So this is a snow shovel?

This is a snow shovel!

We spent Monday preparing to leave. It was still snowing, but we packed up what we could in hopeful expectation that it would stop snowing and on Tuesday it might even melt enough for us to drive off the site, up a 150 foot incline and onto the paved campground road.

Rick brushed snow and ice off the sides of the motorhome and we dreaded pulling in the 2 slide-outs. The slide awnings didn't look quite right and we were afraid the awning toppers wouldn't roll up as they should. We called the Service Manager of Guaranty RV, Tim Cooke, in Junction City, Oregon and asked for his advice. He talked us through some possible scenarios and we proceeded to retract the slide-outs without any problem.

What did help is that Rick went up on the roof of the motorhome and brushed off more ice and snow that had accumulated on the slides. (As a side note, the good folks at Guaranty RV are friendly and knowledgeable and we hope to visit them next spring - just for fun. Thanks for being there for us when we need you!)

On Monday, Brent, the campground owner, drove his tractor with the plow and sort of cleared the dirt roads. Rick used the big blue snow shovel and cleared around the car and the motorhome and around the campground buildings. He also dug down a little further on the road to be able to see the dirt in places.

I thought if I could get the motorhome going at a pretty good speed while "launching off" the site, I might be able to make it up the incline by staying on some of the dirt patches. However, the dirt road was still mostly thick ice, about 12" thick. Brent got aggressive and tore it up with the skiploader.

Brent had to pull out one motorhome that got stuck attempting to leave their site and it helped me to see how easily he was able to dislodge the other guy. With more dirt showing, my confidence returned because I didn't want to be towed out! It's either get going up the hill or slide backwards down the hill.