Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, day 4

Thursday, June 15, 2017

And so the final day dawned.  I took one last photo of the trailer before hitching up and bidding my campsite a fond farewell.

 

Little Towhee, always the adventurer, grabbed her spot on the dash of the truck as we drove out of the state park with the trailer in tow.

After 3-1/2 days of sunshine, it wasn’t long after we hit the road that the skies opened up and the rain poured down.  My route from Kanaskat State Park to the storage shed in Puyallup was on the freeway again.  I got in the right hand lane and stayed there unless the route required that I change lanes.  I always gave large trucks the right-of-way and gave everyone else plenty of room too.  Drivers of those large semi trucks were just as courteous to me, too, especially because I always indicated my intention to make a lane change long before starting the lane change.  Eventually, the Stor-House storage yard came into view and I backed the trailer into her home.

Back at home in my comfortable recliner, while enjoying views of my small back patio, I reflected on these recent four days very well spent.

My first thought was that nothing had gone wrong with the trailer or with the truck.  I did have a new list of items or systems in the trailer to improve, and a list of questions to ask the professionals, but everything worked just as it was supposed to.  I was very happy with the time and money spent getting the truck and the trailer in excellent working order.  Knowing your own rig and being strict about preventive maintenance are important in any situation, but are critical when you are far from help.

I slept ok, tho not great.  The trailer came with a brand new “waterproof” mattress cover that made a rustling noise at night because it was so stiff and sort of plastic-like.  That mattress cover would be going in the dumpster soon!  As well, I still couldn’t figure out how/where to stow stuff.  The layout of storage space just didn’t seem logical to me.  And the large bathroom across the full width of the trailer was wasted space for me.  Someone else would greatly appreciate that large bathroom/shower space, but I would rather have had a smaller shower and more storage space.

I expect this next concern will change for me soon, but I will mention it here anyway.  It felt odd to me not to have walls around me, so I rarely sat outside when I was at the campsite with the trailer.  The weather was perfectly nice, although I would have needed to wear an extra jacket when sitting outside in the early morning or evening.  But the weather was fine.  I’m hoping the discomfort of sitting outdoors and using the outdoors as a living space will disappear with time.  Certainly everything else about camping felt perfectly comfortable to me.

Interacting with people I didn’t already know (sometimes called “strangers” .. why call them that, because they are “stranger” than you are?  funny word) was tremendously enjoyable.  I always introduced myself and explained I was camping nearby.  When they heard about my adventure, they always brightened and wanted to know more and wanted to share their own stories.  I watched each scenario to see if I felt any threat from anyone when they realized I was alone, but I felt no concerns on this trip.  That might be different in the future; I’ll just keep my eyes and ears open.  What I continue to experience is that 99.9% of the people I meet are good people who are simply trying to do their best and enjoy life, just like I am.

The most tension I felt was that first full afternoon when I drove away from the campsite in the truck (when I went into town to buy toilet paper) and I left the trailer behind in the campsite.  Before leaving the campground, I actually drove around the campground and drove right back to the campsite just to make sure the trailer really was still there.  Over time, I expect this tension will diminish greatly tho may never disappear completely.  The trailer is my home “out there” after all.  Friends of mine tell me they carry a ditty bag with everything that they really truly would not like to have stolen or burned up or somehow destroyed … and that bag is where all of those things are ALWAYS stored so that bag moves from truck to trailer and back again without needing to think about what to pack/bring when leaving the trailer or the truck.  Great idea!

What else?  Well, I ate well.  I purposefully ate exactly like I do at home.  My hope is to eat out on occasion on these camping trips, but I figured this first trip had enough stress attached to it that I’d better not change up too many things all at once.

And in the end, I absolutely LOVED being out in the woods, walking along the river, listening to the birds, watching the sky and the clouds, talking with people who knew things I didn’t know or who simply had stories to tell, taking photos of everything which made me be more aware of everything and so made me look at everything, learning the history of places, stretching my legs and my imagination.  I want more of this!

 

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8 Responses to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, day 4

  1. Jan says:

    thanks for adding the Note at bottom right to go back to top of page to see comments, etc. I hated having to scroll UP, but scrolling down doesn’t bother me. I get to see all your great photos again.

    Are you a Master Gardener? You certainly have a beautiful plant areangement in your garden.

    • Ann says:

      Hi Jan,

      Thank you for both of those comments. For those folks who come across this blog without being subscribed via email, they would have to read each post, then scroll back to the top, click on the name of the post, then scroll all the way back down in order to see comments .. a dumb idea. So I added the link at the bottom of every page to automatically take people back to the top if they want. Better yet, I hope people subscribe via email (at the top of the page, on the right).

      And thank you so much for the nice gardening comment. 🙂 I am certainly not a Master Gardener, tho some of my best friends are experts, and they give me lots of great advice.

  2. Marif says:

    Loving your blog and the vicarious travels! Pics are great!

    • Ann says:

      Hi Marif,

      Thanks for kudos. I seem to be attracted to birds and water and bridges in my travels. Will keep on keeping on. 🙂

  3. Gene in Ohio says:

    I just found your blog and enjoy reading it. I have 25+ years RVing, but when I retired I bought my first travel trailer and like you, was a bit intimidated about towing. (Prior to retirement I always had Class Cs.) I remember well pulling my Winnebago trailer home which was 90 miles away, all interstate. Backing the trailer certainly took practice. I can tell you that with time and practice, it will all become second nature to you and the stress will diminish. You might enjoy following RVSue and her Canine Crew. She is a single woman full timing alone with her dogs. She was once a newbie too.

    • Ann says:

      Hi Gene,

      Thanks! Nice to hear that someone else has been through the same stuff and found it fun and interesting enough to keep going. That’s encouraging. With my most recent tow, I was on the freeway when I realized for a few moments that I hadn’t been thinking about the trailer at all .. just driving down the road. So I’m hoping, like you say, that it becomes second nature soon. I just found RVSue and signed up for her blog .. must have read your mind.

      It’s good for everyone, whatever we’re each doing, to remember that everyone was a newbie at everything at one time .. nobody is born knowing anything! Learning is part of the fun isn’t it? Hope you’re still out there RV-ing. 🙂

      • Gene in Ohio says:

        I am not. My partner died 8 years ago and I tried going it alone with the trailer, but it is not the same. I sold my trailer after 2 and a half years this past summer.

        • Ann says:

          Gene, I’m so sorry. Sounds like the loss of your partner really changed life for you. I sure hope you have wonderful memories .. maybe that sounds trite, but I do wish it for you. I am glad you are here .. keep on commenting and helping me along!

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