Mr. Towd

I was sitting in the Rolling Steel Tent, enjoying a muffin from Safeway, when this guy pulled his Jeep up behind his RV. Oooo, I thought, I’ll be able to see, beginning to end, what it takes to turn the Jeep into a towd. (In case you don’t know, towd is RVer slang for the vehicle that’s towed behind and used to make side trips and run errands.)

First he had to line the Jeep up behind the RV, which took about three tries.

Then he unloaded stuff from a storage compartment to get to the hitch components that were also in there.

He fumbled with some fittings that connected to the Jeep. He struggled with the cross bar that attached to the fittings (a hammer was employed).

He got more things from the storage compartment. Clevis pins, hitch locks, safety cables, electrical cable…

He got something from the back of the Jeep.

He made a few attempts attaching the bars that connect the Jeep to the RV.

He fought with the coiled cables.

He got something else from the back of the Jeep. And something else from the storage compartment. And he put some things away.

He eventually got the pebble guard properly attached.

Then he checked the right turn signal. The left turn signal. The brake lights.

He put the rest of the stuff away and checked the locks on all his hatches.

He put the Jeep in neutral and maybe unlocked the hubs. He locked the Jeep.

And he was ready to hit the road.

It took him about 40 minutes. I suspect he hadn’t set this stuff up many times. But even if an experienced RVer could do it in, say, 15 minutes, it’s still quite a process—by my just-put-the-step-in-the-van-and-go standards. Yet, if the towd towers are happy, tow away.