4-9-24
4-7 -- (from my camping log) -- This weekend was the opening weekend of camping season at Loud Thunder. It's about 8:30 a.m., and the weather is about as bad as bad can be without snow. It's currently raining and cold and windy. Amber just left with the Harrison grandchildren, as they ended up spending the night last night.
It's Sunday, so now I'm sitting at the dinette table (in the camper) putting some thoughts down. Friday night was cold but dry. We got the camper all set up, and Amber completed some of her organizing efforts. We didn't have a campfire, but I did get a chance to watch some MEtv. I watches dome Hogan's Heroes before going to bed. Food for Friday night was just leftovers we had brought from home. Yesterday morning (Saturday) I broke out the Blackstone and we had breakfast, and it was awesome. It's weird, but cooking breakfast outside in the air with the sights and sounds and other smells of the campground around just make breakfast all the more enjoyable. I also tried out the magnetic covers for the sides of the Blackstone, and those worked out well.
After breakfast, Amber went home to take a shower, and I opened the rest of the Christmas gifts. - a survival kit, an assortment of flashlights, and a cookbook. When Amber got back, we went for a walk/hike for almost two miles. We then spent the afternoon lounging and reading, and I snuck in a nap.
In the evening (still Saturday), Amber's parents arrived and we had supper - burgers and hot dogs off of the Blackstone. I also started a fire...a campfire is a necessity with every opening weekend, even if its only for the smells. The weather for the day wasn't ideal, but it was manageable - just too breezy. The Harrisons arrived a little after supper, and we visited a bit, and then it was grandparent time. I guess before that we did go to the playground, and we did take a little hike on the tree identification nature trail that exists near the campground. Night time sleeping assignments are girls on the hide-a-bed and boys in the bedroom, so I had Luke with me and Gigi had Brinley and Brookln with her.
The wake up today (Sunday) was 6:30 a.m., and Luke is not easy to sleep with. Along with that, rain arrived earlier than forecasted. I don't sleep well in the rain because the raindrops are pretty loud on the roof above the bedroom. Gigi got the kids breakfast, and we finished the movie Bolt before they left. They wanted to go to the park and maybe go for a hike to the lake, but all those plans got rained out. I'm going to spend the night at the campground again and pull out in the morning (Monday). There is no sense trying to park the rig at home because I'm taking it into Mutual Wheel to get the wheel bearings repacked and the brakes inspected. I decided to just take a personal day and get that job taken care of. Tomorrow (Monday) is supposed to be beautiful and sunny with temps near 70 degrees. In addition, it's solar eclipse day, so I can deal with that on my day off from school.
My next order of business is to read my book, and then I'll work on tidying up the camper - maybe do some vacuuming. Around 11:30 a.m., I'll venture the park office and add another night to the reservation. Then I think I'll get ready for the Iowa women's game on television - they are in the championship game.
Monday, April 8 - 7:00 a.m. Yesterday's experiment of camping while hooked up went well. The weather was awful - really awful. I felt bad for the poor guys that were out in it putting stuff away and hooking up. Plus for me, parking at home would have been a muddy nightmare. Actually, I would have left it on the road in front of the house (where it is now). So after watching the women's basketball title game (Iowa lost to South Carolina), I got a break in the clouds, and the sun came out. With the better weather, then, I commences to start the pullout process. The first step was to remove the King wireless extender equipment. Amber wants to try something different - Starlink, I think it is called. I didn't have to get on the roof of the camper, which is good. Then I proceeded to do some clean-up duty inside and bring the slides in. I brought them all in, and then I went ahead and backed the truck up and hooked on as if I was going to be leaving. I did not unhook water, sewer hose, nor power.
With our trailer, most everything is accessible and usable with the slides in, so spending the night inside a "closed" trailer is doable. And as luck would have it, the weather actually ended up being really nice. In fact, it would have been a nice night for a campfire, but I didn't have any firewood left over, and anything I could have possibly foraged for would have been still wet. I did, though, get in a nice walk. It's pretty simple getting in a good walk when the weather is nice, and I'm the only camper tennant in the entire campground.
After the walk I watches some TV, ate a sandwich, and went to bed. I set the furnace to 60 degrees, and I don't think it kicked on until about 5:30 a.m. If it did kick on, I didn't hear it. This this morning, the pull out process was pretty smooth. In fact, I was back home before 7:30 a.m. All I had to do was pull the sewer hose after emptying the tanks, then unhook the water hose, then unhook the power - pretty simple and smooth.
So now after dropping some stuff off at home - clothes, groceries, chairs - I got back into the rig and headed here to Mutual Wheel where I now sit in the service department. They were going to have me back into the bay but I let the tech do that. I could have done it, but I would have taken much longer and just frustrated the guy. I think I'll just get my book out and do some reading. Next time, I'll know to have someone come and get met.
TODAY - Tuesday, April 9 - 5:54 a.m. (no longer from the camping log) - It's back to the grind today, but yesterday was an efficient one. The service at Mutual Wheel went well. I have some peace of mind now that the bearings have been repacked and the brakes have been inspected. I still haven't parked the trailer; I'd like to let the ground settle a little more - maybe I'll back it in tonight. After getting home, I ran back in town to do an errand for Amber, and then I got home and mowed the yard during the solar eclipse. I know there were probably some great views, but it didn't seem all that big of a deal to me. After the yard, I went to the Rockridge softball game and helped out my friend with some umpiring tips. Then I went to mom and dad's for a little visit since I didn't see them all weekend. After that I came home and had some supper and watched UConn win their second men's basketball championship and went to bed.
So today, it's back to school after getting a poor report about yesterday in a couple of class periods. That's not a big surprise. I'll deal with that today. After school it's back to umpiring, but I'm just at Rockridge. Maybe I can then get the camper parked by the house after the games.
Things for School
- enter remaining scores for postsecondary survey completed
- enter training path grid scores
- schedule lesson plan for 4/10, 4/11, 4/12
- enter deductions for no work on Monday
- also Tuesday, make sure screencastify extension is working
Things to do
- look at Arbiter reschedule of basketball
- spray weeds
- spread weed and feed
- submit costs for colonoscopy for refund
- send registration for Justin Sharp Shootout
- write a letter to Chase and mail - 4/5
- for professional development principal academy training
- complete #3000 (June 17, 2024) register by 6/10
- complete #1865 (June 13, 2024) register by 6/6
- For Summer Camping Adventure
- get truck inspected at Slayden's
- purchase Glacier vehicle registration ticket for west entrance
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