Maiden Voyage, Day 6: The Delayed Departure
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(Continued from The Ditch)
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. That’s the sound that woke us up at 5am the morning after our eventful evening at the ranch. “What now?!” I wondered, as I dragged myself out of bed and into the cold kitchen. Our refrigerator was indicating that it was on low battery. We have a 12-volt fridge. Last we had checked, our batteries were full. If you recall, we ended up having two Relion lithium ion batteries installed, after the dealer lost our Battle Borns. Up until now, we were impressed by the Relions’…reliability…but we couldn’t figure out how they went from full to empty so quickly. Granted, we had been boondocking for 3 nights at that point, with only sparing use of the generator, so it would make sense that our batteries would be running low, but why was the indicator so far off? We figured we’d look it up once we had cell service, but for now, we’d run the generator for a little while to charge things back up. Then we caught a few more winks, knowing that we needed to be as energized as possible before heading back out on the road. Post-accident anxiety is definitely a real thing, and it’s only made worse by everything I mentioned last blog post: tiredness, hunger, fatigue.... So we planned to be as leisurely as possible throughout the morning, taking our time packing, making sure we didn’t miss any damage from the night before, and enjoying time with the animals.
In our long list of rites of passage, we had a fun one that morning, which was the first animal to go inside our rig. Granted, we thought it would be our own dog, but we’re not mad about it.
Around noon, it was time to depart. We had a campground booked for a couple nights in Massachusetts and wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to arrive before dark. So we gathered up the troops and navigated the turn back out onto the road.
And it only took 2 hours and an encounter with a utility pole!
It’s not fun seeing a veteran RVer, who has driven both travel trailers and a motorhome all over the county, exasperated and confused as to why our trailer “doesn’t behave normally.” Judith, despite her best attempts, directed us back towards the same side of the driveway that gave us trouble the day before, assuming our trailer would respond to the turning of the wheel way earlier than it actually did. The result? Buggy started tipping toward a utility pole and actually made contact with it, but we stopped Anthony just in time before real impact. So there we were again, seeking out wooden planks to try and get the trailer to tip back upright. Our 4th teammate Mark returned, and we challenged ourselves to a real-life physics test. We had a few moments of brilliance, which I’ll list as hacks below. It took a lot of patience, but we were able to build a wooden ramp and get Anthony to back the trailer up and away from the pole.
Afterwards, with 3 spotters, we successfully directed Anthony out of the driveway, around the ditches, and onto the road. Quite a way to end our already dramatic stay at the ranch. We may have left both physically and emotionally beat down, but we had a (literal) crash course in towing, and even if we can’t see it right now, we’re sure we’re better off for it. One of the best parts, though, is that, if these mishaps had to happen anywhere, they happened in a place where we had resources and people to help us out. Judith and Mark have become fast friends, and despite everything, we would go back to visit in a heartbeat. We will just have to find a different place to park – which Judith has already scouted for us!
I’ll leave you with a list of lessons, products, and hacks that we found handy during these dilemmas. And, if we haven’t scared you away from keeping up with our travels, then stick around, because things really could only go uphill from here.
LESSONS, HACKS, and KNOW-HOW:
1. What we’re learning more and more, is that it’s OK to ask for help. Contrary to the rules of “never let strangers help/drive your rig,” there is a time and place for everything. Use your best judgment, and make sure you can trust whomever is helping, both for experience/skill purposes and legal reasons.
2. We came away with a dent, a paint smear, and a centimeter’s worth of aluminum bending in the rear corner of our trailer.
Safe to say that the lessons we learned greatly outweighed the damage we incurred. So, never treat an accident, mishap, or obstacle like it’s the end of the world. Find solutions, use the resources you have available to you, and allow yourself to feel accomplished after you get yourself out of the mess. It does a lot more good to celebrate the accomplishment than to punish yourself for getting into the predicament.
3. KNOW YOUR RIG. We still don’t know why Buggy reacts so much more slowly than what one would typically expect. We have a few theories. Perhaps it’s because Clyde is a long truck, so the distance from front wheels to rear trailer axles is very long. Perhaps Buggy needs more weight in the back and pulling it empty is messing with the reaction time. No matter the reason, we realized that we need to learn how to tow our rig better, and we need to treat it like it’s longer than 28 feet. We need to stand up for where we think the rig can go – even if that means only getting into spots for larger trailers and fifth wheels. And, on Judith’s end, she learned that, as a host, she needs to be aware of each guest’s rig and towing skill level. And she’s planning to prioritize setting up more RV-friendly places on the ranch, where rigs of all sizes will be comfortable.
4. Be more discerning when going to Harvest Hosts and other camping spots, especially when there aren’t a lot of pictures of the property. Ask questions. Explain to the host that we need more space because our 28ft might as well be a 36. Don’t just go by what’s listed for maximum rig size because these are not absolute limits. Every rig will have different needs.
5. Be stocked with wooden slats in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. This experience on the ranch has not been the only time this tip has come in handy (stay tuned).
6. In a moment of brilliance, Judith asked us if we had a thin cutting board that we could slide between the trailer and utility pole so it wouldn’t scratch. Turns out we did have one! Who would have thought, that our easy-to-store cutting board would come in handy for this. I would totally recommend having 1 or 2 of these boards set aside for situations just like this. They can also be used to slide under your tires if you ever need more traction. And, side note: you can place them in the back of your fridge, so the ice will build up on them instead of the back of the fridge, making defrosting a breeze. Have I convinced you of the multipurpose beauty of these little things? Here’s the link to ours on Amazon.
7. Even when you’re in the middle of a dilemma, stop for a moment and try to find the good that surrounds you. Spending time with the animals on the ranch worked wonders for lifting my spirits. We were also blessed with the best fall foliage we’d see all year. These positives still exist, even when on the surface, everything seems like a mess.
8. WALKIE TALKIES. They’re some of the first things we ordered, thanks to advice from a few YouTubers we watch. I know a lot of people don’t bother using them, but in a situation like this, where there was a difficult pull-in, multiple spotters, and no cell service, it made a huge difference to be able to relay messages to Anthony through two-way radio. We have loved ours so far. The range is exactly what we need, the battery life is fantastic, and the sound is clear. Here’s the link.
I’m sure there were many more lessons learned – and I know there are more coming in future blog posts – but I want to leave with the hardest lesson of all, which is that incidents are going to happen, and they can either scare you away from trying again, or they can be the push you need to re-commit to your choice. This was a pivotal moment, with a lot of questioning of “Can we do this?” and “Are we cut out for the RV Life?” Just remember that, if it’s really what you want, then you’re cut out for it, and yes you can do it.
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Nicole Anderson