Backing into a campsite

[leslie]

There are people out there who are worse than I am! Recently I backed into a campsite that was on the passenger side. I was worried all day about how I would do this. I took it slow, got out twice to figure out where I wanted the back of the trailer to go, and had my husband as spotter help me to avoid running over the post with the number on it, as some previous other camper had obviously done.

When I was finished, the other campers gave me a loud cheer. Wow! It seems just before I got there, a camper across from me had taken a long time to get into her site (the better part of the afternoon) and she wouldn't let the other campers help her. Everybody was watching me to see how I would do.

Thank goodness I have been practicing.

[ammobob]

Good show Leslie. Practice makes perfect and this is one skill that should be practiced. I've watched a many a drive spend way too much time trying to get their camper in a site even with help.

[aznighthiker]

Also check for tree limbs, noted two folks with campers that backed into tree limbs this past month.

[pinstriper]

The only way this story would be better (and feel free to add this in future telling) is if the crowd of onlookers were sitting around the picnic table placing bets - miss or make ?

The thing about backing up is, you can always see one side or the other, so that's what you drive to. The spotter is really there to cover the far corner that you can't see. And yell "STOP !" 12 inches before impact. Ignore everything else they jibberjabber at you.

[leslie]

The only way this story would be better (and feel free to add this in future telling) is if the crowd of onlookers were sitting around the picnic table placing bets - miss or make ?

The thing about backing up is, you can always see one side or the other, so that's what you drive to. The spotter is really there to cover the far corner that you can't see. And yell "STOP !" 12 inches before impact. Ignore everything else they jibberjabber at you.

I hate to admit this, but I am guilty of placing a bet on how long it would take a driver to get into the campsite. It was a tight spot and a long fifth wheel.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]Leslie,

A solution to your problem: To quote from Doug Samuels' post

"The news reports that hackers can take over control of the steering. The whole truth is that it must be in a vehicle equipped with the automatic parking system, and the takeover can only occur at very slow speeds and in reverse." This from Chrysler.


Perhaps Chrysler can fit their automatic backup and parking technology to your Jeep.

[/font]

[leslie]

One can only hope!

[wuzwiz]

FWIW, my pop-up is short and so is the JEEP making for tricky parking.  I have a front mounted hitch that makes is So-o-o much easier to navigate when spotting the trailer. I really installed it for spotting all my toys in the garage but it has been so handy for the camper and the boat that I've never regretted the installation (once my shins healed up and I got smart enough to walk around it). I painted it OSHA Safety Yellow; it helped.
Wiz

[wuzwiz]

Sorry, spoke too soon.  Apparenty your pretty jeep won't allow such hardware.  Too bad, it works very well.
WIz

[pjcd]

The shorter the trailer the harder it is to back up. I always had trouble with my pop up. I just took it off the truck and used the hired help, (my sons) to push it where I wanted it. But then again my pop up was so small it made any site look big.