I’ve Sprung My Spring!

Ah spring. Birds calling, flowers beginning to bloom and the cherry trees blossoming with color. Marmots coming out to fatten up on new growth grass and other greens. Kids chasing after each other, dogs chasing after kids, squirrels, and marmots. And amongst it all? Well for the experienced camp hosts, the unmistakable occasional and somewhat muted exclamations of campers working out the bugs.

 

In the words of the famous Willie Wonka “So much time and so little to do.”
“Wait.”
“Stop”.
“Reverse that.”

Probably the most contradictory thing about full-time RV'ing and in our case, camphosting, is just how much there is to do and just how little time there seems to be in each day. I'm pretty sure it is all some sort of quantum physics thing and I have proven it countless times just this year alone. You see, when you take a seat on a warm spring day time slows to a crawl and everything takes on a wonderfully leisurely pace. It is times like these where you can organize and prioritize the your tasks for the day, plan future projects, and basically get your life in order.

Yea, right.

The very moment you accidently close your eyes for anything longer than a blink it all comes crashing home; time is relative. Upon reopening your eyes you discover hours have gone by and you are suddenly pressed just to get up in time to get dinner. Any thoughts of tackling a to do list or making plans will all have to wait for another day. Curse you Einstein!

Despite this hazardous condition, we have remained at Lincoln Rock State Park and I really have managed to work around the naps to replace a bathroom vanity and sink. Frankly, when you look at that project and recall just how absolutely hopeless I am mechanically, it remains something to brag about even if I say so myself.

Last year, shortly after our departure from Sunset Bay while we were heading south, we noticed the plastic laminate around our sink was beginning to wrinkle and come away from the particle board comprising the vanity top. Unfortunately, where the separation was occurring was not the only place some water was getting under the plastic and it wasn't until our first extended stop in Pahrump that we discovered the faucet had not been sealed either and had allowed water to seep under the mounting.

Enter Mr. Murphy. Just as I was able to take a solid look at the sink and formulate a plan for fixing it, both Chris and I came down with the flu. Our entire stay in Pahrump with the exception of just one day was spent sequestered from everyone and everything. That one day? Restocking groceries and probably the most serendipitous visit to Home Depot. You see, Home Depot does custom sized vanities and sinks in solid surface – something we had promised ourselves after seeing the utter disaster of the laminate topped stuff. The salesperson was a godsend! She knew the subject matter, had some experience with the order process and was very understanding of my complete lack of knowledge. Even though she knew we would be unable to purchase from her store because of our impending departure, she still took the time to answer all of our questions – even my dumb ones!

It was another three months before we returned to the Wenatchee area and had reliable access to a Home Depot for our order, then another month to receive our new vanity top and sink. With that sort of extra time, even a klutz such as myself can actually plan and execute a successful installation as the photo shows.

I wish I could relate that our experience ordering the custom sink from Home Depot in Wenatchee was as pleasurable as our shopping experience in Pahrump but it wasn't. Plain and simple. Somehow, perhaps because of the salesperson in Wenatchee was not familiar with the order process, our order wasn't filled for two weeks. Then, due to a recent delivery contract change, it took an additional two weeks to arrive. Kudos to Home Deport though for recognizing and acknowledging the problems on the order and giving us a $50 discount for inconvenience. Yep, will be shopping there again but probably not in the Wenatchee store.

In three short weeks we'll be pakcing up and heading off to Goose Lake State Park near New Pine Creek, Oregon. Until then, I'll leave you with the camper funny of the month.

It begins with our normal rounds through the park when, in passing one of the pull thru sites something caught my eye just every so slightly out of place. A 5^th wheel toy hauler trailer – the kind with a master bedroom up front and probably bunk rooms in the rear. What was interesting was the sewer hose running neatly between the two gray tank dumps. Thats all, just the hose connected to the front pipe, running along the ground to the back pipe. Note, no Y-gate valve and no connection to the dump. Yep, both dump valves were sticking out, indicating they were pulled open. Wish I had taken a picture. Wonder with the difference in heights, will the rear tank overflow from the added fluid from the front tank?

I missed the final outcome. They were already gone before our rounds leaving only a wet spot on the pavement. Granted, it was a HUGE wet spot.

Take care and safe travels. Type at you soon.