Many Americans enjoy the rugged individualism, beautiful settings and just the plain joy of camping and travel with recreational vehicles. I’ve heard it told that for boat owners, for example, the happiest days of their lives is the day they buy their boat, and again when they sell it. RVing is not that way. Most people I know want more and they are sad when it comes time to give it up. It’s like no other feeling, unique in the things seen, experienced and the interesting people met. For Chris, Service Dog Charlie and I, RVing is an adventurous escape from the day to day barrage of life, the 24 hour news cycle and the chaos of our surrounding world. All fine and dandy, except for the onerous “two-hour” rule.
We started out with a short trip to the Bentonville, Va entrance of the Shenandoah River State Park. It was a beautiful fall morning and we hiked the three-mile trail through the forest, up and down the scenic hills and along the Shenandoah River. It was great catching the warm rays of the sun, the majestic beauty of the Park, and hearing the rushing water of the river after severe storms the days before. The path on the high ground was dry, but closer to the river we could see where flooding had occurred. By the time we got back to the RV, we had worked up an appetite. We decided to drive into Front Royal and grab a bite to eat at the Main Street Mill restaurant.
As we pulled up to the Mill there was a parallel parking spot right alongside the restaurant. Well, a great thing for me, I thought. I had parallel parked this 25 ft RV in many places, including busy Salem, Ma. I loved the challenge. Pulled up and backed that RV right into its space, less than six inches from the curb. No problem. We locked up and went in for lunch. After a great hike and pleasant lunch, we decided to drive out and check in at Low Water Bridge Campground about ten miles away. Loaded up, I looked in the mirror, switched on the turn signal and began to pull out. And herein is the two-hour rule that one of my Irish philosopher friends swore by: You can be happy for only two hours before something bad will happen. This, along with other axioms like: No good deed goes unpunished. He was generally a realistic optimist. Ha!
We heard this awful grinding sound and vibration against the back right side of the RV. Chris and I looked at each other like “What the heck was that?” Service Dog Charlie jumped into Chris’ lap for protection. I stopped the RV. A man in a pick up truck pulled alongside and said that we had scraped a light pole. What? Indeed, the city had installed a concrete light pole really close to the curb. I hadn’t seen it. And the angle that I pulled out was too sharp. No damage to the pole. But after two insurance adjusters and a 320-mile drive to General RV in Canton, Ohio, it was determined the damage to the RV was a little over $6,500 on a $750 deductible policy. Two-hour rule. Just saying.
