Good Sam Club Open Roads Forum: Fifth-Wheels: getting trapped inside a park


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dapperdan

Milwaukee

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Posted: 02/21/20 06:34am

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I love it when you get to a campground/park and the host/attendent says "you should be able to make it"....... Happened to us a few times, a couple of times we ended up using reverse. [emoticon]

Thank God I'm comfortable backing up the rig, for some it's a rather daunting task!

When making reservations our first question is "we have a 38' fifth wheel, can your place accommodate our size RV?"

Dan

colliehauler

Mc Pherson KS USA

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Posted: 02/21/20 08:21am

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Downunda wrote:

Happened to us also... we were at a beachside state park and the ranger sent us to the wrong area, before we knew it we were on a narrow sandy track with no way of turning around. We ended up bogged to our axles in soft sand. Fortunately another camper with a decent 4x4 and recovery gear kindly pulled us out. It was our first RV trip after retiring. We learned a very valuable lesson... if unsure walk in first even if it means a long walk.

Very good advice and have walked if any doubt to make sure no low branches or narrow passages. After driving for awhile it feels good to stretch the legs anyway.

ppine

Northern Nevada

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Posted: 02/21/20 09:29am

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Kind of like wearing shoes that are too small.

Travlingman

Jonesborough, TN

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Posted: 02/21/20 09:30am

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We went to a COE park in Ga. Called before I made reservations, park host said no issues with a big rig. Made to or site, no issues. I walked down to look at the turn around area and didn't see how my 40' fiver would make it. Short turn around, trees, sloped to outside of turn. A guy across the street had a big toy hauler about my size and to get to his site he had used the turn around. I asked how he did it. Said to go in the out loop and then take my truck off the pavement onto the grass going toward lake as much as I could and make sure I had bed rail clearance as it sloped off pretty bad. Said to make sure and watch trailer swing because of 1 tree that didn't have alot of bark left on it that people hadn't watched. Said when I got up to the site that was in the corner to pull the marker sign out of the ground to give myself more room to pull truck around. Came the morning to leave and it rained during the night making the grass where I was to pull slick. I figured this was a sign from above that I didn't need to use the turn around which I really wasn't thrilled about trying. I ended up backing out over a 1/4 mile.

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bpounds

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Posted: 02/21/20 09:56am

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It's one of the reasons I try to avoid pulling in a camp after dark. You should be able to back out of anything you drive into. But every difficult maneuver becomes 3 times more difficult in the dark. I've been known to spend the night in a rest stop or a parking lot within a few miles of our destination, just so I could park and setup the next morning after daylight. And well rested when attempting it.

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mockturtle

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Posted: 02/21/20 10:52am

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The only time I was trapped inside a park was when I had a larger RV and the idiot across from me had his dualie parked in front of his site and I didn't have enough room to get out without driving over the grass. Actually, this happened more than once.

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Lon-Str

Huntsville,Texas

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Posted: 02/21/20 11:00am

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So far I have found that if I could get in, I could get out, but not always easy. Several years ago I pulled in just before dark, to a campground in Nebraska. After a long day I was tired and ready roost for the night. The manager said he would go get the golf cart and for me to follow him when he came back by.

Shortly after, a golf cart came zooming by and I tried to fall in behind. The road soon turned into a pig trail and the cart disappeared. It took some really heavy back and forward to get the rig turned around. I was pretty hot when I got back to find the manager standing in the road. Before I could say a word. he said " those **** kids stole my golf cart again " All I could do was to laugh.

Allworth

Orlando, FL

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Posted: 02/21/20 12:03pm

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I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

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