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Published: October 19th 2009
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Eye Ball Jello Shot
Christie made these special jello shots for us to help our eyesight. These had gummy eye balls in them. One of them flipped upside down while solidifying We’re officially on the road so I’m releasing my blog location to the masses! After months of planning and purchasing, we’ve finally left Kansas City and are in the Lake of the Ozarks, MO. By Friday we’ll be in southern Georgia at my Uncle Jim’s place and I should finally see the RV next Monday near West Palm Beach FL. Yes, we’ve finally left and we feel the difference. Grace is excited like I haven’t seen in years and we’re taking the time to have some fun.
Yesterday, my worst fears for the trip began materializing. My main fear is that I will have difficulty and possibly be dangerous when hauling a ~40’ trailer behind my new kick ass Chevy Silverado 2500HD. The big truck doesn’t maneuver very well and has a lame turning radius, so I have nightmares that I’ll be trapped on a dead end road and not be able to back up or the trailer will fly off the hitch and smash Grace and I to mush.
I had my first reality check trying to back up a little, 4x8’ U-haul trailer into Mark and Cristie’s driveway. It took us 35 minutes to back up the
Off Road in Marks yard
We didn want to do this, but after 20 minutes, we were desperate and didn think it was making ruts in his yard. trailer in front of Mark’s garage, while backing up traffic, taking out Mark’s bush and leaving several long ruts in his yard. We farmed my Brother’s yard just trying to park a little trailer and the impending 5th wheel is almost 5 times longer!
I have never backed up a trailer and on my first try, I ended up Mark’s bush off the side of the driveway - just like Ricky and Lucy did in the movie Long Long Trailer. While scraping the bush with the trailer, the truck was also blocking the whole road and at least 4 cars got caught behind us on Mark’s dead end road that doesn’t get much traffic. I thought I understood the problem and I asked the neighbor to move their truck on the far side of the street to give me a little more space and save their truck. It didn’t help much. The trailer kept jack knifing and I couldn’t get it aligned in the driveway.
After about 10 minutes, Grace thought she might be able to do it and got behind the wheel. Neighbors were watching now and I admitted that we didn’t know what the hell we
Marks yard on our tire
These new tires got good traction in the slippery grass. were doing. The neighbor left after a few minutes of watching their own version of jackass neighbor. Grace didn’t do much better and my directions lead her into the the yard with the trailer in about the right place, but sideways and too close to Cristie’s car - see photo of the truck in the yard.
I took over after another 10 minutes and started to make some headway after a few more jack knifes in the yard. We didn’t want to be in the yard, but we didn’t think it was tearing up the yard like it did and were ready to sell our souls to the devil to get the trailer parked after 30 minutes.
Mark was at the K-State game and could of provided us with some guidance in parking the small trailer that was turning much faster than our truck and jack knifing before we could correct it. We finally started over by driving down the road a little ways, moving Cristie’s car and working it in a couple more times. After we finally had it in position, we looked at the yard and saw multiple ruts that our fat ass truck had made.
Ruts in the new yard
There were multiple ruts like this one in Marks yard from repeatedly not knowing what we were doing. Mark saw them in the dark when he got home from K-State’s whooping of Texas A&M. In the dark, Mark said - What the hell did you do to my yard! We’re paying for the yard to be aerated to make up for it.
We hope that a fifth wheel trailer will be easier to back up, but we still have a lot to learn. We’re going to practice backing up some more before we get down to Florida.
We had a great going away party last Friday. At least 50 people showed up to see us off and savor some of Debbie’s great food - you rock Debbie! I’ve never had anyone throw a party for me before. I highly recommend you volunteering for this in the future. Cristie also came through with some special jello shots for Grace and I - see photo.
We stopped in Warsaw, MO today and walked right into the middle of the Heritage Festival. Two days of butter churning, blacksmithing, and bullshitting with a bunch of retired fogies. The people working the show were much different than the people you run into in Kansas City. We’re out in the sticks now
Our new look
Right before we took off, Mark took this shot with my new prescription sunglasses. and you can see the difference - look at picture with Grace and the blacksmith.
We’re staying in a yurt in Lake of the Ozarks State Park tonight and tomorrow night. The Verizon Mifi is a little slow, but I’m online in a fairly remote part of Missouri. So Mifi passes the first test and will enable me to work here tomorrow. I won’t need to go into town to a coffee shop to do my job.
The 8+ month long road trip has begun. I’ll try and keep you posted.
On the road again. I’m finally on the road again!
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Jay Stilwell
non-member comment
Trailer backing tip
Scott and Grace, When wanting to go right turn the steering wheel to the left and when you want to go left turn the steering wheel to the right. Give yourself more room than you think and you will do fine. Don't worry, you will become masters of trailing backing soon enough. Bon Voyage, Jay