Cleaning a very dirty awning

We had a 4 night stay in Adirondack Camping Village in Lake George, NY. Very nice place, friendly folks, well maintained. But this year is a "Gypsy moth" year - there were caterpillars all over the place! They say the moths come every ten years or so. But the danged things pooped all over the roof, slide toppers and Awning. It comes off if you give it a good scrub with soap and water, but how can you scrub the awning? It just moves when you push on it.

So (see pics) I thought if I remove the 2 pins (labeled in the pic), I could let the awning drop, laying it against the MH side wall, and then I could do what ever scrubbing I need to do.

I'm thinking that the piston is what pushes the awning open, and with the pins removed, it may want to expand further - perhaps too much - so I was thinking I could prevent that by securing the support arm. Maybe use a rope tied off to something (perhaps the vertical metal track attached to the MH side wall that supports the awning.

Is this a reasonable way to go, or am I asking for trouble going this route?

If it is reasonable ... the second pic shows the opposite side of one of the pins. How does one remove the clip holding the pin? Maybe slip a blade screw driver under the clip and work it off by gently prying and perhaps rotating it? I'd prefer not to break the clip ;)

Thanks for any and all feedback!

Awning parts
Pin Clip



PS - I don't see how to post an embedded picture, so I used links