I talk my brother into taking his truck with me to pick up the camper. My wife and youngest son Sam are going to follow us that way in the event of trouble we have a second vehicle. This may be overkill but I'm trying to be prepared. Also not knowing the state of the brake lights etc. I would prefer her behind us as opposed to a stranger. We have walkie talkies so we can stay in contact. I have tried to bring along as many tools as I can carry, along with bungee cords. tie wraps, portable air tank and hitch balls and drawbar.

We arrive in Clarksburg and I guide my brothers truck into position on the trailer. First things first. I hand Debbie three one hundred dollar bills and a fifty and she signs over the title. We are now the proud owners of a Coachmen Crestline camper. Ok back to business. I use an existing drawbar because I don't have a 2 5/16 ball. I brought a 2 in and a 1 7/8. Dennis had what I believe is a partial setup of a weight distribution hitch. Although the bars and chains were not there. (I will post some pictures of this if anyone can help on making it into a working system.) Well we hit the first roadblock. I slide the drawbar into my brother's hitch and it won't slide in far enough for the holes to line up. Crap! Ok we will just remove the ball and use my drawbar. Unfortunately I don't have a wrench big enough to get the nut off. Crap Again! I borrow two pipe wrenches from the neighbor and proceed to remove the ball. Alright now we're getting somewhere! Guess what? You're right the shank is too big for my drawbar. So it's off to Shelbyville we go. About a 10 minute drive to the Ace Hardware. I'm in luck they have a 2 5/16 ball with a 1 inch shaft. I buy it and we are back in business! We return to Clarksburg and get the camper loaded up. Hook up the safety chains, the wiring harness and check the brake lights. WooHoo! A-OK! I shoot a little air in the tires and we pull the old girl home. The trip home went very smooth. Trailer pulled very nice. Tires held(I had my fingers crossed and said a little prayer.) My wife followed behind and said everything looked good. I kept expecting something to come flying off as I asked over the radios many times; "How does it look?"

Well we pulled into the driveway and unhitched. My brother took off and I went back to inspection mode. Looking the camper over again. Trying to add up the time and money it was going to take to fix this thing up a little bit. Our neighbors who originally told us about it came over for the tour. At 17 1/2 feet it's not much of a tour! I think they liked it and were happy that we had gotten it. We were too and now it's on to the repairs!