The Maiden Voyage

After a mere eight months of weekend work, my wife and I took our first overnight trip in our fully functional Overlander this weekend. It was a big success! Although our two boys were not with us, we are planning a repeat trip next weekend where I am sure they will find time to repeatedly figure out how an RV toilet works .

It started out as the perfect destination at a really good time. My in-laws had planned on keeping the Boyz Friday night, so my wife suggested we take the Overlander up to Montesano State Park at the same time. I thought the destination was great in that it was a real campground (to test the Airstream), and there were many hills & winding roads enroute (to validate the Suburban).

Goals were simple: Get there, grill steaks for supper, sleep, make sausage & biscuit for breakfast, then return home. All this while making a list of what to bring/do next time. By noon on Friday, the threat of rain had substituted "sandwiches" for "grilled steaks".

By scheduled departure time, we were delayed as my wife reviewed tornado warnings on television. We left after it appeared the worst of the bad weather was heading away from our destination. The rain, however, was here to stay.

I must say that the Airstream tows beautifully in a pouring rain. Going up some of the hills on our chosen route gave me an appreciation for how the Shuttle astronauts must feel as some of those hills had QUITE the grade. Going down the other side of the hill, luckily, was NOT Six-Flags' "Great American Scream Machine" as I had done a major brake job on the Airstream. The Suburban's engine has a really cool sound when the four-barrel carburetor opens up to pull a grade. We heard it a lot. The gauges, with the exception of the gas gauge, remained steady the entire trip.

In somewhat of "a nod from the gods", there was one pull-through space available at the park. We took it, and proceeded to make camp. I was happy to find the refrigerator's pilot light had remained lit the entire trip. With the driving over, I had a cold beer as my better half proceeded to cut shelving paper for the overhead bins, and unload the boxes of camping supplies loaded beforehand.

The air conditioner worked a bit too well for my wife’s comfort. But she was happy to have hot water with which to rinse her face. I was happy to not open a window (did you read about The Big Metal Tent?)

Although I forgot the sausage, we both enjoyed the fresh baked biscuits Saturday morning. I did, however, remember the Mr. Coffee & supplies.

Unfortunately, we both forgot the camera, so I have no pictures to share with you. I will try harder to remember on next week's trip. Maybe it will snow just to make things interesting...