THIS ONE HAS NO PICTURES and its long:

Like in all our day to day, you really are always waring against the unexpected.  Some things can be exciting surprises and some not so much. On the road, no matter how much planning and checking and double-checking things can still happen. A detour, unexpected construction and perhaps a 10-foot-high single lane bridge presenting itself in the distance when your motorhome is 13 feet high.  And for those unfamiliar, when you have a motorhome and you are towing a car behind you, you cannot back up in any circumstance.   Luckily for us, we averted this disaster by making a quick decision to pull into a farmer’s driveway just ahead of the bridge.   A few more yards and we would have been in a pickle for sure.   And as luck would have it yet again, apparently the people were not home.  Only the chickens apparently.  We thanked our angels for watching over us and proceeded to unhitch the jeep.  This would then allow us to back up and turn around in the very narrow road.  I drove the jeep and backed into the road to hold off any oncoming traffic, while on the phone coaching Kev as to his backing up of our 38-foot giant.

With the road so narrow and a ditch on each side it was critical that the rear tires stay on the road. Kevin, as usual, did great and we were on our way back to safety to regroup at a near-by gas station we had passed on our way.  Once there, we decided to just contact the campground to see where the directions went wrong.  We literally were right around the corner from them and if had just not turned on the one road we would have been good.  Decided to gas up while there and then hit the road for the remaining easy journey.  Getting lost is not easy with a large motorhome so it must be avoided at all costs.  We do a triple check system of 2 sets of directions from various sources and consult our atlas, so for the most part we are great.  And then, the detour comes up because of paving of roads.  This will mess us up especially in a somewhat residential area.  AND…it did.  Even with confirming awesome directions from our friends, we missed a turn and we now were on a mystery road with limited options to turn around safely.  We need a large turning radius and an open space to not again unhitch.   With me trying to check all our navigational options and communicating with our friend as to where we were and what to do, Kev saw and option of a large dirt parking lot.  He made his split decision that this was our option to get turned around he went for it.  Negotiating the wide turn, he realized he was not making the tail swing on the back end between 2 triangular wooden fence posts.  And then it happened.  Already committed and no way to back up we had to proceed. I could see in my passenger mirror that we were gently but hitting the fence, and it was taking us on all along the side of the motorhome. And, of course, the jeep in tow was following the same route, but was spared.   You have no idea how disheartening this situation is and having nothing else to do but proceed. Kevin was so upset. But as we know, this is part of the things that can happen and it could have been far worse.  We got out to look and it was not too bad but was still a very large scrap down about 2/3 of the lower side.  But we felt it could be mostly buffed out by hand and we were glad it was not more than cosmetic. However, this isn’t the end of this POST.  On the posts themselves, which apparently survived quite well, had signs that said “absolutely NO EXIT.”   And we also knew we could not risk trying that narrow passage yet again. We could only see this weird other road leading into the woods. Kev checked it out and decided we had only that option.  There was a steep dip over a small cracked cement “bridge” (which I use that term lightly) to a dirt and grass road through some low trees and a high stump.  We decided we could do this and got in the camper and started our way out.  Kev knew he needed to proceed with caution but somewhat quickly over this “bridge” and pray that the jeep would not get hung up.  Motorhome, safely over…..jeep following….and with some weird sounds along the way we made it and didn’t look back.  Even conquered the tree stump.  I think other than finding our way back, which was familiar this direction, we didn’t say much. I think we just needed time to process and just be glad we were all safe and that things can always be worse.  Our angels unquestionably had their hands full those days.