Bridge Clearance

Ever notice the battle scars on the bottom of highway and railroad cross-over bridges? On a recent tour through Moline Ill. we came upon an highway bridge that had a clearance sign stating it had 12 feet 2 inches clearance. We could not go under this bridge because our rig is 12 feet 8 inches tall. Had I continued on I would have lost my air conditioner unit and left a gaping hole in the roof of my 5th wheel. There was not enough space to turn this beast around on the two lane divided road and it was about a mile to back up to a suitable turn around spot. What did I do? I cranked the wheel and backed the trailer crosswise in the street with the rear wheel of the 5er at the edge of the shoulder. I unhooked the truck that was pointed toward the bridge, drove up the ditch and back on the other side of the 5er facing away from the bridge, hooked it back up and easily pulled the rig out going back the way we came. This didn't take long, and the folks that had to stop and wait for me were kind and understanding. You can't always avoid this type of thing happening, though I now have a GPS system that tells me where most of the low bridges are in the USA and Canada (I will do a post on this at a later date). However, you can keep yourself from accidentally going under one of these low bridges by doning one simple thing - MEASURE the height of your rig from the tallest point to the ground. When you have the correct height of your rig, add two inches to it and put a label with this height on your instrument column. This does 3 beneficial things for you. 1. It keeps you from embarassing yourself. 2. I prevents you from panic wondering if you will make it under that fast approaching bridge. 3. It will help your marriage as you reasure your spouse that, "Yes, honey, we are at least 4 inches shorter than the bottom of that bridge." Happy Trails. Jim