Tom,
It's amateur radio, after all so a few feet of ladder line going 
astray won't be the end of your day!!  Should work just fine.  Some 
of my installations weren't at all picture perfect and they worked fine.
Good luck - look forward to hearing a big portable signal from you.
Pat, K9JAUAt 09:07 PM 8/16/2012, you wrote:
>Hi, folks.
>
>Upon further inspection, it turns out that there is a nice tall oak tree
>behind our RV that I might be able to use as the center point for my G5RV.
>
>But, here's the question:
>
>I am not sure how high I'll be able to get the center up into that tree, and
>since the XYL might be helping me with this entire operation, I have to be
>careful.
>
>My question is this:  Is is absolutely essential for the ladder line to be
>vertical, or could a few feet on the bottom be horizontal without degrading
>the antenna's performance substantially?
>
>I don't think we'd have trouble getting the center up about 20 feet, but 30
>might be pushing it.
>
>It's just going to be hard to use a slingshot or whatever to safely get the
>center of the antenna up as high as I would like, given the close quarters
>of the camp ground, and given my desire to save life and limb.
>
>Thanks for tolerating all of these questions, and I'll keep everyone posted
>if we can get something accomplished this week-end.
>
>73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ