Thursday, April 9, 2009

An Angel in Disguise

We're traveling the country in a 24-foot Navion motor home, towing a Saturn Vue.

It's not always easy.

Sometimes it's impossible.

Like right now.

We stop to eat in Needles, CA, near where Snoopy's brother Spike lived and  where cartoonist Charles Schulz lived, briefly, as a child.  On a more serious note, Needles is where comedian Sam Kinison died in a car crash in 1992. And, it's been featured in a book ("Grapes of Wrath"), a song (Three Dog Night's "Never Been To Spain"), and a video game (Wasteland).

The parking lot at Denny's looks too small to accommodate us (the Navion plus the Vue).

So we drive past the entrance to the next lot at the Motel 6.

We'll fit comfortably in the big, square gravel lot behind the building. Only Allen aims for the front of the building not the rear. As he inches toward the back of the front lot, I see there's no room to turn around. And, we can't back up. We can't back up while towing the Vue. Oh no. We're stuck.

So, I figure Allen'll just stop and I'll hop out, unhook the car, back up, pull around and, voila, we're ready to eat.

But. No.

He keeps inching forward, cranking the wheel as far to the left as it will go, trying to turn around on a dime while piloting a train.  I foresee us heading straight into one of the hotel rooms after taking off a portion of the motor home's roof.

"Can I make it?" he turns to me and asks.

Is he kidding? Make it where? Into room 106? Sure! Back into the open lot? NO!

"No, you can't make it," I say, far less calmly than I feel.

"Look again," he says, as he CONTINUES TO INCH FORWARD, STRAIGHT FOR THE PLATE GLASS WINDOW!!! Is he serious?

"NO YOU CAN'T MAKE IT!" I am no longer calm.  In fact, I have one hand on the dash and the other on the roof over my head. "I'll get out and prove it."

I hop out and I see the top right corner of the motor home nearly kissing  the hotel's overhang and the motor home itself  straddling a concrete parking curb.

"YOU CANNOT MAKE IT!" I insist.

"Are you sure?"

AM I SURE????

"Look again," he says, so calmly.

I am, clearly, losing it.

From out of nowhere, a man appears. He's wearing overalls, and has odd spurts of facial hair.

"Just keep on to the left," the man and Allen connect. BOTH of them are under some grand illusion that the motel will magically bend out of the motor home's way. Well, at least it won't be MY FAULT when something comes crashing down.

I turn my back and walk away.

I wait. I hear no crash. I turn to look.

Wow.

He made it.

I am humiliated (but A LOT relieved).

1 comment:

Linda Sand said...

Two of my least favorite things: 1. getting our RV in places so tight it is scary and 2. having Dave ask my opinion then ignoring it then being right!