Exodus

A while back I wrote a little piece about the trials and tribulations of some when they first come into a campground. What I failed to mention was just how interesting it can get when people of all experience levels leave...

Departure days do not vary all that much and will usually fall into two categories. The first is experience level. The weekend camper will tend to leave on a Sunday or Monday in the case of a holiday weekend. More experienced campers, those clearly on an extended vacation or full-timers tend to leave in the middle of the week (this is due to traveling, weather, lumbago; its all quantum if you ask me). Now, I'm not saying all weekend campers can't be experienced but the good majority are those who are just beginning this adventure and yes, provide the most fun for the observer.

Take the guy who was two sites over from us. At first I thought he was a well experienced camper; he arrived on a Thursday ;backing his 34ft 5^th wheel into a tight fitting site just as slick as can be and was fully situated in a very short time. He talked like he knew what end of the stick to grab and was a really good neighbor. What gave him away was his departure last Sunday.

His disassembling of his campsite proceeded with nary a hitch or problem and he had quickly and efficiently disconnected the water, sewer and power. Upon prompting by a very loud, high pitched voice from within the RV, he also quickly and efficiently reconnected all three. I firmly believe it was the tone and pitch of the prompting that caused him to trip over the hose and bang his head on the slide for he really did not look that clumsy. I am also a believer (forged in the crucible of having done it once) in not disconnecting any shore-ties nor retracting leveling jacks without first ensuring my partner is not in the commode.

Our intrepid camper finally received the go ahead and re-disconnected all the connections like a pro; sort of. When disconnecting the water line it is always good practice to turn the water off at the spigot prior to unscrewing it elsewhere. Fortunately it was less than a gallon and mostly sprayed on his shirt. Frankly I didn't know you could hit those sorts of high notes in a falsetto voice. Oh, did I mention the temperature has been in the mid-fifties all week? And the water source out here is a mountain spring?

Having changed shirts and stowed all of the water hose, sewer hose, and electrical cable, our neighbor seemed all ready to take off. He backed his truck smoothly into the hitch and in no time at all was hooked up and ready for departure – sort of. Odd how you can forget to bring in a slide you've banged your head on about a hundred times in the past few minutes. Or maybe not since so much banging surely caused short term amnesia and a concussion.

Until this time I had never seen someone conduct a final walk-around by walking backwards. I'm sure it does give one a different perspective but I can't shake the feeling it also contributed to our departing fellow tripping over his stairs and landing in the puddle of water created by his water hose adventure. Yes, another high note was reached and I'm now pretty sure this guy was a past member of the Vienna Boys Choir.

It was sort of a let down to see this guy leave. For a while I debated on whether to get another cup of coffee and the lawn chair but he was just too fast and soon his tail lights were the only thing seen heading down the road – oh and that flapping curtain out the window.

Today is Wednesday and is one of our traveling days. After writing this I think I'll be especially vigilant in going through my routine and extra careful as well. Who knows who may be watching and recording my actions for their blog.