#55 Barstow California, Almost got stuck in the dirt, Also remember to secure that 5th wheel pin

In Wilmington right as College Road turns into Highway 40 going west there's a sign saying Barstow California 3700 miles and I’ve seen it many times. Wilmington is where I 40 ends and Barstow is where it begins. I really wish I could say nice things about it, but it was just a ghost town. I think sometime little towns just die from lack of activity. I imagine if I had been born there, I would leave at 18 and never go back either. I had found a Boondock that I intended to go to. I was some sort of fossil museum parking lot. It was getting dark by the time we got near. We took an exit and got on a service road and it appeared to me that it was going to be another 45 minutes of secondary road just to get to this boondock.

Since the whole area looked like a moonscape, I thought I can pull over anywhere and probably be fine for a night.

I remember the song in the song Horse with No Name. the first stanza goes " After two days in the desert sun my skin began to turn brown". Well, that is where we are now.

I saw some sort of construction work where I saw roughly cut roads with a big old motor grader.

I thought if I could just like back into that little hole I be off the road and out of sight out of mind and it worked out fine. The next morning, I learned the next lesson on how to always make sure the hitch pin is engaged. I certainly thought I had looked but it wasn't properly engaged. The safety clip pin keeps the camper from coming off of the fifth wheel. When we pulled on out of there and it was initially a dirt road which you know after a hundred feet turn it into a paved road. I had parked sort of rubbed up against a big old gravel berm. I had to give it a little bit of gas to get out of there to avoid getting stuck. I almost did get stuck but with wheels spinning I got to the paved part ok. I went forward and all the sudden when I was riding down the road on the paved part and the camper looked about as odd as it could be. It looked so much lower than usual and I didn't know what was going on. I stopped and went out to look and the camper had come disconnected from the fifth wheel and landed right on the truck bed cushioned by my big black Tupperware toolbox. I am grateful it to the toolbox because it kept it from smashing onto the road, but it did destroy the toolbox. There was some fiberglass damage, so I guess staying here for free wasn't exactly free considering all the damage I did to the equipment. I was able to recover but this is where I learned to always triple check and make sure the safety pin is fully engaged before leaving. I still do this every single time now before I pull out. The toolbox was so destroyed that all I could think of was just to take a rope and tie it down enough to keep it from flying off the back of the truck.