A Year About

I was told by my loving husband that I can’t go to bed tonight until I have written a post for the blog, so here I am!

Unfortunately for us (and you, dear reader, by default), we can’t take the trailer out again until the end of June (weekends are booked) so there isn’t a lot to write about. I mean, I could write about things, but not much that would interest you. How many of you want to hear about our lawn cutting schedule or our new window washing technique (squeegees)? . . . .

That’s what I thought.

We did have a really nice weekend, though. The highlight was Sunday night at Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band was giving a free concert there with fireworks afterward. Wolf Trap is a great venue. We have been going there for years. The Filene Center, where the concert was, is an outdoor performing arts amphitheater with in-house (covered, fixed) and lawn (uncovered, grass) seating. The total seating capacity is over 7,000. We always picnic on the lawn while enjoying whatever concert we have come to see. Sunday night was to be no exception. We were meeting another family there, the Iekels, good friends of ours who have two girls, one in high school and the other in 5th grade. Elise loves to hang out with them, especially the 5th grader, Grace.

Bobby, Elise and I parked at Wolf Trap about 15 minutes before a huge storm was about to hit. We could see the gray/green clouds rolling in and decided to wait in the car until it was all over before heading to the lawn. The Iekels pulled in about 10 minutes after we did, called us on our cell phone and told us to bring Elise to their car so the girls could play while it rained. The clouds were just beginning to release huge, fat raindrops when Elise and I ran among the cars looking for the Iekel’s silver Volvo. With Elise delivered, I raced back to our car, slightly damp, but generally unscathed.

And then the skies opened up. It rained for a good 25 minutes, and hard, too. The wind was fierce. All the people who had come early to picnic and were outside started racing for their cars. Actually, I shouldn’t say racing. It was raining so hard, there was no point in hurrying. You couldn’t get any wetter. I saw moms struggling to push double strollers through the grass, people not even using their umbrellas, and more pairs of underwear through thoroughly wet shorts than I ever wanted to.

At about 7:00 pm, we decided the rain had let up enough. It was still raining, but it seemed like a light drizzle. So we got our blanket and picnic basket out of the car and met up with the Iekels and Elise. We found a spot on the lawn and realized that the rain wasn’t really done yet. We spent about 15 minutes sitting in a steady, but light, rain, trying to eat french bread and chicken salad sandwiches. Elise partially ate a bun that got soggy pretty quickly. But the girls had hot chocolate and we had wine and beer and soon all was well.

The rain did stop, the concert was GREAT and the fireworks were unbelievable! We were sitting close enough to the cannons that we could feel the thump in our chest when they went off – cool! Elise fell asleep in the car and we all quickly fell into bed once we got home. Bobby and I decided that we will have to try and find some free concerts while we’re traveling. We had a great night. Another taste of what’s to come in this next year…

Our excursion to Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park was a success! We learned a lot about towing, boondocking, and of course the park itself. Danine and I have hiked in and around the Shenandoahs many times, but not since Elise was born. We forgot how beautiful it is and how much we love this area. Elise’s smile sums up the trip.

We cruised out on Saturday morning, planning to drive from the park’s North entrance near Front Royal, Virginia down Skyline Drive to Big Meadows. I had Danine turn too early though, and we were headed down Rt. 522 parallel to the park. No big deal. We decided to enter at Thornton Gap and then continue south on Skyline Drive. Rt. 211 leading to this entrance to the park has quite the grade though, steep with plenty of switchbacks. We watched the transmission temperature gauge creep up, so Danine shifted down to third. Eventually it crept up again, so she went down to second. The engine did the work at 2500-3000 rpm for the most part and we cruised up to the top at 35-40 mph. We decided not to come home that way — no sense testing the limits of the brakes just yet.

The drive along Skyline was a little foggy and very lovely. While it’s a windy road, the speed limit is 35 mph, which makes for an easy and stately pace, even with a big trailer behind you.

We had reserved a pull-through site, but it turned out to be one of the shorter ones. The campground was too crowded to switch sites. Our rig just fit into the site bumper to bumper. Oh, and we dumped our gray and black tanks for the first time when we arrived at the campground. I didn’t bother to take a picture… Elise hovered nearby as I did it, saying, “Ewww, gross! That’s disgusting… Can I see?”

After settling in, we hiked the mile or so down to the visitor’s center and checked it out. Our one regret was not having enough time to start the Junior Ranger program for Elise. Hopefully next time. Around 5pm we headed out to the meadow and wandered about. Little paths meander in every direction and, as one ranger put it, “If it looks like a trail it is one.” Elise led the way through coarse, lush grasses, thorny red bracken, and little thickets of weather beaten bushes. She decided to venture through one of these. And so she did, entering, in her words, “the depths of despair.” The kid has a knack for hyperbole.

Once we were back at the trailer, Elise and I conjured a small fire while Danine made mac and cheese from scratch. We had a visit from the owners of one of the other two Airstreams in the campground, Ken and Jill Shuck. They are in the Arizona unit of the WBCCI (the Airstream owners’ club) and have been on the road since March. They offered us good advice, encouragement, and an invitation to visit a rally when we are in Arizona. We were glad to meet them and hope they continue to have safe travels.

Then it rained. Not right away — about an hour after we went to sleep. It was a twenty-minute downpour that was so loud we couldn’t hear each other talking ten feet away. Danine was worried that we wouldn’t hear Elise if she woke up and called for us, so she went down to Elise’s end of the trailer and sat on the step near her bed until the rain stopped. Of course, Elise never woke up – figures! We were safe and dry, but I felt bad for the many tent campers!

In the morning we took a 90 minute hike along the Appalachian Trail, which passes by the campground. It was a fantastic way to begin the day and end our time at Big Meadows. It was a short, sweet trip. We packed up and left just after noon. I drove us north on Skyline Drive past many beautiful spots and finally past Dickey Ridge where Danine and I hiked on Valentine’s Day in 1998. It was covered in snow and ice then and the drive was closed. Now, Spring is just beginning in the Shenandoah, the air cool, and we are happy to be traveling.

Having shuttled our Airstream safely to Virginia, we are now a little more confident, a lot less anxious, and quite a bit more excited about starting the trip. In preparation, though, we need to use the trailer. So, last weekend we ate dinner and watched a movie in the trailer. Danine cooked her special popcorn on our little range, which works great, and we spent the night in it with Elise for the first time. It was fun and felt like home.

Tomorrow we are taking on a bigger challenge. We’re driving on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP and camping at Big Meadows. There are no hook-ups there, which is no problem since we’ll have the Airstream’s batteries and a full fresh water tank. On the way we’ll be doing a few firsts however. We’ll empty our black and gray tanks, and fill up the fresh water tank — all at Bull Run campground. And, of course, we’ll be driving the Airstream on the winding and somewhat steep grades of Skyline Drive. Hey, it’ll be a good test and a confidence builder. I’ll be sure and take pictures and post about it on Monday! Wish us luck!

As an interlude to trailering stuff, I thought I’d offer a couple more “skills” Elise has picked up recently. First, she has Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky pretty much memorized. For some strange reason, this was a kind of Welsh family poem growing up. I remember from an early age (maybe second grade) my brother and sister knowing it and my dad reciting it. I couldn’t forget the thing if I tried. Now Elise — and Danine — have it down. While it’s fun and nonsensical, it also uses a clever language trick: portmanteau words. These are words that pack two (or more) meanings. Carroll coined it, but James Joyce perfected it in Finnegans Wake. Now there’s a book to puzzle over; but make no mistake, it isn’t jibberish. Oh, and it’s most fun when read out loud.

Elise’s other “skill” is liking Shakespeare. As a literature geek, I’m so proud. We saw a high school performance of Much Ado About Nothing (well done) and she was enamored. I gave her the plot summary and she followed the action even though she couldn’t follow the language too much. She understood a lot more than I expected though. Now when she dresses up, she’s Hero instead of one of the ubiquitous Disney princes. Thank goodness. Inspired by her interest, I started to tell her the plots of other Shakespeare plays. I didn’t get too far before I realized there are a number I can’t describe in too much detail (e.g., Macbeth, Othello) without saying stuff like, “anyway he kills him and then she kills herself and then everybody else dies…” Titus Andronicus is out of the question. Actually, I better stick to the comedies.

There’s really not much to say. We went to Michigan, picked up our trailer and brought it back to Virginia. That’s about it, if you don’t count getting lost on a dirt road, night construction on the PA Turnpike, our tollbooth anxiety, and overnighting at a strip mall.

I guess I can elaborate a little. We had no problems getting to the dealership, checking out the trailer and eating our first meal (chicken and dumplings soup and cornbread) in the galley.

We didn’t eat a lot or stay up too late because we were anxious about towing. I kept asking everyone, “Will it fit through tolls okay?” By Monday morning we had a short list of fixes for the dealer (Weekley’s), and their technician Randy promptly took care of them all. They towed the trailer a little over an hour to Hensley’s workshop in Romeo, MI. We were getting closer to our first towing experience.

Mark and Dennis at Hensley installed the hitch while we went out and forced down some lunch (still nervous). We got back and they went over everything, giving us a chance to hitch up, adjust the brake controller, drive half a mile and adjust the hitch and then unhitch. These guys were excellent, very supportive and patient. When Danine and I attempted to unhitch ourselves, we found the tongue jack wouldn’t work. Dennis discovered it was a blown fuse and Mark went to the auto parts store and bought us five spares! We quickly went through three more, but figured out the problem. We rolled out of there, on our own, at 2:30 p.m. feeling ready for anything.

Lucky (?) for us, “anything” happened. We missed the turn onto the highway and had to go through downtown Romeo. After a couple of lefts we went under said highway and the road turned to dirt. Now I know that Airstreams handle well on dirt roads. But knowing this and taking your brand new trailer on one are two completely different things! Hoping the road wouldn’t come to an end without a big flat area to turn around, we kept going. (At this point we had never once backed up the trailer.) We came across a gravel road with a familiar name and knew (hoped) it would take us back to where we started. It did, and we were on our way to…

Rush hour traffic in Detroit. Yes. I quickly learned how wide the Airstream is and how it handles in stop-and-go traffic and on busy expressways. We survived unharmed, filled up with gas for the first time, and drove through a big construction project in Toledo. I may have closed my eyes at this point. I can’t remember. But Danine gave me good guidance for my right side and we got through it. What could be scarier than all of this? The dreaded tollbooth.

We eased up to the wide toll plaza on I-80 in Ohio and went as far right as we could (with the trucks). I slowly pulled into the lane, carefully watching my left while Danine told me how I was doing on the right. Amazingly, the thing fits. I still had to get out to grab the ticket — it’s high, so truckers can reach it. We began the long haul across Ohio which proved to be a good training ground for pulling the trailer: pretty good road, flat, with light to moderate traffic.

Danine took over the driving at the halfway point. She built some confidence on I-80, but then had to go through two toll plazas (she did much better than me) and drive through the confounding and perpetual construction zones on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Up and down long grades. At night. After one more toll booth and one more narrow construction zone, we pulled onto the main street near my parents’ house in Natrona Heights, PA and stopped in the middle of the parking lot of the nearby strip mall at 11:30 p.m. My mom had gotten permission from the management to do this, but we still expected a cop to knock on the door.

It was a quiet night and Elise and my parents came over in the morning. Elise was excited to check out the trailer (which involves a lot of jumping on things). We had a nice breakfast and got ready for the final leg home. We had to be careful snaking the trailer out of the lot now that it was full of cars. But I did a great job, according to Danine. On a lovely sunny day, the turnpike didn’t seem so bad, so we took it all the way to I-70 (Breezewood). I drove so I could get even with Danine on tollbooths (3 and 3). There is one long tunnel on the way, but it’s no worse than the construction areas. Once again Danine drove the last (harder) half and got us through our own chaotic I-495 and into the parking lot of St. Philip’s Catholic Church. Whew!