. And then I put the emergency brake down. Good to go!

As we drove the rest of the way to the state park, something was niggling in the back of my brain. I couldn’t figure out what it was. But, it was there. What was bothering me about the TOAD?? Did I forget to do something back at Subway? I went over the steps again and again in my mind.

1. I put the key in the ignition and turned it to accessory mode. CHECK.
2. I double-checked to make sure the car was in neutral. CHECK.
3. I put the emergency brake down. CHECK.

What was I missing?? I must just be paranoid, I thought. I know I did all the steps.

When we finally got to the state park in Pennsylvania, our campsite required us to back the RV into our spot. You can’t back up with the TOAD attached, so Keith stayed in the RV while I went to unhook the car.

As soon as I got into the car, I put it in gear and pulled on the emergency brake. Wait a minute…the emergency brake suddenly pulled up 3 inches higher than normal. What the heck?!?

And THAT’S when I realized what was bothering me.

I’d put the emergency brake down after our stop at Subway. But, the emergency brake isn’t on when we are towing. After checking to make sure the car was still in neutral, I should have only needed to check to make sure the emergency brake was still down. I wouldn’t have actually needed to PUT IT DOWN.

Holy crap!!! We just towed our car nearly 150 miles with the emergency brake up!

Fairly soon after that, the car was at the mechanic getting a new emergency brake. And, to make matters worse, it turns out the brake cable got so hot during our drive down to Pennsylvania, that it melted into the rear brake drum.

So yeah, we had to pay to get the emergency brake AND our rear brakes replaced on the TOAD.

That’s soooooo much worse than the car harmlessly rolling across a parking lot.

Lessons learned

Needless to say, I am now very, very neurotic about our TOAD’s emergency brake.  It doesn’t matter whether we are driving or towing. It’s a constant thought.

I could beat myself up over and over about how monumentally dumb both of these mistakes were. But, what good would that do? It’s far more productive to share my humiliation with others to forewarn them from making the same blunders.

Plus, laughing about it makes me feel a little more like a veteran full-timer. Because we all have stories of stupid things we’ve done while RVing.