My first shake-down trip with family taught me vital lessons. Memorial Day weekend brought torrential rains that never let up. After setting up the trailer and running through my check list, all was in order in spite of the rain. Unhook the car, check. Attach hoses, check. Attach electric and cable cords, check. Roll out awning, check. Feeling good and a bit smug about my performance, I casually leaned on the trailer to admire my work and the trailer sailed backwards off its levelers and hitch block, right into an accumulating pool of mud. Oh dear, I must remember to chock the wheels first thing. Steve, my son-in-law, camping next to me came running (I had forbidden him to help, exerting my independence) and calmly asked if I was okay. I saw that twinkle in his eye where suppressed laughter lived. I said, “Yes, but look at my hitch – its dirty!” With that he walked off shaking his head at my priorities. I guess I won’t tell him about my pink leopard skin duct tape in the tool box, I just re-hitched and started over.
Good practice, right?
I rolled out the awning to keep things dry but high winds
followed the rain. Steve was having a
bit of his own troubles saving his humongous awning, so five guys (no, not the
pizza guys) from across the way rushed to my aid during the worst of the rain
and wind to help retract my awning. What
should have been a piece of cake (pressing a button) turned into a full scale
drama struggling with decorator lights and hooks that were extremely difficult
to remove. Lesson learned? No lights on the awning for my trip.
Final solo shake down was mid June. The weather was spectacular and all went
well. I backed up to the hitch with no
problems. When I checked in at the camp
office, I happened to mention to the owner that this was my first time camping
solo and would he help direct me into my space.
He paled a bit and offered to do it for me taking my keys before I really
answered. No problem there for me. I learned that it is an insurance issue for
owners/employees to do more than “guide” you into a site however most folks were
eager to turn a blind eye to the rules in lieu of having their electrical poles
knocked down or some other such disaster.
Although I never counted on this kind of help, it was always there, I
never said no, and returned home from my long trip not having backed up my
trailer!
The most amazing event of my first solo shake-down trip was quite
unexpected. Next to me were Elaine and
Chuck McIntosh from a nearby town between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, PA. We
were doing the “the getting to know you” chit chat and discovered Elaine was
raised in the same town as me some 3000 miles away in California, just a few blocks
apart. Two years apart in age, we
went to the same schools, had the same teachers but never met. Now, 50 years later we meet in the middle of
Pennsylvania. Campfire memories were
burnt into our hearts that evening. They
were also taking a trip similar to mine (not quite as far or as long) and at about
the same time with their three Papillion dogs.
I promised to try and find some of her friends at the reunion in October
and would definitely keep in touch. Maybe
we could camp together in 2013.
Elaine and Chuck have three dogs
that were a blast to play with. They had
a penned in area and everything. Do I
get a picture of that? No, but Jean and Elaine look happy.
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