A morning shuffle

If all goes according to plan, the 27' travel trailer my father-in-law uses down on the coast during the winter will be making it's way up here to the property over the weekend or early next week.

Problem is that I have the utility trailer sitting right were the travel trailer needs to go. That's it's normal spot and the van is usually backed in right in front of it, though the pad isn't quite long enough for the front wheels to make it up onto concrete, but the RV post, water spigot, and waste dump are right there behind the left corner of the utility trailer. Since it's pretty much a done deal that the travel trailer, which we will be using as our kitchen and bathroom during a remodel of our living quarters (Tucked into a corner of the steel barn there beside the trailer.) this summer, has to go here, so the other stuff - well - has to go.

This is the setup for moving the smaller trailers, and the greenhouse, around. The receiver clamps to the loader bucket on the tractor (and you have to clamp it really hard, and even then it tends to twist to one side or the other) and the proper hitch for the trailer to be moved is then pinned into the receiver. A three-point receiver for the lifting arms on the back of the tractor would make it easier to see to hook up (The upper edge of the bucket blocks the view and trying to stand up behind the wheel of the tractor and operate clutch, steering wheel, bucket and brakes all at the same time is a trick I have not yet completely mastered!) and maneuver (It's surprisingly difficult to master the knack of pulling and pushing a trailer from beyond the front edge of the bucket which swings wildly side to side as you steer, even though it seems like it should be easier since you're facing the right direction with this setup for backing the trailer in somewhere.), but I haven't spent the money for one yet. Besides, the chipper lives on the back of the tractor most the time and it weights 800 lbs. so isn't the easiest thing to wrestle on and off!

 After hooking up I made a stop at the main barn to load the various parts of a project that is completed and waiting for an opportune time to be installed into the small barn, into the trailer to get it off my workbench and table saw in the mean time (It's a big project in terms of size)

 This is going to be the temporary home of the utility trailer. It's hard to tell from the photo but the land surface over there on the right is anywhere from one to three feet higher than the barn slab. (We don't have any flat spots on our property!) I was in here with the tractor just a couple weeks ago cutting back the sandy-loam that had slumped down into the cleared space, something I have to do once every 4 or 5 years anyway, but I also took that opportunity to widen the cut by about 18 inches so there will be enough room to walk past the utility trailer when it is parked in here.

Then it was a matter of carefully shoving the trailer back into this tight spot,

 

 getting it up on blocks so the tires don't sink into the loam-gravel mix when it rains

Then rolling the relatively puny recycling trailer back into it's normal spot.

It's going to be a real pain to use the utility trailer from here. Since I'm reluctant to back my 7000 lb van into this cut which can be a little soft, especially if it's been raining, I'll have to pull the recycling trailer out of the way, walk down the hill to the fabric barn, fire up the tractor, drive it up to the main barn, install the receiver and hitch, drag the utility trailer out to the gravel drive, drop it, remove the receiver and hitch, put the tractor away, and finally back the van up and hookup. When everything is sitting on the pad I only have to do the last step! And I haven't yet talked about putting it all away again when I'm done!!!  Man I hope we finish up with the remodel quick and that travel trailer moves on to somewhere else before I get too frustrated!!!