Sh#t Got Real
Three weeks ago I got the call, “Beardo” (trying out names) arrived at the dealer’s lot. I was hoping for March, but here we are. I went down that weekend to look at him and apply for financing. Years in the making and finally he’s here.
I’d never towed anything. The fear was creeping in, but as long as he was on the lot, I didn’t have to deal with it…yet. About a month ago, I found a storage unit so at least I knew where this thing would be stored, but then I had to back it in. I had visions it would take me hours and hours of trying to get it straightened enough to go into the space, I even went and purchased a trailer dolly incase I couldn’t do it with the truck. If you haven’t backup with something hitched to the back of your vehicle if you hands are on top of the wheel you have to turn opposite of where you want the trailer to go, but, if you put your hands on the bottom of the wheel, then you turn it the direction you want it to turn.
I finished the paper work and made the appointment to come back on the 17th (today) to finally pick him up. That gave me 2 weeks to get over my fear and purchase some of the last minute things I would need before I could take him home.
I woke before the alarm went off so I rolled over, grabbed my phone and swiped through Facebook a bit. Luckily the dealership is only around a 15 minute drive from my house; nothing is very far in Reno. It was time, I had to get up, get dressed and get out the door. I grabbed the items I needed and off I went.
I decided not to think about towing, I’d get through it.
Arriving at the deal 10 minutes early I went to the service area to get my walk through of the camper and it’s components. It’s interesting, I’ve been doing research for so long and watched 100s of YouTube videos, I seemed to know how to use it better than the guy who gave me the walk through, but it was good just the same.
Waiting to hook up
At least signing the finance paperwork took way less time than purchasing a car. I was in and out within 40 minutes. The time had come, driving him home. We hooked the truck up, attached the break controller. If you don’t know what a break controller is. A break controller is used to control the breaks on the trailer. For any trailer over 1500 lbs you must have one. Some controllers now come standard built into a truck with a tow package. Others you get an external device and attach to the truck. The one I got you plug into the 7pin plug next to the tow hook, then you plug the camper into that. You use an app on your phone to control the camper’s breaks. What you want is to sync the camper’s breaks and your truck breaks so there isn’t any jerking during breaking. I do want to give a shoutout to the guys at the dealer (WesternSkies RV in Reno) They were a tremendous help.
We did a couple test breaking runs, all seemed good, then, out into traffic I went. All was going well. I was driving like my 80yo father, but I couldn’t worry about the drivers behind me unless I was changing lanes. It’s not a heavy camper, only around 3400 lbs so towing was pretty easy, but of course I was taking local streets, wait until I get onto an expressway.
I had hills to climb and descend from, but it all went smoothly. No one flipped me the bird and I got him to the storage place, but now the real test would come. would I live my nightmare or would it go ok.
I realized I lied above about never towing anything. It is true I never towed a camper or trailer with a car or truck, but I use to own an apply orchard and towed farm equipment and learned how to back up. But there was always lots of space to maneuver and no blind spots.
I first practiced backing up to see if I could keep him straight, ok, that’s done. But as you can see by the pics above, I would have to back up and curve the camper into the garage. Out came the yellow cones and back I went. I didn’t get nervous, I pulled on my ole farmer pants and knew I could do this, if nothing else I could use the trailer dolly and push him back.
As I backed up, I couldn’t see anything on the passenger side, it dawned on me, focus on the driver side and the passenger side would take care of itself, there was enough spare room between the storage door opening I should be able to get him without crashing.
Within a short period of time, in he went. I did have to get out a few times to take a look around, but then I had to trust myself and aligned the drivers side through the door. I unhitched, moved him back more then chocked the tires. I spent a little time inside, but hunger and the need to pee was getting the better of me so I shut the batteries off, got back in my truck and drove home.
No, I don’t know where the first trip will be, but I do need to start planning, I hear camping spots go fast.
