Backing shouldn't be this difficult

By Jim and Pam Andress: The procedure that I am going to address in this column seems extremely simple yet in life it is very difficult for an RV owner.

We had a 40-foot RV with a back-up camera and supporting mirrors all designed for one purpose and that was to move backward without hitting an obstruction. It was also designed so we would arrive at our campsite in one piece without doing damage to the RV, or the surrounding forest and nature, and man-made obstacles.

We found that in some instances this was a very difficult task to accomplish. In order to save our marriage we had to learn backing-in directions that we both understood and could use when moving into our campsite. We became so traumatized by this experience we would try to find RV parks that had pull-through sites so all we had to do was pull into the RV site and exit straight forward.

When we did back up we had to be very observant and kept an eye out for overhanging tree branches, picnic tables, utility poles, boulders and trees, campfire pits and cooking grates, and most of all, other campers trying to help. The other thing the RV driver has to address is how to avoid blocking other traffic moving through the park as their RV is maneuvered into their RV site.

This is frequently accomplished with the additional pressure of trying to avoid stares and honking horns. At times a crowd would form with nothing better to do than watch our mistakes and give advice or laugh with Pam and me trying to get into our RV site. This becomes very tense and aggravating. In order to complete this task with minimal aggravation, Pam and I had to devise mutual hand signals to complete the chore.

In order to see these hand signals, the signaler has to stand where he or she can be seen by the driver in the side mirrors. Sounds easy to do but for some reason it is very difficult for Pam and me to achieve. I keep on telling Pam that if she can see the mirror then I can see her give the directions or hand signals.

Pam reminded me of Tigger the cartoon character bouncing around from side to side trying to keep our RV safe from obstructions. The problem was I could not find her in the backup mirrors because she was moving around so much from side to side that we had to devise a different plan.

We had designed hand signals that we both could understand such as two hands beckoning signal for "keep coming back"; a right hand signal for turn right and left hand signal for turn left. And the all-important panic signal: a dramatic thrust of hand up and palm open toward the driver meaning "For God's sake, stop." We also had the thumbs up signal by the driver meaning everything is cool. We found that too many hand signals confused us so we adopted the keep it simple, stupid, rule.

After all this, we decided we didn't like the hand signal method exclusively. As an alternate, we decided to try and use the CB with me in the cab using the base unit and Pam using a hand-held unit behind the RV. Once again we had to set up ground rules and verbal signals to accomplish this treacherous backing up chore. While the CB worked well, the problem was we started getting interference from other CB users.

What to do now?

I decided to get walkie-talkies and we selected a seldom-used channel to eliminate interference from people listening in on our conversation. This worked pretty well as we had direct communication with each other though, on occasion, when I was told to go left and went right we had a new problem.

We now have a newer RV that is six feet shorter. It has a back-up camera and a microphone built into the back of the RV so all Pam has to do is give her directions into the microphone and smile for the camera as I listen to her directions and navigate the RV into the campsite with ease and confidence.

This solved the prior problem, right? Now guess what happened? We have an RV storage space and one day we were storing the RV. Pam was in the back giving great directions. Everything was going grand when suddenly I heard Pam's voice in a panic mode yell STOP which I did. I couldn't figure out what was wrong because all I could hear was Pam laughing.

I turned the RV off and went to investigate and found Pam pinned between the back wall of the storage unit and the RV. To make matters worse on each side was a chain link fence corralling Pam so she couldn't free herself until I moved the RV forward creating space. Luckily she was not hurt and later we both had a good laugh at this near disaster.

There are so many adventures when traveling or camping with an RV that each day we are introduced to new problems and we find the whole experience exciting and fulfilling as we solve these bumps in the road during our Great Trek Across America. 'Till the next Hobo-Highlights, keep on trekkin!