Whew! We Survived Day 1…Barely!

There are times in life when faced with challenges that “surviving to fight another day” is a noble outcome. Our first day on the road proved to be one of those days. Not that we knocked at disaster’s door or anything like that, but we did have to facesome of our fears when it comes to our new and chosen lifestyle. 

Our first day began quite smoothly with our first hook up of the fifth wheel and enjoyable drive to our nation’s Capital of Ottawa for our first night on the road. 

The drama began approaching our campground within the City. The entrance to the campground on a standard residential street consisted of a narrow gap between a row of mature trees and a large utility pole standing in the right edge of the entrance. Our first issue appeared when because of the inconspicuous nature (ok maybe not so inconspicuous) of the entrance we drove right by it and ended up on a dead end street.

My wife Martha is always up for challenges so she enjoys driving the big rig. I don’t mind driving but I’m  always happy to defer to someone else. Now our circumstances here were not a result of driver skill in fact if anything Martha’s patience and skill was key to our eventually arriving safely and intact. Anyway back to our near disaster for the day. 

So to review we find ourselves at the dead end of a residential street  driving a 51 foot long eight foot wide rig. So Martha pulls into a thankfully long driveway. With me outside providing direction, albeit confusing direction, we are able to back out onto the street with little problem other than running over a corner of the occupants front lawn. But our victory was short lived as it was after this that the real fun started when trying to make the tight turn into that narrow entrance to the campground. 

On our first attempt came a quick stop when the Fifth Wheel Trailer came precariously close to the aforementioned utility pole and the wire hanging from it with little or no room to maneuver. So we reverse direction hoping to approach it from a better angle after some correction. Our second attempt was slightly better but our nemesis the utility pole was still to close for comfort. This is when Henry Ford entered my mind and came to the rescue. Years ago I read a quote from the pioneering automaker that has saved my butt a number of times. “Failure only provides a reason to begin again intelligently” he once said. So that’s what we did. We surveyed our options backed out and approached the entrance from a different direction. Soon success was our to savour. The rest of our park set up went very smoothly except when the heavy rains and winds came later.

I have struggled with intermittent anxiety for about a decade. Everyone’s anxiety manifest itself differently and mine usually involves worrying or obsessing about little things over which I have little or no control. So during the drama upon arriving there was no anxiety as there was a sense of control.  However later while sitting inside the trailer enjoying the air conditioning on a very hot day is when my anxiety decided to kick in.  As heavy rain and high winds began, I  realized that we are in a trailer at trailer park during a storm..Oh no!.  We all know that these crazy storms seek out trailer parks to reek their havoc and destruction….. Thankfully the storm was short lived and harmless. So we happily live to fight another day with renewed confidence to continue facing our fears.