#99 Got stuck in the dirt near Naples, abort mission, alternative landing site Walmart Parking lot

It wasn't quite this bad but I couldn't find my actual picture of our truck that day

We found a boondock place near Naples which is an equestrian recreation area. They have water for horse troughs and huge areas with solar power. No real facilities As we left Wauchula I remember not being clear on whether there was water there. It said they had non-potable water and such so I thought that meant that we needed to get water on the way.

I knew the RV is overweight based on the scales back in Wilmington. We're well over a thousand pounds over. I have tried to go down the road light by not having water or sewer in the tanks. If you got a full load of water that's about 550 pounds and if you're foolish enough to be loaded with sewage that’s another 500 pounds.

We went down the road with only 5% water and I figured I'd get some right before the boondock.

As we got closer to leaving civilization I was running out of chances to pull over and get our water tank full. I saw a construction site on the right and I thought to myself they always have a water source for mixing concrete and such. I'll just go in there and get some of their water from a hose spigot and it'll be great. I took the right turn. Keep in mind I'm going down the road I know nothing about. I do it anyway as I passed by the corner with its earthmoving equipment I don't see any water spigot. so I decide to go down the road a bit further to find a nice driveway to turn around. I went down the road for maybe a half-mile or so and all of the road's driveways for kind of tiny and residential and just not that inviting. I kept hoping for a bigger wider one and then all of the sudden there was a sign that said road ends ahead and that's not good.

Now I have to be less picky. Finally, I saw what looks like an infrastructure-type metering valve sort of utility area. The driveway is long and concrete and I thought this is it. I pulled in there and the camper's right rear wheel was a little more off the driveway than on. I know if I wasn't careful my RV is going to be in a ditch.

I pulled forward to back up a little bit but there wasn't much I could do to get this to get better. I kept on wiggling around and now the front wheels of the truck are in the dirt. The truck is nearly stuck in the dirt all I could think of was maybe to disconnect from the RV. I would try to reconnect it at a better angle. This seemed like the best idea. While I was finding the better angle, the rear wheels got stuck in loose sand. At some point, a neighbor came by said having trouble aren't you and I said I am. He offered to help me and I appreciated it. I used all my rocking back and forth knowledge and it wasn't doing any good. Then another neighbor came by with a 4-wheel drive and she was willing to help. It broke loose but as I leaped out of the hole the truck was too close to the RV and I gouged a hole in the side of my fender about 3 feet long.

Will all of the stuff that we did was probably two to three hours and eventually, I got the truck unstuck. I was able to hook the RV with a rope from the truck to the fifth wheel and pulled the camper around at a 90-degree angle. I was able to pivot it until the rear wheel was back on the driveway all the way straight. Next, I went to the back of the RV and tied it with rope, and pulled it out into the road a bit so that I could get the truck in front of it. Remember the landing gear is down under the front of the rig. If I pull from the rear, they might scrape the driveway or dig in or break. I placed some plywood under them and loaded it with dawn dish liquid to make it slide well by reducing friction. I was still planning on backing it up and it looked like a challenge. India said why don’t we consider just going forward out the driveway down the way. One of the guys helping said wow that's a pretty good idea. Finally, I'm back on the road heading the right way and we were thrilled that we were out of this.

I don't even think I got anybody name but here's a picture of us all right after we succeeded and where are some pretty happy campers