Now I'm stressed out......

[ColoradoRick]

I haven't had (yet) any scary moments with the new 34-footer but back when I had the 18-footer we drove past this awesome little spot next to a river out in Western Colorado. It had a dirt road that went into it and then you turned right.

From the road, it looked like a pretty large parking area....NOPE. Once I turned that last right I knew it would be a huge problem turning around. So we just found a spot, enjoyed a relaxing lunch and then came time to figure out how to turn it around. (I was able to find an open spot to back into and then on the other side was a space between two trees that really helped out..only had to go up and back about 4 or 5 times...thank Goodness for a pretty tight turning radius with a Tacoma...my new Tundra with the 34-foot trailer would've taken a LOT longer and I probably would've just gotten it as far back I could have and disconnected the truck and then reconnected with the truck facing the other way.)

[ColoradoRick]

For those of you who are interested, this handy gadgest may come in handy.

When I was in the Air Force, we had a portal SATCOM system and often had to spin it after parking in order to get the dish lined up to the satellite that we wanted. One of these little dollys was what we used and it worked very well...especially if you're parked on a very hard surface.

[mcnabbwr]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

This video is 100X worse.

This has to be staged,, nobody can be that bad. Can they? Unless they have been

[BiigDaddy]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

This video is 100X worse.

I mean, come on!! How does one survive that long in life with this lack of skills?!

[tmhudg]

Originally Posted by Timex

The moral of this story, plan your escape before you perform your entrance.

This applies to so, so many situations...

[asquared]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

This video is 100X worse.

Ow my head hurts from that one.

[tenttotrailer]

I went from an 8 foot utility trailer when we were tenting to 31 feet of TT, at first I thought I was a smarty pants and new it all about backing. First trip out I learned I was not a rocket scientist. So I needed to practise and not by trial and error in a CG as that is when you get the pressure of a dozen people watching. Where I work, there is a huge parking lot, went there on a Sunday afternoon and tried this and tried that with no chance of hitting cars, trees or in the case of the youtub video telephone poles or people.

I recall one time just starting out, coming out of a spot with two huge trees on either side of the entrance, I look back now and you could have gotten a tractor trailer through......"This nice older man" was walking his dog, saw I was obviously frustrated and came up and said "Just take a breath, no big corrections and just feel the back end through". Now years later and if I am in a spot I think of that "Nice older man", I think I was speaking with Yoda. So I guess the lesson is to be that experienced RVer and give that comforting voice to the less experienced.

Kevin

[The_Rhino]

I used to work for a utility company & a landscaper to pay my way through college. A local college had great/cheap food so we would wind through their large, full parking lots to park our long flatbed trailers near the exit before eating.

One day I had a 40’ trailer with a backhoe & tractor on it. After making about a dozen L & R turns I rounded the last building only to find that the exit was closed due to construction work. The parking lot was too full to turn-around, so I had to back-out most of the way.It took me over 30 minutes with a spotter. I made a lot of students mad & late for class that day but it was my job/money on the line…

I now check for an exit strategy before pulling into tight spaces. However, I won’t drive an extra 30 minutes on empty because the closest gas station will require backing-out. We have safety flags & vests onboard should we need to stop traffic to get out of a tight spot...