A respite and then we head home

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Whew!  After that three-hour Orientation at ETI in Canada, the final payment on the trailer was made.  Then the trailer got towed into the USA from Canada.  Jan and I (and Randy and the trailer) cleared customs just fine.  We switched pickup trucks at Sumas, and Randy left to go back to Chilliwack.  And here we were (my friend Jan and I) in Sumas, WA, at about 2pm with my brand new trailer.  Hooray!!  She really was finally mine. 🙂

But now what?

Well I was tired!  We ended up staying overnight in the hotel/motel right next to the parking lot where my truck/trailer were so I could take a breather and make sure everything about the truck and the new trailer were as they should be.  That gave me a chance to wind down a little and spend the afternoon going through the trailer to make sure it was road-worthy and make sure the truck and trailer connections were A-OK.

Randy had parked the trailer right smack in the middle of a large parking lot.  As you can see in the photo above, I moved the truck/trailer over close to the curb.  It took up several regular-sized car parking places but they were never used anyway.  I wanted to leave room for other RVers to drive around behind me into this same parking lot, which they did as you will see.

That temporary Canadian license plate was replaced with my permanent State of Washington license plate.  Many, many big trucks trundled past this parking lot throughout the day … Sumas is a popular commercial border crossing.

And Little Towhee (remember Little Towhee?) was finally introduced to the trailer.  She loved it!  She particularly liked the red upholstery because, as she said, it brightened her day, and we all know that it’s all about HER day after all. 🙂  She said she loves the windows, too.

Everything checked out fine on the trailer and truck and we got settled into our room next door.  During the evening, I couldn’t help but check on things.  I looked out an upstairs meeting room window at one point to find this!  (below)

Not only had another pickup truck and RV trailer pulled into that same parking lot for a free overnight stay, but a very BIG sister/brother had also pulled in right beside my trailer.  I was sure glad I had moved my rig over earlier in the afternoon.  Given this perspective, my trailer now looked pretty small.

I was happy that the truck driver staying in the cab of that big semi truck overnight was right next to my little trailer and would be alerted if anyone tried any shenanigans during the night.  I like to think that this brand new little white trailer was happy to have that protection for her first night out too.

“Don’t mess with my little sister or you’ll have to answer to ME!”

Several times during the evening, I would peek out into that parking lot to the SOUTH of us and make sure everything looked ok … it did.

The next morning, Jan opened the curtains to the NORTH of us to find this! (below)

Holy smokes, how long can that trailer be!?  We couldn’t see either end of it!

We walked out to get breakfast and purposefully walked north of the building to see what the heck we were seeing.

That was one LONG trailer!  It was longer than the entire building was!  It would have taken most of an hour (don’t forget to bring your lunch) just to walk around it to check the tail lights!  It had a checkerboard design, just like the flooring in my new trailer did.  What are the chances this rig parked here by sheer coincidence?

I suspected this trailer carried some sort of race car in the back end, and had housing for humans in the front half of the trailer.  The truck/tug was a similar configuration to mine, a full “crew cab”, but this truck was over twice the size of my Big White Truck.  Zounds!

So my little trailer with her checkerboard floor had excellent company that first night away from her original home.  She had her big brown sister/brother on one side of her right next to her, and she had her gynormous checkerboard cousin on the other side of her (as close as possible as the building in between allowed).

Some folks believe there are inanimate objects in the world.  I truly believe that nothing is inanimate … every “thing” has its own energy, and every “thing” is influenced or animated by the energy of other things, whether human, other animal, plant, or air or rocks or a paint brush or whatever.  You would not be able to convince me that those two BIG rigs parked where they did by sheer coincidence.  You may say I’m a dreamer, but to quote a famous person … I’m not the only one.  🙂

After an early breakfast, we triple-checked everything about the connections between truck and trailer again and then we were ready to roll!

Heading south down Interstate 5 … the trailer didn’t sway one iota.

We enjoyed every moment in this gorgeous part of Washington State.  The big cities of Everett and then Seattle (and then Tacoma) would be coming up soon enough.

A brief stop for rest at the rest stop just south of Arlington.  Even the rest stops hereabouts are peaceful and pleasant.

With one other stop for a cup of coffee, we eventually made it back to Tacoma and to my home … yippee! and what a relief!

 

 

 

After the wheels cooled down, I checked the lug nut torque as required on a new trailer, all OK.

I would be keeping the trailer here for a week to go over more details of the onboard systems and to stock the trailer with food and tools and bedding and a few decorations and cooking/eating dishes, towels and toothpicks, matches, flashlights, all the stuff of life that we use … don’t forget the toilet paper!

But THIS night, this first night at home, I was so happy to be home and to be here with my new trailer.  I went to bed early and got a very satisfied full night’s sleep.

In the next post here, I’ll show you the full “reveal” of the inside of the trailer.