Storing the Moose

It's been a long time since we've stored a moose.

We took our original Bullwinkle out of storage four years ago tomorrow.  One of the things I remember celebrating that day was that we no longer had to squeeze our wide body moose into that skinny little spot. We haven't missed it a bit!

Well, in four years, our moose got bigger. And, apparently, storage spots have become even skinnier. (It couldn't possibly be that we are out of practice!)

Our big moose has spent the last month at Cummins Coach Care for some general maintenance and fixin' up. When we dropped him off there we told them to take their time, as we - for once - were in no hurry. At the start of Summer, Cummins can be a busy place. Between that, and waiting on the Winnebago to send a correct part, this service appointment took awhile. When we got the call last week that the moose was ready to roll, we scheduled to pick him up yesterday afternoon.

We have really missed him! Even though we've been too busy settling in to go anywhere, we were a bit bummed knowing we couldn't because Bullwinkle was away. One of the advantages of becoming Anytime RVers is enjoying the "best of both worlds". We've been so wrapped up in the fixed house world, we are eager for at least a short trip to the other world. Soon. Very soon!

When we arrived at Cummins mid-afternoon, our moose was sitting out front waiting for us. We paid the bill, hooked the squirrel to the moose and made our maiden voyage to Bullwinkle's new storage spot.

The less-than-an-hour drive was a wonderful flashback. It was mostly city driving, which we really try to avoid, but it felt great to be looking at the world through that big Imax window. It's quite a ride.

As tempted as we were to swing by the house, pick up the cats and keep on driving, we kept on course and faced the moment of truth. Paul piloted the moose and squirrel through the skinny little entrance gate with ease. Once inside the storage facility, he had plenty of room to maneuver Bullwinkle around his new neighborhood and find a spot to unhook.

While Paul was separating the squirrel from the moose, I surveyed our storage spot. It was as skinny as I remembered! There's a large boat on one side and a wall on the other. The wall is supported by three or four posts that sit on large concrete blocks that would make mincemeat of fiberglass in a hurry. These menacing blocks and the big boat were separated by barely 10 feet of empty space. Unlike the angled storage spot we moved out of four years ago, this one requires a sharp 90-degree turn to enter.

In travel mode, our moose is 8.5 feet wide, not including mirrors. At 40 feet long, he doesn't exactly turn on a dime.

Therein lies our parking challenge!

We sussed out the situation. Every coach in the place was parked "nose in", so we decided to follow our neighbors' lead. This would take teamwork and patience. Thankfully, we have plenty of both.

We have parked our moose a couple hundred times. It took every bit of experience we have acquired over the course of those successful landings to dock our great big Winnie into that skinny spot. Paul sat calmly and patiently behind the wheel while I broke out into a cold sweat as I simultaneously provided moment-by-moment directions and kept an eye on all eight corners of the coach, the mirrors, the concrete blocks, the beams, and the neighboring boat. (That's a lot to keep track of!) Paul followed my instructions to the letter. An early miscalculation on my part (Starting the turn too soon.) kept compounding through the process.  As a result we came damn close to hitting everything. We had to back up and get repositioned five or six times, but eventually the nose of the moose was inches from the back wall. We were just between the lines and had enough room to open the door. Most importantly, no fiberglass was damaged in the process.

Whew!

We went through the long-since-forgotten process of putting the moose to bed. When we flipped the battery disconnect switches we realized that was likely the first time we'd done that. It's a good thing they worked! We pulled the front curtain and locked the door behind us. After three-and-a-half years of being out in the elements, Bullwinkle is safely under cover. Our trusty moose has earned a well-deserved rest.

He'd better rest up fast! We'll be back soon to get him back on the road. A family wedding is just around the corner. It'll be great to have our rolling home with us for that celebration as we enjoy our first trip as Anytime RVers. Eventually, we'll find ourselves back at the storage spot.

I'm already dreading it.

We've done it once. So, we can do it again. And, we know it will get easier in time. For starters, we'll start the turn later. And, Paul is thinking maybe we can back in next time.

Uh. We'll see about that.