Just Grease it up first!

Putting a 45' RV in a 46' Spot from a 15' Wide Curvy Road Ain't Easy, ya know!

I'd spent what must have been 10 hours looking online at RV lots for sale in Florida and Texas.  As I THINK I've mentioned - Irene and I are done with bein' cold.  So, we realized after this last monster cold snap that only southern Texas and Central and Southern Florida are both a) weather-friendly and b) tax-friendly states.  (Arizona and New Mexico are desert and it freezes there a LOT more than one might think; Southern Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and Southern Alabama all struggle with er, um, hmmm how to say this - cultural attractiveness - We just aint "NASCAR" or "Duck Dynasty" enough to wanna live out in the pine forest or swamp with no one within 10 miles and an easy rider rifle rack above our heads in the RV;  and Southern California is a tax nightmare state and a cesspool of false doctrine in too many churches.)

SO, we found a lot for sale in an RV resort in Salt Springs, FL which isn't too far from Ocala.  It was in the middle of the Ocala National Forest.  Do you know that they do NOT build cell towers in National Parks.  It was the only place I've ever been where our MiFi and WiFi wireless routers BOTH had -3 in the "Bars" Icon.  It was like WE owed our carriers signal! (J/K about the -3).

Anyway, we arranged with the Real Estate agent representing the owner to stay there for 2 nights to "check out" the lot.  The map on the internet didn't indicate how narrow and curvy the roads in the resort were.  I thought they were trying to prepare me for some new event in the Winter Olympics at Sochi next month - RV Slalom!  

Then we get to the lot that is listed as being 80x40 feet and realize ah, I think they forgot to convert their centimeters to inches on this one.  Musta been a NASA design engineer that took the measurements.  BUT I AM A MASTERFUL, ADEPT driver and baker-upper. So, let's go for it.  

1. Pull up on the driveway of the lot across the street to get as much of an angle and length as possible

2.  Use that 60 degree wheel cut as you back up - watch that passenger-side front corner.  Creep back while watching the back up cam and the rear view mirrors - SLOWLY.

3.  Straighten it out and back up as far as possible.

4.  Cut the wheels as much a possible as you pull FORWARD this time making sure you don't get on the lawn across the street.

5.  Close enough now to do our next back up into the actual lot.  Watch that passenger side front and passenger rear view mirror and the back up camera.

6.  Get out and check how it went.  I'm met by a neighbor telling me that I gotten onto some pavers and pushed them down and broke 2 of them AND backed into a 2 foot high rotted post and pushed it over, OOPS!

(The neighbor said "I tried to get your attention but you were too busy watching where you were backing that you didn't see me!  Like I'm supposed to NOT be looking where I'm backing this 20 Ton 45 foot land boat???)

So, I'm back about 2 feet too far and not quite at the correct angle.

7.  Get back in rig and pull up while pulling the front end toward the passenger side about 5 feet.

8.  Slid that puppy right in the slot as Irene indicated how far back I could come.  PERFECT!

Our rig is 45' long and there are only 6 feet left in front of it.

Now, to get the Trav'ler antenna up in the 30 minutes before the Saints/Seahawks game.  We gotta get to the convenience store outside the resort to get some water and drinks.  Driving out of the resort we realize that our road to LEAVE the resort makes our road INTO the resort look like an airport runway.  The first turn after we leave our lot is a 90 degree turn around a narrow corner with a tree RIGHT NEXT TO THE ROAD just to make it interesting.  Oh, lovely.

Irene and I stayed up until 2 AM talking about what to do about living because obviously THIS lot aint the answer and in fact I am puckered up "down under" about getting the rig extricated from the lot after church Sunday morning.   We found a new resort close to Ocala called "The Wilderness"  We tucked that into the back of our minds as we finally got to sleep.