How I Became Trailer Trash - Part 3:

Hooking Up

Our trailer was left sitting in our neighbors driveway, there was no place to put it on our lot. The entire front yard was full of debris from the ongoing gutting. No one had been by to haul the debris. The Trailer was too tall for our driveway.

No FEMA krewe would come by to hook up up. Our Trailer was a "Drag and Drop". We were on our own.
We had no idea how to hook up a trailer, never having been in one until recently. We quickly discovered we needed a thirty amp electrical outlet, a water hose and a sewer connection to be able to use the trailer. We also needed place it, level it, and anchor it to the ground.

We wanted it in the back yard, we thought it would be more private and secure, besides it wasn't full of stinky debris. It turns out that we couldn't put a truck on the hitch and push it into the yard. Since the guys were still gutting the house, we got them to simply roll the trailer into position. I think we'll have to get it out the same way we got it in.

Since this was early November I hadn't seen a lot of trailers, FEMA was just beginning to deliver them. The FEMA install we are all now familiar with was not very common. FEMA had only delivered a few trailers and they were mostly going to critical people. I went to the Marietta Georgia RV dealer we had visited to check out trailers and bought a couple of adapter fittings for the sewer connection.

On one of my early flights back in to town I happened to sit next to a guy from North Carolina who was installing FEMA trailers. He was returning from a visit to his family. He explained how they installed trailers. He offered to install the trailer for me. I got his number and had my guys call him .

My Contractor found another guy who said he could install the trailer. He was a trip. He showed up in a Lincoln, wearing the gold chain and looking like he stepped out of the Sopranos. They had no material and spent the better part of the day gathering concrete blocks, wood blocking, plastic pipe and electrical supplies. They also had few tools, fortunately I had most of mine, although some of them were a little rusty.

After two full days the trailer was sort of set up. I had power, water and a sewer connection. I would be able to spend the night in the trailer, using FEMA provided linens and plastic dishes.

I still had to learn how to operate The Trailer.