Did I say we headed directly to site 50? Already my brain is blocking out parts of this fiasco. Before we made the (good) decision to pack up and move on, we made the (questionable) decision to try to set up on the original site. We said “screw it” to getting the rig completely level, threw caution to the wind, and ran the slideouts. A few minutes inside (during which we finally got to use the bathroom) and we realized we were risking the integrity of our slideout system, so we packed it all up again.

Only, the kitchen slideout wouldn’t retract. Shit.

I called Burlington RV back in Wisconsin in the off chance someone in service might be available. Patrick talked me through a couple of possible fixes, then recommended we get a name of a local repair shop from the camp host/office staff – “I guarantee you they’ve got business cards there, they all do” – which Matt did. We called RV Specialists who said they’d have someone out by 10:00 AM, much to our relief.

While Matt was at the campground office, it dawned on me that maybe the rig was just a little out of balance, and when he returned I suggested we extend the living room slide, then try the kitchen slide. It worked! We still wanted someone to look at the unusual camber of the left rear level leg, though, so we kept the appointment with RV Specialists.

Since we could move the RV, we decided to head over to one of the other sites on the list. You know how I always say “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”? I need to listen to myself once in a while.

When we left site 46, we were stressed, stinky-sweaty, exhausted, hungry and feeling guilty about leaving the dogs cooped up all day (although we did give them a pee and water break). Best possible circumstances for making excellent decisions, really.

Matt pulled up, I told him when to start backing up and to swing the back end more right. This makes sense when you’re in compos mentis but I needed to be more clear – another hat tip to Doug at LearntoRV – by saying “driver’s side” or “passenger side” rather than right or left.

In any case, Matt was swinging wide. I told him to pull out and try again (insert Beavis & Butthead laugh) yet continued to provide directions in the same format. Matt also was having issues with a ditch across the road – he could get the truck almost in position, but then the truck would start down into the ditch and strain the hitch.

So this went on for a while, with Matt getting more stressed with each attempt. He tried to re-position the camper by leaving the site entirely and going around the campground – I’m sure no-one noticed.

He made one more attempt and brought the back around TIGHT to the right. I mentioned in the walkie that I was concerned about a tree branch on the right side but figured he could straighten things out. As he continued to back up near the tree, I went to the right side to see how things were going and yelled “STOP!” into the walkie. He stopped. I looked closer.

Oh boy.

I ran to the driver’s side of the truck and said, “We’re fucking up the camper, we gotta stop now and get out the bow saw.” He jumped out, looked, and I think at that point he lost all will to live. His entire demeanor went from beyond stressed to pure panic.