Yeah, that was me

[asquared]

On Thursday, one of the docs I work with gave me free tickets to Tweetsie Railroad in Boone, NC. We decided to make a last minute camping trip out of it since Boone is almost 3 hours from home. I called Thursday night and made reservations at Flintlock Campground in Boone. The guy asked me 3 times about the length of my fiver. Each time I responded 40 feet with 4 slides.

Due to getting out of work late and then hitting some bad traffic we didn't get there until around 9 pm. Luckily the office was still open. We barely navigate the tight loop around all the cars halfway in the road to our site. Take one look at what I need to do to get into a very narrow site and tell DH, "I'm not sure I can get it in there". He thinks I can so I begin to try. The site is on my right. I had to back around a car halfway in the road on the right and make it past a fiver with a pin box near the road on the left. The site had a fire pit in the front on the passenger site and a tree in the front on the driver's side. After several attempts, I begin to get into a tight situation and people come out of the woodwork to help. It is now dark, I have to fold my mirrors in to avoid hitting the fiver after I pulled into their site to get a better angle, I can't see anything and I'm sinking in the soft ground. After about 30 min, several ruts, and, a ton of embarrassment I manage to at least get out of being jammed up with the truck between 2 fivers and the trailer near the tree and pulling out barely missing the car.

The host found me another site that he wasn't sure would work either. It was marked for a 37' rig and is supposed to be a seasonal site. We walk down to look at it and agree to try. After 1 attempt to get around a truck on one side of my site, a car trailer on the other side of my site and a jeep across the way, the jeep owner moves his jeep. One more attempt plus a straighten out once in and I had redeemed myself. I managed to hang the rear of the fiver over the edge a bit and fit. We just parked the truck by the office instead. I was very frustrated and tired but extremely thankful to everyone who tried to help even if they were telling me conflicting things and making the situation worse. So if any forum members were there, sorry if we were loud despite using phones instead of yelling (we forgot our walkie talkies) and sorry the diesel was running so long, but at least I had my lights off and provided some good entertainment for the night! Leaving I only had a few inches to spare on each side to get around vehicles but made it happen. Pulling out was also tough as it was a very steep hill out of the campground and on to a busy mountain road. Very glad to have diesel power to get that 12000 lb fiver moving.

On the plus side, we ended up with a creekside site and got to listen to the rushing mountain stream all weekend. Very peaceful. Also everyone in the place was soooo nice including the staff. I think we gave the wrong 1st impression being so frustrated but I promise, it was just one of those bad nights for us, especially since the AC inv the truck went on the Fritz on Friday and so we were hot and tired to begin with. We came home today on a uneventful trip home with Tuffy (my truck) doing a good job handling the 4.5 mile 8% downgrade like a champ. No worries, no tense moments, just a diesel engine and exhaust break doing what it was meant to do.

[dj3spots]

Lol. My DH gets me in trouble like that all the time. Glad you stuck to it! DH has more faith in my parking the rig than I do at times. A 40' rig and a full size truck can take a bit of maneuvering.


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[5er_tom]

Flintlock is a nice CG, but not for larger rigs. We were there several times in the Class C, but we knew the 5th wheel would not work.
Glad you were able to get in there.


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[ependydad]

Thanks for the story, asquared. We can definitely sort of relate. I think I'm about to learn all about this in the trip coming up...

[jtstromsburg]

Felt similar on our recent trip to Minnesota and William O'Brien state park. Took way too long, imo, for me to get the fiver situated. I can't imagine vehicles parked in the road. Glad to got settled. I always feel great after unhooked and plugged in.

[CarolinaGirl]

The same exact thing happened to us on a recent trip. I feel your pain. I think that the majority of us have been there and completely understand. I'm willing to bet that is why others were coming in and trying to help. At least you had the noise of the stream and the beautiful NC scenery to make things better.

[DK-in-SC]

I love a good story with a happy ending! I have trouble getting my little 25' hybrid into spots sometimes. I know the more I do it the easier it will get, but when I see a big fiver at a campground I shudder at the thought of parking it. Maybe someday...

[Harkerr]

A 40 foot with 4 slides is going to have problems in many campgrounds. Need to check in advance with manager and get a site assigned known to work.

[howie70]

Originally Posted by Harkerr

A 40 foot with 4 slides is going to have problems in many campgrounds. Need to check in advance with manager and get a site assigned known to work.

Sounds to me like she did:

"The guy asked me 3 times about the length of my fiver. Each time I responded 40 feet with 4 slides"

[JAL]

I've camped there 22 years ago and didn't have any trouble. But we were in a tent at that time! From what I remember of this CG, you did an awesome job getting a 40' Camper in there. Congrats!

[satdog01]

Must have been a full moon weekend somewhere. We spent 3 nights on Guntersville Lake, AL this weekend. The camper next to us had his TV in our site. Did not seem all to happy about having to move it. Then parked his tv so that rear was hanging over our site about 2 feet. I parked 2 feet over the pad to get our slides out. I heard him complaining that our tt was blocking his passenger side so he had to back out to get in that side. Bad me was wishing it was the drivers side of his almost new truck. Fortunately he left after 1 night and a much camper friendly family moved in.

[dunk05]

Ask for pull thru sites. Problem solved.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by dunk05

Ask for pull thru sites. Problem solved.

Not always, I just read this on Facebook today:

We stayed at Lazy J, and it was nearly impossible to park our 42' 5er. To get into our "pull-through" we first almost hit a car parked in the narrow road, then ended up having to pull beyond it, luckily the back in spot across was unoccupied, backed in and then were able to pull forward to squeeze into our spot. If the site in the other side had been occupied when we left I'm not sure we could have gotten out. It's a sardine parking lot with a beautiful view.

[scootingranny]

Have you ever seen the old movie starring Luci and Desi called "The Long Long Trailer"??? one of the funniest ever. In one scene, her family is all telling him how to park and he ends up ripping off part of the roof of the house.

We just had our first outing with the Coachmen Chaparral 360IBL which is 40' with 4 slides and we had a similar experience, both parking at two campsites and at reparking at the storage facility that week. Got a lot to learn and we are learning...

[asquared]

Originally Posted by Harkerr

A 40 foot with 4 slides is going to have problems in many campgrounds. Need to check in advance with manager and get a site assigned known to work.

I am well aware there are places I won't fit so, yes we double check. I not only told him the length 3 times, I asked him if I would have any trouble navigating the campground. He said the only trouble would be if I needed to make a left into the campground. I do know we checked out honey bear campground while we were in the area and they were even smaller spots lengthwise as well as a very tight twisting mountain road up to the campground. We lived and learned and made it work.

[robert.beck.7737]

That is exactly the reason my DW and I camp at Ocean Breeze Family RV Park and Campground near Holden Beach NC. Five minutes from the beach. The sites are 40 ft wide and 70 feet deep. They have a brand new swimming pool and their rates are much lower than the CGs in and near Myrtle Beach, SC which is about 30 minutes south on US 17.