lottknox1
north carolina
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Joined: 07/02/2006
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I saw Three Dog Night's post about where to practice backing up. I did not want to hijack his post but something I think we can do for our kids, grandkids, etc. is to teach them to back up a trailer when they are young. I remember starting out with a small trailer behind a lawn mower when I was around 12 to 13. My step dad was very patient with me and as I got older I moved to bigger trailers. At 16 I could back the boat in and he always let me back the utility trailer in at the dump. By the time I got a camper I was an old pro and am thankful for the skills he gave me at a young age.
Now I know it's going to be tough to let a 16 year old back your 30K travel trailer but when you get the opportunity pass on this skill.
Who else learned this at a early age? I'm sure there are some folks who grew up on a farm that have me beat by many years!
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Houstonkid
Houston
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I learned early too, by the time I was 10 or 11 I was driving a riding lawnmower towing around a full sized trailer and backing it in places. It was fun at the time and great experience!
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Perrysburg Dodgeboy
Perrysburg, Ohio USA
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Around 10 is when Dad started letting me back the hay trailer in the barn but it was around 8 with the riding mower and utility trailer cleaning the ditch along the farm.
Don
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gm seller
holland ny
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I was probably that same age around 10 from small garden tractors with trailers to hay wagons on a farm. Hay wagons with a steer axle are much more difficult to get used to. Seems like I have been doing it forever makes camper's much easier.
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kc8yhk
Marblehead Ohio!
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I think I was around 12 when I was allowed to drive our car around our property and used to haul around our pop-up. driving just kind of came natural to me so when I turned 18 I got my class A CDL and started pulling dump bucket. Then the day I turned 21 I started driving "big truck" OTR. I've hauled every type of semi trailer I can think of. So now backing in our 30 foot camper in the tightest of campgrounds is child's play LoL
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Mr. Camper
ARKUSA
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Okay, I'm going to ask a serious question. Were all of you brought up on farms? I wasn't, and it would never occur to me to have let my kids at 10-12 years of age try to back up anything with a motor.
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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Mr. Camper not not all of us were raised on a farm but it seems a good number that actually come to this forum (most owners never go to any site I understand) had a background of farming or a dad/grandpa that was in construction or other business with tractors, trucks and the like.
I was sat on the transmission of a "B" Allis Chambers tractor at the age of 5 because I was standing there when my dad was picking corn by hand and got tired of getting up and down to pull up the trailer that he was tossing the corn into.
I was shown how to press the clutch and put it in #1 and let out on the clutch then clutch it and put it back in N and wait for orders to repeat. The engine was running all of the time at a low idle. I can still see in my mind the field and which way the tractor was headed that day.
By the time I was 7 I was pulling the trail with my mom, sister and baby brother to the fields while my father was as work. Not smart but I was just fulfilling a practical need.
The four wheel wagon was hard to back but I developed some success at that. It is kind of like towing backwards on a dolly, it can be done but just with a different set of rules. 
In my case we got our first 2 ton truck when I was like 10 and I started off driving then in flat hay fields. Of all of my friends that were doing the same I do not know of one case where any of us got hurt but it was by the grace of God. We did have some crashes however.
This is one reason today with the 32' Class A without a toad I can turn around most any where I have 32' of solid surface and my overhang is in the clear and can back for miles if required. After I recover from the right shoulder surgery from last Tuesday I should be better at driving in tight spots then it recent years.
I have started some with our kids (age 10) but live on a hill so they get to do most of their driving at grandpa's. Today most kids are not doing the labor as we did years ago just because the equipment is so much larger today but we do know when the kids are asking to learn is the best time for them to learn.
Had some of you never driven more than a car or pick up prior to towing or driving a motor home?
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Perrysburg Dodgeboy
Perrysburg, Ohio USA
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CQ there KC8YHK how’s things in Marblehead, I did some work on some homes in your neck of the woods.
Don
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stpauligirlmn
St. Paul
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Joined: 04/16/2007
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Don't forget to teach the girls!
One of my biggest, darkest camping secrets is that I don't tow the travel trailer. My poor hubby has to do all the driving. I did it once, and I was clenching my teeth so hard that I gave myself a headache. If I actually had to back my trailer into a camping spot, I think I'd just set up camp right there on the road.
Maybe this year...
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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Good point on the girls. Our kids are one of each and 10. My daughter is more agressive than my son on wanting to drive. But that is a good thing. My mom never drove because of my father and that was sad.
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