Turn, Turn, Turn...

   Suzanne had a business call at noon so we wanted to be at our next location by 11:00 am. Monday evening I had made a reservation at Palestine Lake RV Park in Chandler, Texas - a 245 mile drive from Hot Springs.  We readied the coach for an early morning departure before going to bed and set the alarm for 6:00 am. We were ready to roll at 7:00 am.

   We didn't arrive in Chandler until 11:45 but Suzanne's call ended up being postponed until 1:30 so we were okay.  Our entry into the park driveway was a little dicey. We entered town from the east on route 31, a small highway with two lanes in each direction divided by a narrow, grassy median strip.     As luck would have it the RV park was on the opposite (east bound) side of the highway.  A small section of the median strip at that point was paved... badly and unevenly... but paved.  I swung as widely as I could to the right and then cut the wheel as far to the left as I could.  As I began crossing the two east bound lanes it became apparent that I didn't have enough room and the turning radius of the coach wasn't quite up to the task. The right front wheel was going to go into a drainage ditch to the right of the driveway.  I had done everything right up to this point (well, kind of). There was no way for me to have made the turn any tighter. I should have bypassed the RV park and looked for a way to turn around further up the road.
    Hindsight.
 
    We tow our car '4 down' meaning all four tires are on the ground. When you tow a car on or in a trailer you have the luxury of being able to back up.  The geometry of '4 down' towing apparatus however, doesn't allow that.  If you attempt to back up, even a little,  the tow bars go all wanky, the wheels on the car turn hard to one side or the other - things just get generally messed up.  I only needed about 12 more inches to make the turn. There was east-bound traffic rapidly approaching and  nowhere to go ... or hide. I was committed.  My options were to park the coach across the east bound lanes, get out and disconnect the car - a task not easily accomplished when the car is at a sharp angle to the coach ... or... try backing up a foot and see what happens. I opted for the latter. As I expected (and could see in my mirror) the car went all kerflooey but I figured it would straighten up once I started forward. It did, and the extra 12" gave me just enough room to complete the turn into Palestine Lake RV Park.  I've done dumb things while driving the coach in the past and will probably continue to make the occasional questionable decision.  My hope is that each foul-up is a learning experience and that  m a y b e  I won't repeat the same mistake twice.  Having said that, the turning radius thing has gotten me into trouble a couple of times.

     We subscribe to Passport America. There are 800-some-odd participating campgrounds across North America offering PA card holders up to 50% off camping fees. Some are quite nice and others...not so nice. We've stayed at several participating RV parks and so far Suzanne has refused to stay at only one.  Palestine Lake offers a 50% discount to PA members.  It's a new facility, reasonably priced and well maintained but not at all big rig friendly.  There was barely enough room for me to maneuver onto the too narrow concrete pad and we had to park the car in the site across from ours to ensure I would have enough room for the 3-point coach turn I knew I would have to perform the next morning in order to escape.
    There was a very nice Brookfield grocery store about a mile further up rt. 31 where we spent a couple hundred dollars restocking our cupboards. We also found a nice little Christmas tree for the coach...

   Left over pot roast, a bottle of Cabernet and Patrick Stewart's interpretation of Ebeneezer Scrooge capped off the night.

Tomorrow we're off to Austin.