Getting Out — Part 2

Our group made the decision that we would all get pulled out. Now was the time for it to happen. I was hoping for the best. Now it was our team's turn to be pulled out. With his motorhome being closest to the exit road, Kevin would go first.

Tina and Kevin were first to get their motorhome pulled out

The rules were that the owner of each rig would connect a chain to their motorhome's trailer hitch. This was to separate the FMCA and the fairgrounds from any liability. Kevin attached the chain to the hitch on his rig. He was told to use reverse gear to help the tractor. It seemed to go too easy; Kevin was out on the paved road in a few minutes.

Tom connects the chain to his motorhome

Tom and Nora's motorhome leave deep ruts behind

Next it was Tom's turn. It took the tractor a bit of extra effort to extract Tom's RV. However, in just a few minutes Tom was up on the pavement. Unfortunately there was a surprise problem. Just as Tom's RV was up on the road, an impatient golf cart driver tried to sneak by Tom. In the process, the golf cart hit the right rear corner of Tom's motorhome. When Tom tried to maneuver his motorhome to get free of the golf cart, he backed into the chain connected between his motorhome and the tractor. This caused some damage to the fiberglass. The golf cart was now free and the driver drove away and fled into the crowd. It was a case of hit-and-run.

Tom's view while motorhome is towed backwards — photo by Tom

Needless to say, there were a lot of photos taken of the mud extraction activities. A small crowd had gathered by the time it was my turn to be pulled out. Our motorhome was located on the softest soil among our trio of RVs. I also had a troublesome situation in that there was a car stuck in the mud next to our motorhome. This meant that I would have only about 18 inches of space to maneuver.

Now it was our turn to be pulled out into this mess

I had to borrow Kevin's trailer hitch as I didn't have one with me. I connected the tow-chain to the trailer hitch in the same way the others before me did. So, now the pull began. My RV hardly moved as it began to sink deeper into the thick, gooey mud. It was close as I pressed the accelerator and turned the steering wheel slightly, the left front corner of our RV began to move toward the car next to us.

Maury connecting chain to trailer hitch

The rear wheels of our rig began to spin, so I let up on the accelerator. Then I found that as I pumped the pedal gently, enough pressure was relieved so that the tractor was able to move me back a few inches at a time. The progress was slow, but I thought it was going to be to no avail as our motorhome moved closer and closer to the parked car.

Working hard to get our motorhome out of the mud

Just as I thought a collision was about to happen, our RV cleared the car with less than six inches between the two vehicles. Just as I was feeling a small victory, the wheels began to sink deeper. The tractor struggled with no movement. I overheard talk that I would have to be left in the mud. The tractor driver decided to try pulling from a slightly different direction while pulling up on the trailer hitch. This action relieved some of the weight from the rear wheels.

By this time the bottom edges of the cargo doors, on the driver's side, were dragging on the grass. Our RV was in the mud up to its axles. Just when I thought all was lost, the motorhome began to move. Then it moved faster and faster until I found that I was on the muddy road. The mud was like soup and the ridges between the ruts were almost two feet high in some places.

It wasn't looking good for our rig

I heard cheers from the crowd of onlookers as I was backing down the road. Then I heard from several directions, "Stop, stop, STOP." I hit the brakes. Another cheer went up. It seems that in the excitement, I still had my foot on the accelerator pedal and I nearly ran into the tractor that pulled our motorhome out of the mud. Now I would allow the tractor to provide most of the power to get me up on the paved road. Once on the road, it was easy to get the motorhome out of the way of the efforts to get others out of the quagmire.

Our motorhome is almost back on the paved road

The crowd broke into applause as Kay began walking to our car. The tractor driver did a really great job of extracting our trio of motorhomes from the muck. All of the rigs of our group will be in photo albums of a lot of people we never got to know. It was a nerve-racking experience, but it is a shared memory and a great story.

Looking back at the campsites our group left behind

As I drove away from the field of mud, I could hear great gobs of goop flying off of the tires. Kay was following behind in our car and she said that big chunks of gooey mud were dropping from under our RV as I drove. Our caravan regrouped at the FMCA holding area where our towed vehicles were connected. Kevin had to wait for me to return the trailer hitch I borrowed from him before he could hook up his toad. I made a quick check for damage and found none.

It felt good to be driving on solid ground again

It wasn't long until we were on our way to Pratt, Kansas for our first stop for the night. We were leaving the FMCA convention a day earlier than planned. Originally Kay and I had planned to spend Thursday evening with her family in Wichita with the original plan for our group to leave Hutchinson on Friday. From our campground in Pratt, we ended up driving 85 miles to visit with Kay's family. Our trip to Wichita and back took us directly through severe thunderstorms and rain. It was very exciting. I loved it.

Kay and I had an exciting end to a very exciting day. With the rain and mud, some time will need to pass before we can consider this another RV Fun Trip. However, it has been a very interesting and memorable trip.

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