Effingham, IL – Numerous forum posts indicated RVers were welcome to stay for free at Flying J truck stops. What they don’t tell you is the space allocated for RVers is very small and typically very crowded; crowded not just by RVs, but also by every other form of vehicular conveyance. This particular Flying J never seems to have parking available in the RV designated area. On two other cross country trips we attempted to stop here for lunch and fuel, but could not find parking.
In any case, on the night we stayed here,we carved out a small slot for our 32′ MH and Jeep toad and turned in for the night. Around midnight another RV pulled in next to us and after a reasonable 10-15 minutes of idling, turned everything off and it was blissfully quit. Then they fired up the generator: the loud, diesel moan reverberated through our unit and our ears. I thought to myself, “it’s perfectly pleasant outside, perhaps they just need a top off on the batteries”. Alas, the drone persisted through the night, and my dreams turned foul.
Upon awakening, we discovered a number of things that were less than ideal: 1) They extended their slides, all four of them; 2) they have a 40’+ MH towing a huge trailer and 3) they somehow managed to maneuver their rig, using all articulation in the tow hitch possible, in a semi-circle like fashion around us — an embrace of neighborly hate from which escape would not be easy. We’ve unhooked our toad exactly 0 times at this point, and attached it only once. In what would soon become a shortsighted move, I hastily attempted extrication by simply driving out. After a few feet of forward movement with a hard turn away from the fiasco, I was stymied by the short distance to a cement median.
It was at this juncture I remembered reading you absolutely, 100% cannot backup up with your toad attached. Ok, so now unhooking is a necessity. Here is where I learned a very important lesson: always drive nice and straight before attempting to unhook, lest you bind the pins that need to be removed to free the tow car. The situation is now comical I suppose. Neither forward nor rearward movement is possible, I can’t unhook the tow car and the hulking behemoth of a quad-slide RV still has us encircled.
We finally resorted to the favorite tool of solving delicate situations with a big stick: the hammer. Throw in a screwdriver to push the pins fully out and we’re finally free! After moving the tow car, creeping the RV out of its entanglement, and rehooking, the owner of the other RV emerges, and, without saying a word, proceeds to pull a Dodge Caravan out of his trailer and drive off. Just as happy as you please. Thanks pal.
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