Monday, October 13, 2008

Finally a weekend of peace and quiet

Several weeks ago, Lori and I reserved a site at Ocean City State Park. We were going to camp for the weekend while attending the wine festival at the casino. Then she found out about a convention in Seattle she was required to attend and all of the sudden it would be me and Walt. Not really though, our friends Gwen and Loren had the site right next to us, so I at least had adult conversation.

Friday Walt and I loaded up and after hooking up to the Mountaineer, we were off for our "trip". We had almost a 35 minute drive to our destination. A half mile out, bang, thump. What the...I looked and saw some white plastic debris in the road on the shoulder behind me. I thought, what fell off and what a great start to the weekend. I immediately pulled off. Luckily there was a wide spot in the road with plenty of room. As soon as I got out, I noticed my 5 gallon bucket was now missing from the back of the truck. It had ridden in the spot against the front bed forever with no problem. I checked and there appeared to be no damage to the truck or trailer. I could see down the road was this bucket on the shoulder. We continued. I was tired and stressed from a long, difficult week at work. This made it no better. The rest of the trip was uneventfull until we got to the state park. Walt was nervous as he was not sure why Lori was not with us. As I drove through the endless speed bumps, I made a wrong turn and found ourselves at the day site. Luckily there was enough room to turn around. We found our spot and with Lorens help, we were set up in no time. Only item of interest was during setup, I hear some loud noise coming from Gwen and Lorens trailer. I look up to see one of their motorcycles falling off the back rack on the trailer. All an embarrassed Loren would say was a strap came loose. Its always interesting with Loren around.

It was clear and getting cold as the sun set. Once set up, it was time for the experiment. I retrieved the satellite dish and set it up. turned on the receiver and tv and had signal in no time with Loren adjusting outside. I thought to my self, this is the life, roughing it in the RV and now with over 300 channels of satellite tv. Life is good.

As I was watching all the channels Lori wont let me watch (get your mind out the gutter, I'm talking Discovery/History/military type channels). I turned on survivor man. I thought, wow, what a coincidence, he is trying to survive in some desolate canyon and here I am in an RV with just SD (standard) channels and no HD. I watch further as he talks about the great temperature swings and I think, no remote for the furnace. I'll have to get up to turn it up a notch! Then he has to catch rats in a makeshift trap in order t survive. I had to put on my light jacket to 'grill' my steak on the outside barbecue. Later he talks about the lack of water and what he finds is not much better. I nod in concurrence as I had forgot to bring ice for my drink!. Ya, I think I could do an episode or two. Roughing it in our Mountaineer is a challenge, but I'm up for it.

Ok, back to reality. Walt and I went to bed and all I heard throughout the night was little whimpers from Walt. About3 am he bugs me thinking he needed out, but actually it was a move on his part to free the bed up. As we come back in, he bolts and is up on the bed and curled up on my pillow. After much coaxing, he relents and moves. I get in and he lays right up against me. I had the heat on for the low 60's and woke often to the poor thing shivering! Finally I placed a blanket over him and he slept good the remainder of the morning.

Saturday brought a cold, crisp morning. The TV said it was about 26 degrees out. I fired up the stove, made coffee and cooked an omelet for breakfast. Again roughing it, I only added mushrooms as I had no meat. We goofed off and later went to the wine festival. It was fun and I sampled some wine. We had steak and Chicken Fettechini for dinner and watched a movie. It was alot warmer tonight and was very pleasant.

Sunday we loaded up and were on the road about noon. When I got home, the dreaded backing job awaited me. I had no spotter as Lori was gone. I only hoped a neighbor would be around, but it was not to be. I knew if I hugged the left corner, I had plenty of room to swing into the driveway without hitting anything. I started backing and all the sudden I was in the driveway without straightening out or anything. I had done it. I finally was able to back in on the first shot. Wow, what a rush! I backed down the driveway, lined up on the plank I have to park on and backed right on. I have two orange cones to show me where to stop. I was in, dropped the jacks and unhitched. I was done and just in time to watch the Seahawks lose again. Another enjoyable adventure.

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