Monday 29th May – Mud carnage Memorial Day

We were in no particular rush this morning, thinking the whole ordeal of getting out of the field would be easier if we let the sun dry off the ground a little. But, according to the workers collecting rubbish around us, it was time for us to get out so they knocked on the side of the RV anyway.  Thankfully, this meant that we got a portion of Livia’s awesome breakfast casserole.  We’ve lucked out with our neighbours this weekend!

There were workers and rescue trucks all over the field. We put on our already-muddy clothes and shoes as there was now nowhere you could walk on the site that wasn’t completely swamp-like. Even trying to walk carefully, you couldn't help but splash mud up your legs:

Our entrance door and muddy step... getting that sinking feeling.

That's a big tow truck, rescuing a smaller tow truck that was rescuing a truck that was trying to pull a trailer out!

We packed up the RV and waited for the way to be clear for us.  We were discussing tactics and Simon was ready to give it a go but Alex and Mike were concerned that if we tried and failed it would make it so much harder to try and tow us out.  We’re glad we took their advice, Alex towed Simon and Harvey out of the mud in one go on the first try. It was amazing.  And this time I did catch it on video (below) but sadly it can’t compete with the skills displayed on Thursday! 

We were out, but the RV didn’t get away completely unscathed! 

Before......

....and after!

Finally free of the mud, we wanted to hang around and make sure the others got out successfully too.  Alex managed to get their truck and rig out successfully by flooring it in a straight line.  First time.  Another piece of cracking driving.  Sadly for Mike and Livia, they were parked further into the mud than the rest of us and even getting the truck hooked up to their fifth wheel took a group effort to push their truck against the deep ruts in the ground.  Luckily, one of the wrecker drivers had become free and, once hooked up, they dragged the rig out on to hard standing.  I did take video footage of this too, but to be honest, a truck being dragged at about 1mph across sticky mud is not going to make the final cut!  Here's a still instead:

Group pic with the neighbours... anyone need a shower?!

All successfully clear, we said our goodbyes and the US contingent set off on their journey back to see their little ones for what remained of Memorial Day (it’s a Bank Holiday Monday here as well as in the UK).  After Simon had cleared enough mud off the windscreen to make it safe to drive, off we went.  

We had planned to drive about four hours north-east towards Mansfield, Ohio but we both felt increasingly drowsy as we headed along Interstate 70 so we pulled into a rest stop.  We decided to re-visit Buck Creek State Park which was only an hour away by then.  We just really needed to find somewhere we could hook up with some fresh water to get showered and take it easy for the evening. 

Which is why I have a certain feeling of déjà vu – I find myself typing this blog in the RV on exactly the same camp site (no 27) in exactly the same park as we were in last Monday.  This time after an even heavier weekend of partying! Time to relax….