Dangit!

I know I’ve got nobody to fuss at besides me on this one, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fuss about it. I can’t find the key to the trailer lock.

Why? Because I don’t put it in the right place when I’m done, I guess.

I keep my trailer at work, because I’m not the only one who uses it. I lend it out all the time, and that’s fine. So it makes sense to leave the key to the tongue lock at work. Which I did for a while.

And today I looked on the hook where it’s kept, and the key wasn’t there. Grr. Who used the trailer last? Me. Who should know where the key is? Me. And who can’t find the key? Yeah. Me.

Go look in the truck, because that’s the usual tow vehicle. No key.

Look in the car, because the last time I remember bringing the trailer home, I brought it with the car (then loaded it and towed it with the truck). Noooope. No trailer key in the car.

How ‘bout that basket on the counter where I often dump my pockets? Nope. On the desk? Nope. Old truck? Nope.

DaHeck, man?!? Maybe like 92fstech, I’m an idiot and can’t be trusted with expensive or important things. And maybe I should invest in another AirTag.

I’ll see you guys later… I’m going to go search the washer and about 10 pairs of pants and shorts.

Did you lookin the lock?

Haha! Yes, I just checked the lcok. It’s locked, but no key nearby.

Next: search the backpacks.

Good place for the key is setting it on the back bumper while you finished up whatever else you had to do.

Is it next to your glasses or 10mm socket?

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Good place for the key is setting it on the back bumper while you finished up whatever else you had to do.

Like the hitch pin the first time I went camping with our new travel trailer. Three days later when it was time to leave in the pouring rain and I remembered where I left it. Luckily WalMart was only 15 minutes away.

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Good place for the key is setting it on the back bumper while you finished up whatever else you had to do.

Did that once!

I drove about a mile that way, thankfully not losing the keys on the way.

I know that my memory is bad enough that I can watch Law and Order reruns because I don't remember how they end . I hope you find it.

Well, here we are, 2-1/2 hours after my first post, and the mystery is solved.

I drove back over to work, thinking either a) the key would be in the parking lot, right at the trailer tongue, or b) the key would be in my work backpack (which I didn’t bring home after work today). Put on your Richard Dawson voice and shout, “survey SAYS!” and then set off the buzzer. Neither on the pavement nor in the backpack.

So I gathered a few things I needed for the weekend “homework” and headed on back to the house. I remembered that it was raining hard enough to make Noah question things the last time I had the trailer at home, and that I had hastily tossed everything (keys, hitch, lock, tie-down strap) into the car trunk that evening. Sooooo, I searched the car trunk. Nothing.

One more pass through the trucks… nothing. Garage table, tool box drawer, washer, dryer, laundry basket, kitchen counter, and coffee table drawer. Nada. And then it hit me. “Hey, doo-mahs, where’s that box you tossed everything from the counter into last week?” So it was suddenly a box hunt (surely not as much fun as a fox hunt, I suppose), which led to a couple of trips up and down the stairs. I suppose I got a little bit of a workout for my troubles.

So. I’m getting an AirTag carrier tomorrow… on my way BACK to work to pick up the trailer for the weekend’s projects.

- - - -

TLDR (too long, didn’t read): I raked a bunch of stuff off the kitchen counter into a small box last week because friends were coming over for dinner and I needed to tidy up. Yep, the key ended up in that box. Where was the box? Upstairs in the office, because that makes sense....

Coincidentally, I read today about a small town in Arkansas called Dumas . Cue up that root beer commercial from years ago, Doo-mahs.

Glad you found it!

The worst key loss I’ve had was an ATV key. I found it a year later in the filter/drain trap of the clothes washing machine.

I’m glad too! I didn’t want to have to get the grinder out and start cutting locks. (The key to the dogbone lock that goes in the hitch is on that same keyring.)

Man, losing an ATV key for a year would really kick my tail!

Isn't that the #1 reason for buying an angle grinder? Lost the key to the trailer coupler thingy...Had to cut the lock off. Then lost the key to the bar thingy that holds the receiver into the hitch (Wife's car). So now the receiver is permanently on her cay and will eventually rust into place. I kept the keys in a ziplock and put them in the spare tire compartment for about the last 100 years or so. This Spring.... Vanished!!!! Had a new hitch installed on my RX 350 this Summer. No lock on the receiver, just the pin thing with the key. I'll just leave the key to the trailer in the truck since I won't be using her car anymore. Glad I'm not the only person who does these things.

Mine is on the key ring for the truck. If I lose the truck key I don't need the trailer key. Also, my trailer lock came with 2 keys, so the spare is in the house with other various spares.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

Man, losing an ATV key for a year would really kick my tail!

I keep a preemptive set of spare keys. One each, of critical keys, each one labeled.

quote:

Originally posted by pootie:
Mine is on the key ring for the truck. If I lose the truck key I don't need the trailer key. Also, my trailer lock came with 2 keys, so the spare is in the house with other various spares.

I'm not smart enough to put the extra keys in a safe spot, much less label them. I went through about 50 extra keys hiding in various hiding spots in the house. Trouble is we have 4 cars, one motorcycle, one trailer, one house, one cottage, and one storage shed. Last time I misplaced they keys to the shed, I swore I'd write down the key code on the lock in case I had to have a copy made. That was in the Spring...Think I've done it yet???

quote:

Originally posted by MMSIG229:
Isn't that the #1 reason for buying an angle grinder?

You know it!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I keep a preemptive set of spare keys. One each, of critical keys, each one labeled.

Spare key?!? Sure! I’ve got one of those…
It’s at my “other brother’s” place, because he’s one who uses the trailer often. Oh, and he’s out of the country for a couple of weeks, so getting to that key was a no-go yesterday, too.

quote:

friends were coming over for dinner and I needed to tidy up. Yep, the key ended up in that box. Where was the box? Upstairs in the office, because that makes sense....

Well on a positive note your friends have the illusion that you are both organized and tidy.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Well on a positive note your friends have the illusion that you are both organized and tidy.

Good point! And they don't know that I lost the danged trailer key for a week!

Yep, definitely something I would do/have done at one point or another. Which is why I have a "master key" that I keep in the back of my squad car:



And yeah, I've used it for exactly that purpose more than once. A couple of observations about that approach:

1. Buying new locks is cheaper than the amount of time I spend looking for lost keys.

2. Those things make cutting locks so easy I question the reasoning behind even locking stuff with padlocks in the first place.

That would be perfect for the lock on the trailer itself. Heck, I think a fella could almost look at that lock crossways and get it to come open.

The real booger, though, was the dogbone lock in the hitch itself. Yeah, it was in the hitch and locked, but not on the truck. That would have been a job for the angle grinder, for sure.

- - - - - - -

My AirTag carrier arrived today. I’m feeling like a doofus for having to use it, but it’s easier to feel like the doofus than to spend all that time looking for the darned keys again.