It wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. I was at Pan Pacific getting ready to drive Rocinante up to 49er Village in Plymouth. Denise and 5 of her closest friends wanted to use it as a home base for a girl’s weekend. It was to be my first time towing, but I wasn’t worried. How hard could it be? I’ve been to RV parks where 90 yr old men pull in towing their car. First off, I couldn’t find the keys to the lock on the towbar. When we picked the car up from our friend Dennis, Denise took the keys and said. I’m putting them ____ so we know where they are. Well we still don’t know where _____ is, (you will understand as you age.) The keys will turn up someday. So I took the towbar into the shop and young James helped me remove the lock with a pair of bolt cutters. It was easy. So easy that I wonder why anyone would even buy that type of lock. If a thief wanted your towbar, it would slow them down for 5 or 6 seconds. After the lock was off, I tried to connect the HHR to Rocinante. I found the receiver I had was too high. I sort of expected that, so I went into the parts department and got one with a larger drop. Then when I tried to connect the lights, I found the cord was too short. I had forgotten the there was an extension in the back of the car. I figured that I was only driving 50 miles, so I would just drive with the parking lights on. Off we go. I missed the turn to hwy 88 and had to go almost to Valley Springs before I had room to turn around. Then I missed the turn for 49 toward Plymouth and ended up in Jackson. When I stopped to figure out what to do next, I noticed that the headlights were on in the HHR. It has automatic headlights that come on when it gets dark. I tried to start the HHR to charge the battery. It wouldn’t start. So I figure I’ll deal with it when I get to the campground. Well I had put it in park when I tried to start it. When I got in the motorhome, it wouldn’t go. I knew right away what the problem was and took the HHR out of park. I finally got to the campground and smelled burning brakes. I was surprised that the motorhome brakes would heat up since it wasn’t that hilly. Then when I disconnected the HHR to back into the campsite I realized it was the rear brakes on the toad that were creating the odor. I had pulled the parking brake when I was trying to start the car in Jackson. 20 miles with the parking brake on! I’m sure I took a few thousand miles off the life of the brakes. No real damage, and a lot of lessons learned.
