Not to brag or anything, but Other Half and I have gotten pretty good at parking the Big Rig. Or so we thought.
We left Yuma Arizona on Thursday morning and headed to California. Our plan is to ‘snowbird’ at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego, but the reservation doesn’t start for another week. We could have stayed in Yuma and waited until we could get into Mission Bay – but we wanted to get within driving distance of North Hollywood as soon as possible.
Sand dunes, wind mills and mountains kept us entertained on the drive.
Our daughter lives in North Hollywood. She’s the reason we come west for the winter months. The reason for the asap visit is that she’s in the midst of dealing with the insurance company and could use some help. Her car was stolen. Not fun. It was stolen right out of her underground gated parking garage. The LA police rolled their eyes at the likelihood of it being recovered. She needed some Mom time and my signature on some insurance forms.
We chose a campground within driving distance of daughter. We got to the Oak Creek RV Park and Resort in El Cajon California around noon on Thursday. We pulled in to get registered and look around. This place is tight. The sites are short and narrow. Our nearly 40 foot rig is pushing it. We unhitched the Equinox, walked over to checkout our assigned site and discuss our approach. We have a parking system. When it works, it works – when it doesn’t – it’s annoying. The catch is we need maneuvering room for our system to work. Definitely none of that here.
I have to hand it to Other Half, it took some time, but he got the Big Rig perfectly aligned into the site. The concrete parking pad is exactly the width of our rig, literally. A smidgen off and one tire is on the gravel and the other on the concrete. We also had to negotiate a pole in order to open the slides. My job was to direct with one hand while holding Rigby in the other. That, and say things like, “Move a smidgen to the left, now a smidgen to the right.”
At one point we thought we had it but couldn’t get the Big Rig leveled without the front wheels coming off the ground. No good. We have an agreement, a non-negotiable agreement – all wheels on the ground at all times. Other Half assured me the brakes are on the back wheels. Don’t care. It unnerves me to have this monster rig held off the ground on two scrawny leveling legs.
We solved the leveling problem and while Other Half was hooking everything up, I walked over to talk to the couple across from us. They had been having a beer watching our skillful maneuvering. I was feeling pretty good we pulled it off until the woman greeted me with, “Maiden voyage?”
Hmmm. Guess we’re not so good at parking after all.