The Camper is Home!

We live in the city. When we look out our dining room window, we look into our neighbor’s back door. We have a standard 2.5 car garage that can sometimes hold two cars but surely could never house our camper. In the off-season, our camper lives up on the property we own in the northern part of our state, 3 1/2  hours from our home.

Each year, two to four weeks before our first planned excursion of the year, the camper comes home to get ready for the trip. This is an exciting time because it means the open road is closer than ever! Last weekend, our camper came home and is now patiently waiting our time and attention in our driveway. Every time I look out the window and see it there, I smile, recalling fond memories and anticipating the good times yet to come.

We will be going up north for the July 4^th weekend and our first planned trip this year is later than usual, not until July 14^th-24^th. When I mentioned that I’d like to bring the camper back last weekend, my husband asked, “Why not wait until July 4^th?” What he was suggesting made sense as we have 3 cars and the camper must sit in the driveway. When it is here, none of the cars can get to the garage so we must juggle three cars in the driveway every day.

I answered him, “Because it makes me happy to see it here and I’d rather be happy for the extra two weeks.” I guess he thought that was a simple enough way to please his wife because, being the good husband he is, he patiently prepared it for its journey home last weekend and hooked it up to the Durango as we were preparing to leave.

Now as I look out in my driveway, after backing three cars out of the driveway this morning, my head fills with thoughts of flushing the lines and filling the water tank. I find myself planning for such tasks as wiping out the cupboards, scrubbing down the floors and filling the cabinets with essentials such as petite diced tomatoes, flour and the spices we like to use in our cooking. I start thinking about the clothes I want to take along and begin to stow the items I will not need before the journey in the storage space on board. Always when performing these chores, I am anticipating our upcoming adventures. And, I smile.

It’s almost as if I need to see our little camper sitting there awaiting my attention, a vivid reminder of our journey to come, to get into full preparation mode. My thoughts now are focused on meals to be planned, ingredients to be purchased, activities to be arranged. And the time seems to fly by. Before I know it, it is time to head out. And again, I smile.

Check out Woodall’s main site for more camping information.