You Can Back It Up
We moved from Santee, CA to Yuma, AZ today. The first half of the drive was climbing up to 4100 feet then coasting down to sea level! I didn't realize that the very southern part of CA was so mountainous. The second half was through the flat food basket of SoCal where irrigation brings in four or five crops of veggies a season.
We arrived in Yuma about 2 PM and as usual looked for a gas station to fill up. There's a Chevron on the left. Is there enough room for us? What's the best way in? Well, let's give it a try. Ooops! Damn!
We didn't turn wide enough so the rear wheel of the motorhome went up on a curb and of course the car followed. It wouldn't have been too bad except the curb fell off on the outside so here's the car with both right wheels up on a 6 in. curb. If we continued on through the station the wheels would have fallen down on the right and lord knows what would have happened to the underside of the car.
We tried to unhook but the car was so angled that it was impossible. The only thing to do was to back up and hope the car would just reverse course. How many times we've read that YOU CANNOT BACK UP A TOAD!! Well, walkie-talkies in hand, I guided Jim back, inch by inch, until the car wheels fell back to the left of the curb and on the pavement. It was probably about 2 feet but it seemed like a block. Mind you, all this is happening in a busy gas station, right beside the pumps and I'm standing in the middle of incoming traffic to prevent cars from getting in the way of our operation!
Once the car was on level ground we finished unhooking...I should say Jim aka Hercules unhooked using brute force, a mallet and a steel rod. The "toad" does not like to be unhooked unless it's perfectly flat and perfectly aligned with the motorhome.
When it was all over, we were parked and having a beer, I said to Hercules...you're my hero, you're so strong and tough! Well, says he, what else could I do? It HAD to come off!