6/11/2019 The OH to friendly Chipmunk

Two days ago when we pulled into a beautiful wooded campsite just outside of Baker City Oregon I was greeted by an overly enthusiastic chipmunk while I was connecting up my electric cord.  It looked at me, smiled and then leaped up on top on the COWs 22” tires with one bound.  I thought, “That’s not good”.  I chased it down and it immediately ran over to the toad and up into the engine compartment.  I opened up the hood and chased it away.

The next day Sandy and I decided to cook some chicken fajita’s on the electric stove on a picnic table setup on our site.  Who showed up?  You got it.  The overly friendly chipmunk.  It ran right up to Sandy’s chair, 6” from her shoes, sat up on its hind paws and begged.  Sandy proceeded to say how cute he was and that he must be a baby because he is so small.

Now I am not totally sure whether he is a chipmunk or some type of Oregon Squirrel.  He has a squirrel type tail, but chipmunk type stripes on his body.

Well within seconds of getting accolades from Sandy he was up on the seat of the picnic table, and in a flash up on top of the table almost enjoying our chicken fajitas.  I clapped my hands and away he went.

Well this morning at 5:45 AM I woke up from a dead sleep to a scratching on what I thought was the inside wall of the COW.  As I tried to adjust to what I was hearing, it sounded liked it moved to running around our bed.  I thought “Holy Smokes it got inside”!   If Sandy wakes up to this thing running across her face the whole park will be awake.  I hit the panic button which is directly above where I sleep in the bed.  The COW lit up like a Las Vegas Casino.  Every light I think inside and outside went FULL ON.  I jumped out of bed and of course saw nothing.  Sandy woke up and said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING” with a puzzled upset face?  

After a while, I decided to go back to bed.  This time armed with one of my 540 Lumen LED military attack flashlights which includes sharpened glass break edges and zoom capability which we bought from Harbor Freight.  I laid in bed for 20 minutes and heard the scratching again.  Out of the bed I hopped with my flashlight and zeroed in on the wall I thought the scratching was coming from.  I pounded on the wall hoping to scare the critter back out the same hole it came in (which apparently worked, at least I hope :-)).  Again Sandy awoke.  The scratching silenced.  

The neighbor campers had to think I was nuts.  Back to bed again.

Again 20 minutes later it started again.  This time I laid awake trying to figure out just where the noise was coming from before reacting.

This time I realized that it was Sandy rubbing her fingers along the sheets and snapping her fingers???  Must have been dreaming.

PS. After fully waking up,getting dressed, and exploring the underneath of the COW.  I realized that a piece of Steel Wool I had pushed into the opening where my power cord exits the COW had been moved.  Further investigation led me to a 3” knockout where wires enter the coach from the rear engine compartment.  This knockout enters directly into the basement storage where the critter (if it exists at all) may have been.  Apparently Winnebago overlooked inserting a large grommet to plug this opening.  I wrapped all the wires in Duct Tape so that they don’t get cut by the rough opening, then stuffed the 3” opening with steel wool and taped it in place with duct tape.  

The next night was quiet.  Thank Goodness.

The culprit Mugshot