In 2021, I met two interesting ladies traveling together in Southern California. Even though they were road-tripping together, they had separate rigs. One lady had a Sprinter van. The other towed her travel trailer with a truck.
This was my second time meeting another woman towing a travel trailer, so I was intrigued. For the record, I still haven’t met another one. What can I say? Most women seem to prefer vans and other small motorhomes.
As the summer heat crept up on us in the Southern California desert, the ladies started packing up to leave.
The day before they left, the one who towed knocked on my door.
She asked if she could come inside and then sat quietly on my sofa. She politely remarked on how well I had organized the space and said she hoped she hadn’t disturbed my work, but she needed to chat.
“Do you get towing anxiety the night before?” she asked me. “I always do.”
No one had ever asked me this before, and I had never considered it towing anxiety. But she was right.
Instead of sleeping, I find myself going over my towing checklist in my mind:
Did I double-check the brake lights already?
Are the breakaway chains on?
Did I have my equalizer bars on correctly?
Had I double-checked the pin lock?
What was the PSI on the trailer tires again?
It’s one of the reasons I do a full checkup on Samson before a major trip and why I prefer to hitch up the night before.
Our worries aren’t unwarranted.
I left Mexico an hour later than planned two weeks ago because my trailer lights and brakes would not come on. Oxidization had taken its toll on the connection after a year by the beach, and it needed some work to get it going.
A fuse caused the same problem one summer morning in Colorado. Imagine getting ready to tow your rig down a mountain, only to discover you have no trailer brakes on a full-sized unit. And, of course, no lights either.
Here’s the video:
Towing anxiety is just one form of travel worry.
Towing is the most dangerous form of RVing. It’s no wonder we lay awake the night before, trying to remember if we got it all done correctly. Once we get on the road, however, the anxiety goes out the window, and we’re back in our element.
Even if you don’t tow, you might have other forms of travel anxiety. You might worry about forgetting your passport at home, missing your flight because of crazy traffic, or being the unlucky passenger whose flight gets delayed mid-connection.
A lot can go wrong, and it often does. You might remember when I got stranded in Europe for three days amid multi-country strikes on the continent.
I’m not saying this to scare you. I just want you to know that your worries or anxiety are justified, and you’re not alone. If you also get travel or towing anxiety, shoot me a message. I’d love to chat with you about it.
Next week, I’ll tell paid subscribers how I’ve tackled travel and towing anxiety as a digital nomad. One of the top reasons is a gift the towing lady gave me when she dropped by unexpectedly.
See you next week!