The ‘Impact’ of Parking (The Rolling Stone) – Fibromyalgia Warrior

We own a Keystone Impact 359. This is a 5th Wheel Toy Hauler named Rolling Stone. It is 39′ long, approximately 13,000 pounds at the dry weight. We pull the Rolling Stone with a Chevy Silverado 3500 diesel. It is a lot to handle!

Driving down the road with this massive 5th Wheel hitched to the back of our truck was (at first) a bit unnerving! You are literally pulling your home behind you! But this just didn’t compare to the first time we were backing this beast into an RV camping spot. I thought I was going to lose my damned mind!

We left Minnesota on Friday, October 26th, around nine PM. We drove, stopping at a couple of rest stops along the way to sleep until we arrived 800 miles south in Branson, Missouri, around seven PM on Monday, October 28th.

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Recommendation for new RVer: Do not travel more than six hours a day. This would be the sum of about 400 miles and two, reasonable rest stops per day. It is very stressful starting out! You are towing a monster. Take it slow. If you rush, there will be accidents. This isn’t a race!

The hubby and I have experience with bigger rigs. He drove a truck, I drove a school bus. Both of us have first-hand knowledge of towing a trailer behind your vehicle. We know when backing up a trailer if you want it to go left, turn your wheels to the right. When backing up to the left, turn the wheels to the right. It doesn’t seem that difficult! But oh man, it is!!! Two Type-A personalities trying to back into a 42′ spot with a 39′ camper in the dark. Why did I think that would go smoothly?

We eventually got it parked, decided we would not be divorcing, and vowed to never repeat THAT behavior!

There is a thing about directions too, what I hear and my hubby thinks I hear are entirely two different things. When we arrived in South Texas about 950 miles from our last stop in Branson, I am happy to report the backing in is going much more smoothly! I called for park directions to our site, the hubby looked at the site map… I should have put my phone on speaker… not cool to argue about camping sites.

Recommendation for RVers: When getting directions to your site over the phone, put the phone on speaker, so you and your co-piolet hear the same instructions!

I think the bottom line is to relax! The Rolling Stone is big. We are newbies. Everything is a new experience! We have to continue to talk with each other and not at each other. We are working on this… after all, it’s him and me against the world right now. When we forget that, nothing goes well.