Ok,
I have never in my life seen anything, like I just did. It's 1:20
in the afternoon, and I just spent the last 45 minutes watching a
couple try to back in their 5th wheel in a site, not too far from
ours. This couple came earlier this morning with just a truck,
some chairs and a cooler. They pulled into a site, put their
paper on the electric pole, so as too let others know that this spot
was taken, and setup a few chairs and a cooler and left. They
were gone for a while, and came back with a 5th wheel hitched up to the
truck. The man was driving, the woman climbed out of the
passengers seat and proceeded to give him directions as to how the
backing in should proceed. He started backing up, she instructed
him which way to turn the wheel, proceeded to walk toward the back of
the trailer, (where he could not see her, by the way), and was watching
him back up. Well, the trailer wasn't going where she wanted it,
(or so she thought), so she walked back up towards the front, and
proceeded to give him more instructions, which he faithfully followed,
which still didn't work. This was repeated over and over for
about 15 or 20 minutes. Finally, he got out of the truck to
survey the situation. She decided she could do a better job, and
proceeded to get in the truck, and drive around the block, to take her
attempt at it. By the time she returns, the man is walking up the
driveway to use the "facilities". She decides the best way to
tackle this is to stay to the right, to get a better angle for backing
up, and that's when it happened. A tree jumped right out in front
of her. She scraped the right side of the trailer by cutting the
corner too close and everything came to a screeching halt.
Obviously distressed, she got out of the truck to survey the
damage. She tried to back up the truck to get it loose, but it
still seemed stuck. About that time, someone came up behind her
in a small motorized vehicle, (actually they were driving that little
Cushman I posted the photo of yesterday). They pulled into the
site across from the stuck trailer, and then those people from that
site, came out and looked at the damage. The Cushman driver
headed for the ranger station, and within minutes, more help
arrived. By now there are a total of 6 people checking things
out. Finally, after some consultation, they had the man get into
the truck and told him which way to turn the wheels, back up and get
the trailer loose. He backed up, then pulled up some to
center the truck in the driveway. At this point, he gets
out of the truck, and the neighbor gets in, and proceeds to pull up,
and back the 5th wheel in with out any problems, in a matter of 2
minutes. All in all, this full event took about 45 minutes from
the time they arrived with the 5th wheel, until they finally got the
trailer in the site. I looked at that situation, and thought,
"there, but for the Grace of God, go I". If you're wondering why
I didn't get out and help, I really thought that at any minute they
would get that thing parked. Frequently, they weren't that far
off, and if he had continued backing, turning the wheels the other
direction, it would have been fine. But one thing leads to
another, and stuff happens. Oh well, live and learn. I had
to write this while it was fresh, so I could get it down before I
forgot half of it. So, there you have it, that was our excitement
for the first half of the day. Later in the day Sherry and I took
a walk and got a look at the damage. It was slight. She
actually caught the tree with the steps and bent them slightly, so the
damage wasn't bad. Hurt pride more than anything else, I
suppose. So, that was the biggie today. We took our walk
tonight, and had 11,346 steps in. Hair over 5 miles I
guess. Well, enjoy the pics. |
View of part of the Lake, and Lilly Pads. |
Another view of the Lake. |
A different direction view of the lake. |
Some houses in the distance. |
High end 5th wheel sitting on a site just waiting for the owners to show up. |
A New Horizons 5th wheel. Definately the best on the market. |
Flowers by the Adult Lounge. |
A different view of Lake Tawakoni. |
No, we are not parked along this road, thank you very much. |
Ah, yes, another v-dub van.. |
Another one of those slow crossings. |
A novel way to hold up the Tv Satellite dish. Suction cups on the side. |
Here's a way to avoid the "no clothes lines attached to the trees" rule. It may be a little hard to see, but the left side is tied to the ladder on a 5th wheel, and the right side is hooked to a post stuck in the ground. One of those that you use for holding plants. |
Ah, yes, the infamous tree that jumped out in front of the neighbor........ |