The FIRST Time


BY MARION GILHAM


We are the proud owners of a Wildness 27 foot 5th


wheel. We now have


thousands of miles under our wheels and have travelled through the US and Canada. We even saw the wonders of Yellowstone. We have many fond memories but the one that stands out was our first time we took the 5th


wheel


out. Tat still causes me to smile. Kim and I had never, ever had anything to do with trailers, 5th


wheels,


motorhomes – not even a tent trailer. We were very inexperienced but knew that when we retired we wanted to travel and see the country. My parents purchased their motorhome before they retired and had it paid off so that they would not have any payments at retirement. I thought this was great and since we had a ¾ ton GMC truck we figured that the biggest item was already purchased. On to the hunt and aſter a long and hard time we found a used 5th


wheel at Kustom


Koach in Aldergrove. Not too small and not too big. Tey gave us a guided tour of the unit, but I can’t say that I was paying much attention as I was so excited I only wanted to get “our” 5th


wheel home and


start packing for the first trip. Kim had never backed up anything


before so to put it in our backyard was a problem. Aſter many tries our neighbour, a retired truck driver, gave up on watching him and backed it into the yard himself. Denny said that he would take Kim out for some lessons in backing out. Tank goodness for him. Te language around the neighbour was getting very blue and this brought to our attention that a pair of radios would come in very handy and maybe save our marriage.


Our first trip was going to be close to home. We headed for the Fort Campground


in Fort Langley. I kept asking Kim if he had read the book and he said that he would do that at the campsite. Te day of the trip came. I had reserved the site and because I was working just down the street from there I told Kim I would meet him at the site. When I got there he was sitting at the picnic table – beer in hand – and every towel we had in the 5th


into the site OK – only took five times to get it right – leveled the 5th


wheel was on the trees around the campsite. Kim had backed up wheel - plugged


in the electric – hooked up and turned on the water – and figured that he was doing alright. He sat down at the picnic table with a beer in his hand feeling very proud of himself when he looked over at the 5th


Rushing in he found that the plug for the bathroom had fallen in and plugged the sink – figures - and the last person who used the 5th


wheel. Just as he


was telling me this, a truck with a camper drove by on the road and looked at the site number Kim was in and said, “Hey, you are in my site!” Aſter some very bad words Kim and Doug (we got quite friendly with them)


decided that the spot that I had reserved was the better spot so he took that spot. I think if Kim had been made to move at that point we would have gone home. Anyway, the water was mopped up and the beer was in the cooler. As I sat down I asked him why it was not in the fridge and was told that the fridge wasn’t working yet – he hadn’t figured it out yet but would if given time. It was a very hot day so Kim turned on the air conditioner. Aſter about 15 minutes


of trying to figure out why the unit’s electricals weren’t working anymore, we found out that you can’t use an air conditioner that is a 30-amp with a 15-amp service. Not only did we blow out the breaker for our unit we blew out the breaker that fed the units down the line! Everyone was looking to see what happened. We had to get the Manager who showed us where the breaker box was (this was before they upgraded the campsite) and also showed us how to reset it if it ever happened again. With another beer in hand and this time getting the fan out, we both sat down to


discuss the problem with the fridge. I – myself – a woman – got out the book and sat down to read it. “It says to open the panel at the back of the fridge and adjust the little knob.” Kim, in the 5th


adjust the knob? Seems silly to do that each time.” Meanwhile I was looking at the side of the 5th


wheel looking at the fridge, said, “How do I pull the fridge out to wheel shaking my head as I was looking at the panel on the outside


that I was sure connected to the back of the fridge. Aſter much discussion the fridge works wonderful – kept the beer cold for you know whom. Anyway, as the day and night were beautifu,l we didn’t use any lights in the 5th


wheel and cooked outside on the campstove. We might have an RV now but we are still campers at heart. When we went into our “Rig” to go to bed we found the lights didn’t work. I calmly said to Kim – with just a bit of sarcasm in my voice, “Did you do anything to the lights?” Aſter I heard a lot of mumbling and the air being “blue” again I figured it was better to get out the flashlight and use that. Tomorrow would bring another day. When tomorrow arrived I was bound and determined to see why the power wasn’t


working so the first thing I checked was to make sure that everyone else was up and running, which they were. Checked the breaker box – that was OK then finally I looked at the connection that hooks the plug from the 5th


wheel to the hook-up


wheel to see water pouring out of the door. wheel had leſt the tap in the sink


in the ON position. When he had turned on the water, the sink filled and ran down the front of the sink, down the stairs, into the kitchen, and out the door. He mopped up the floor and had used every towel/tea towel/facecloth in the 5th


22 RVT 151• JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013


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