Practice makes perfect, right? WRONG!!

Okay, so I drive over to Shawnee Mission, KS this morning to pick up my camper and it all goes well. I back my car right up to the tongue of the camper, Griff hooks it up for me and gives me my paperwork and some other extras for the camper and I'm off. Pulling it was a breeze, switching lanes and starting and stopping were no problem, but then I get to the church parking lot--lots of room, hundreds of parking spaces and a little drive way at the missions building for me to practice backing up into. This is going to be great....or so I thought.



OMG! What is wrong with me? I'm a great backer-upper. I pride myself on that and yet, trying to back that little camper where I wanted it was next to impossible.

I tried the theory of turning the steering wheel the opposite way of where you want the trailer to go. Nope, I couldn't do that. So, I try the tip about holding on to the bottom of the steering wheel and turning it in the direction of where you want the trailer to go. Nope, that didn't work either. I know...both ways should have worked, but not for me. I was there for like 45 min. to an hour. I just about jack-knifed the thing several times. I got so stressed out I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Thank goodness there was no one around the church today. Oh geez, I just remembered that there are cameras mounted on the buildings now. Please tell me they weren't on today.



So, I decided to just take little Puc home and do what I could. I worried all the way home. I live at the end of a cul-de-sac so I really don't even have that much space to maneuver in anyway, but I was going to have to do something.



I get to the cul-de-sac and I see my neighbor's daughter walking with two guys. I rolled down my car window and told them that if they really wanted some entertainment, they should stick around and watch me try to back the trailer in my driveway. The girl says, "Do you want him to do it for you?" as she pointed at the young man. She told me that he backs boat trailers up all the time. I looked at him and he smiled and said he'd be glad to do it for me, so I let him. I couldn't believe the way he just backed it on in there, close to the wall and as straight as a string. Unbelievable! Again I say, I'm an idiot! Why can't I do that?



So, I popped up my little camper, turned on the A/C, opened up all the little cabinets and drawers and found all kinds of nifty things--a microwave, a space heater, clip on fan/lights for over the beds, a built in cooler and a stove you can hook up on the outside of the camper. This is the cleanest camper I've been in that wasn't new. It even smells new and it's 11 years old. I really lucked out--this is a sweet little camper.



It fits perfectly in my garage and except for about 6-8 inches, I can raise it up all the way. At least I thought so until I went to shut the garage door. Oops! Bad noise! No big deal though--I just had to lower it a smidge--which meant unhooking brace bars, pushing the beds back in and practically taking the whole thing down again. Ugh!



Except for the stress of backing the darned thing up, I really enjoyed my day with Puc. Oh, and Tilly enjoyed it too. She snooped around inside the fridge and in every nook and cranny and then stretched out on the king-sized bed. We're going to be great camping buddies. ; )