Mistletoe May 2023

Didn’t get a chance to start this the first day, but I’ll share as much as I can remember.

MAY 1 (yesterday)

Left the house a little later than anticipated, so we arrived after the park office closed and sought our campsite. I selected #39 because it was RIGHT ON THE WATER. Backing into the spot didn’t quite turn into a battle, but she (and the kindly neighbor) backed away and I struggled for another five minutes to back in the camper. Lesson learned: look in the rearview mirror and put hand on bottom of steering wheel. I bet I’ll improve my skills with more practice.

Setting up the Playmor camper is far easier than a pop-up or tent; in fact, given the high winds here (more on that later), I’m not sure we could’ve successfully set up either one. Anyway, it took five minutes to unhook and balance - I’d probably still be fussing with the popup this morning LOL. Jasmine flipped the switch for the electric breaker and we were in business: only had to change batteries and bulb in one light. Didn’t need AC, but probably will turn heater on and crack a window for tonight.

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Before I forget, there are a couple of things we forgot:

-Eggs, Bacon, Bread, Meat, Cheese - basically, you know, food to eat (Jasmine prepped chicken, pasta, and spinach so we have plenty to gnaw on before we have to kill and cook the dog).

-Trash bags (but there are numerous doggie bag stations, so when in Rome…)

-Cooking utensils (pots, pans, spoons)

-Microwave worked well, but I need to find a better solution for a flat surface than using one of the boards covering storage areas.

-Also, I feel like I need to have a different strategy for packing. I usually shove everything into a bag with the expectation of putting things in drawers or hanging for easy access; there is no room for anything like that now, so I think I’ll get multiple soft or hard shell containers with different items in each. These can be stored on one of the bunk beds or left in bed of truck. My stuff is strewn over the top of one of the bunk beds now (Jasmine hasn’t complained yet).

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I set up the two folding lounge chairs and we enjoyed a breezy sunset. Chicken dish was delicious and afterwards we made popcorn and settled in to watch a movie on my iPad: “Tag” with Jeremy Renner. Perfect choice! I think she went to sleep first and I had so-so luck getting to sleep (or back to sleep when I went to the bathroom at 3AM - didn’t get back to sleep until 5:30ish).

Funny story: I wanted to get some hand soap in the washroom and wound up spraying myself from head to toe when I didn’t bother to identify WHERE soap would dispense and pressed the “PUSH” button a little too hard. Guess you’d have to have been there, but it seemed like something a person besides me would have found humorous.

MAY 2 (today)

Met the site hosts this morning. They are from Montana and sold everything they have in order to live the travel host existence at various parks. She was familiar enough with Mistletoe to be able to identify the windiest spots (ours was one of them). She had three cute little dogs and told me she loved our Li’l Kahuna! 

Saban slept fairly well it seemed, but as usual his appetite is low. I left his food out this morning and before he finished it the crows got to it - so no more outside feeding LOL.

We had a momma goose and her goslings visit. If I can figure out how to load a picture onto this post I’ll do it. Now that I’ve started this I’ll add to it later today - probably going to get our very nervous puppy out of here and go for a walkabout.

(7:55PM). Did I mention it was windy today? 17 MPH and gusts even higher. Good thing I picked a spot on a point with absolutely no trees to slow the wind down. For a while, the wind was hitting a part of the door much like a double reed instrument: the whine was constant and annoying, much like one of the instruments I endured in rehearsal Sunday afternoon (that’s all I’m gonna say about that). We managed to get a short walk in, but otherwise we’ve hung around the camper notstop. Maybe that could be seen as a good thing, though: we certainly know that we can hang out together for a few days and maintain our sanity. Saban has been inside with us most of the time, but I put him out a little while ago just so he could move around a little - there just isn’t any room in here to do much more than take one step towards the door or a step to the fridge (which worked out great except for the lack of freezer space and one of our frozen meals defrosting a bit quicker than optimal).

We also scoped some areas that would be nice to camp with friends and family. Proximity to water, bathroom, and a little play space of land were identified and (hopefully) noted for future reference. Wouldn’t have been much fun this trip, but we agreed that purchasing a bike rack is the next thing for our camper. Probably just gonna chill and maybe take a sleeping pill so I can get some solid sleep tonight. 

MAY 3 (check out day)

Learned last night that running the heater/ac unti trips the breaker on our convertor. Easy enough to reset, but still worth noting and seeking a remedy. Also decided this morning that I’m going to purchase one of those travel urinals with a hose attachment so I don’t have to trek from the camper to a bathroom 1,000X a night. I really was careful with liquid consumption after 7PM last night, but I still went to the bathroom 3X between 10PM and 7:30AM this morning,

Poor Saban never did figure out that pine tree to the left of the camper: he wrapped himself around it at least three times LOL. 

Jasmine wasn’t up yet so I went ahead and took a banana, pop tart, and coffee to sit in the truck. She texted me when she woke up so I joined her back in the camper - she had almost finished putting the table back together! I let Saban in and he promptly jumped onto the table…and then stood there shaking cause he couldn’t quite figure out how to jump down. He ate well last night so no doubt we need to go for a walk soon so he can relieve himself.

I’ve still got to work on how I position the cushions when converting the table to our bed: first night I wound up with two cushions sticking up on my side (which probably didn’t help me sleep since 1/2 my space on either end was taken up with pillows); last night, I changed the order of the cushions but still would up with a “hump” on my side. I think Jasmine could sleep on a rock so she doesn’t notice these things. I did have to use my phone to make a fan sound after the heater/AC kicked off the first time (too lazy to get up).