Today has been a challenging day! It’s my first time out with the toad following along behind me. I was so proud. I hitched it up all by myself. And I was oh so careful, I really was. When I had to pull off for gas, I made certain I wouldn’t end up in a jam. You RV enthusiast know the kind of jam I’m referencing, the one where you need to back up.

All hitched up and ready to go. My first toad experience.

Because let’s face it, when you have a toad following behind you, there isn’t much backing up. That is unless you want to unhitch the car, move it out-of-the-way, back up the RV and then attach the car again, ugh! No thank you.

The first mistake that I made was that I ended up with the wrong tow bar. I thought I was purchasing the Blue Ox Alpha Tow Bar but instead I purchased the Blue Ox Acclaim Class III Tow Bar, doh!

You may be asking, “what’s the difference, what’s the big deal?”. The difference is the tow bar I thought I was ordering doesn’t require me to lift this big hunking (I know, not technically a word) piece of metal onto the motorhome hitch before attaching the car. And when I want to unhitch the car, I have to unhook the tow bar and stow it somewhere.

The tow bar I intended to purchase.

Now, you guys know me better than that by now, right?!! I’m all about keeping it easy and simple. I went through all this trouble to get a flat-towable vehicle. The last thing I want to do is lug around a big ole’ hunk of metal! The Blue Ox Alpha Tow bar attaches onto the motorhome and stays there. That’s what I’m talking about. When not in use, it simply folds up and locks into place with a pin. No fuss, no muss.

So, you may be wondering what fields of corn have to do with all this? Well, we’re currently in Pennsylvania, Lebanon to be exact. We’re staying at the Thousand Trails Hershey RV & Camping Resort. Seems like a pretty nice resort so far, I’ll share my thoughts in a future post.

Anyway, I was motoring on down the road and missed the turn. The road is literally between rows and rows of corn. So the GPS tells me to turn down a road that’s up ahead. Seemed like a good idea to me. Perhaps there’s a road that runs ‘behind’ the cornfield. I should have known better.

So I listen to the voice of the GPS taunting me, “turn here, turn here, I will find another route”. But alas, I should have known never to listen to that voice. I turned and drove down this long one lane road. My youngest exclaims, “Mommy, now I’m right next to the corn, it’s so close I could touch it”.

“Yes, honey, you could, we’re in the middle of a great big cornfield”. Do you see my head shaking? Of course you do. YIKES! The road ends in gravel. When I saw the gravel up ahead, I turned into one of the driveways.

I’m thinking to myself, now I’ve gone and gotten myself into a fine mess. I cannot back up and there is no other way to turn around. This really nice lady comes out of the house and sees my predicament. She insists that I drive across her lawn and make a loop back onto the road.

I feel so bad. I hate to drive across her lawn with Perl’s beastly size. But I’m going to hate unhitching the car just as much. So I double and triple check with her to make sure it’s okay. I ask her if there’s any drain field or septic there. She assures me it’s okay and I go for it.

I manage to avoid messing up her lawn ornaments and make it back out onto the road heading in the right direction. I thank her immensely. There are so many kind people in this world, I’m feeling extremely grateful.

I lost a tow bar pin somewhere in my travels today!

This time, I DO NOT miss the turn. I pull in, get my instructions at the guard gate and like all the other Thousand Trails (TT’s) I’ve been to, it’s ‘find your own spot’. So I hunt down my perfect spot, unhitch the car move it into another empty spot and realize that this spot isn’t going to work.

My older daughter wants to sit in the car, where it’s cooler. So I oblige and motor off in the RV to find a better spot. A storm is brewing and they’re warning of a possible tornado. I have to get Perl settled somewhere quick, plug-in the electric and cool her off. I finally find a spot, get her situated as best I can and walk in the rain back to the car (which isn’t anywhere near my spot) and drive it back.

New rule, don’t unhitch the car until you’re absolutely, positively certain that you’ve found your spot. There are so many things to learn. If I was weak at heart, I would have thrown in the towel long ago. But gosh darn it, I’m going to figure this all out, one way or another! I don’t give up easily. I can feel myself growing stronger with each and every screw up, haha!

It’s just so hard when you’re doing it all by yourself. If I had a person that could have driven the car to the new campsite, easy peasy. If I had someone to unhitch the car, drive it out-of-the-way, while I deal with the motorhome, no problem. But I don’t have another person. So I’m learning how to deal.

So I get the car back to the campsite and I’m trying to get the coach to auto level. It is NOT cooperating with me. The front wheels are up off the ground?! It is not leveling. I’ve never had this problem before. I’ve heard that it’s not safe to leave the wheels up off the ground so I’m nervous about doing this.

Who you gonna call? I don’t think Ghostbusters have an answer for me, but hubby might.  He knows nothing about motorhomes, heck, he won’t even drive Perl. But he is a very logical man and we troubleshoot things well together. Obviously the thing is out of level and it cannot extend the front jacks far enough to help me.

We decide the solution is to drive the front tires up onto a couple Lynx Levelers. Then add some underneath the front jacks. I do this and the system levels itself. I then shove another Lynx Leveler in front of each front tire. For the future though, I think I’m going to get these wheel stop chocks too. If anyone has better suggestions, I’m all ears.

Well guys, it’s one in the morning and this RV gal has had a crazy day of trial and error. So I’m going to go hit the hay in my level RV. Hershey Park and Chocolate World await me. I will report back after I’m in my chocolate stupor to help numb my stressed out mind.

I really do appreciate any and all purchases you make by clicking on my AMAZON link! Thank you!

{HUGS} from the Crew!