Day 19 of our journey finds us in Robertsdale, Alabama for a one-night stopover on the way to 3 nights in New Orleans.

On a side note and unfortunately, the Ohio State Buckeyes lost their bid to be the 2020 college football national champions. To lose to the Alabama Crimson Tide is no cause for shame and being the #2 college football team in the country is certainly cause for celebration.

Back to the journey… At the recommendation of RV veterans, we try to limit our travel days to about 250 miles. Primarily that’s because pulling an 11,000-pound trailer is stressful and, incidentally, 250 miles is about one tank of gas (30 gallons). Yes, we’re getting about 8 miles to the gallon 😐 Robertsdale is 290 miles from Live Oak, FL and our next destination, Slidell, Louisiana (New Orleans) and thus a convenient stopover. We got a level pull-through site and did not need to level the trailer (Diggs) or un-hitch the truck (Tuggs).

We thought you might be interested in the process of arriving at an RV site and setting up Diggs for use. It takes an hour or so depending on the type and levelness of the site. RV’ers try to arrive early enough to have a couple of hours of daylight to make the arrival process go easier. There are primarily two types of RV sites: back-in, and pull-through. And those sites can either be paved (concrete or blacktop) or “natural” (dirt or sand). Pull-throughs are much easier to navigate but are often less scenic & private. Back-ins require some skill in backing the trailer and a spotter who can make sure the truck and trailer avoid the dreaded sound of hitting an obstacle. Obstacles can include trees, overhanging branches, electric and water supply poles, fire pits, and picnic tables.

To facilitate arrival we have a pair of two-way radios, one for Me in Tuggs and one for She (the Spotter). We also use arrival & departure checklists which She oversees.

Tuggs / Diggs Arrival Process

• Stop by the RV park office to sign in, get the site number, and map.
• Look over the park layout and determine the best route to get to the assigned site.
• At the site, She dismounts with radio and He gets out of Tuggs to look over the site.
• She guides He in backing into the site or pulling through.
• Both need to keep in mind that there are slides on each side of Diggs that need to extend three feet
• Once Diggs is situated in the site it’s time to check for level. There are bubble levels mounted on the front of Diggs.
• First we level left-to-right. If one side is higher, leveling blocks are used by driving the low-side wheels up onto the blocks.
• Trailer wheels are chocked.
• 
• Lower the front landing gear and lift the kingpin slighly off of the fifth-wheel hitch in the bed of the truck.
• 
• Disconnect the umbilical cord that provides 12-volt power to the trailer from the truck
• Disconnect the emergency breakaway switch cable that will slam on the trailer brakes if it was to ever come unhitched from the truck.
• Lower the truck tailgate.
• Pull out the hitch handle to disengage the Kingpin from the hitch.
• 
• Carefully drive away from trailer.
• Raise truck tailgate when clear of trailer.
• Using the bubble level, adjust trailer fore and aft to level using the electric front landing gear as required.
• Extend rear stabilizers using electric drill & socket.
• 
• Install X-Chocks between both of Diggs’ pairs of wheels to minimize fore & aft sway in the trailer.
• 
• Open trailer door and lower entry steps.
• 
• Connect 50-AMP or 30-AMP surge protector to the site electric depending on what RV Park supplies.
• 
• Verify that the lights on the surge protector are correct before attaching power cable to trailer.
• Connect electric cable to surge protector and trailer. Turn on 30/50-AMP breaker.
• Connect water hose from RV Park source to trailer hose bib.
• 
• Set water valves on trailer for “City Water”.
• 
• If RV Park provides site sewer, attach sewer hose from trailer to sewer wearing gloves.
• 
• Turn electric water heater on.
• 
• Extend both the Kitchen and Dining slides while insuring that there is plenty of clearance outisde.
• Turn on furnace or air conditioner as required.
• Insure refrigerator automatically switches to electric power from propane power.
• Remove dining table chair tie-down straps.
• Set out all countertop / tabletop items that had to be stowed for travel.
• Aim rooftop digital TV antenna toward closest broadcast locations and scan for channels.
• Enjoy!
•