First camping trip of 2020

June 21-26, 2020

Oh my word, going camping sure feels good! Can’t hardly wait to tell you all about it.

But first, just a reminder … please do go back and read comments made on prior blog posts, as some readers don’t post their comments until a few days after the blog post has been published. Don’t miss out on some great comments and information.

Ok, ‘nuf said … let’s get on with this camping trip, which is what all of us have been waiting for! 🙂

First of all, on day #1, I needed to get the trailer hitched to the truck and then get that trailer out of the fenced storage area. No sweat. The photo below is of the trailer hitched to the truck and the whole rig is parked outside the fenced storage area (the fenced storage area is to the right, out of the photo). The trailer is fully stocked, the door to my home is locked, and we’re ready to roll except I need to close and lock the gate to the fenced storage lot.

I closed/locked the gate to the storage area and made sure all was secure there, then I walked back towards the truck. It was at that moment that it finally became a reality that I was “gone camping”! Hooray!

I jumped in that truck, started that engine, released the brake, and off I went!

Ah, but, you may ask … where did I go? I went to Friends Landing Campground near Montesano, WA. I hadn’t been camping there before, but two friends of mine and I had driven through the campground several months ago. During that drive-through, I decided I liked campsite #17 the best. For this camping trip, I was able to reserve #17 for this entire week of camping.

Here are three Google Earth images below showing where Friends Landing is, just in case you’re in the area and wish to go there.

My “HOME” is in the lower part of the image above … “Montesano” is to the left. Friends Landing was about a 90-minute drive from my home, down the I-5 freeway a short bit, then off onto highway 101 for a short jaunt until it turned into highway 8/12, and then to Friends Landing just past Montesano. Ordinarily, it would be a 60-minute drive with just my truck, but I putter along a bit more slowly and carefully with Towhee the Trailer in tow.

In the photo above, the small town of Montesano is in the upper right corner, with the main highway running right to left (or left to right) on the edge of town. The large red arrow is pointing at Friends Landing Campground, accessed via small, paved back roads. The Chehalis River runs along the south side of the campground, and Lake Quigg almost surrounds the rest of the campground. It was so pretty!

The red arrow in the Google Earth photo above points to campsite #17. Obviously, my trailer and truck are not in the photo above, but this photo will show you how small the Friends Landing campground is and where I was camped. It was delightful.

And here I am (below) … in campsite #17!

The sky was so blue. The lake was right behind me. My seating/living area inside my trailer is at the back end of the trailer so I had an unobstructed view of the lake, the trees, the birds … and the sunset (more about that here in just a bit).

 

You can see there were other campers here, and one was sort of close to me (that dark truck that shows in the photo above in between my truck and trailer). But everyone was quiet and courteous. It seemed like everyone was so appreciative about being able to go camping that everyone was extra nice. Or maybe all the folks here were just nice folks. I like to think that.

My view of Lake Quigg (above and below).

I walked around the campground before supper, chatting very briefly with a few of the other people who were camping there. Then I enjoyed my view of the lake while I ate my supper.

I started reading my book after supper, but looked up at one point to see the sunset below … right outside my window. I grabbed my camera and walked the few feet from my trailer to the lake, as close as I could get. I didn’t think the world could get any more beautiful.

 

I took those photos then turned around to walk back to my little trailer home.

The sign there on the left in the photo above warns people that the shore around the edge of the lake is steep and asks people not to go there. I understood that and I obeyed, but I was so much more taken with how beautiful the entire area was, how perfect this particular campsite was, and …

… how warm and welcoming my trailer seemed to be to me in the evening glow of that sunset.

Life is good. And tomorrow I’ll go exploring!