Henry's Camping Adventure

Well, that was a blast! I took a primitive campsite last Wednesday through this morning, during the Old Ironwork's Day celebrations at Maramec Springs. A bit pricey but heck, I'm making the big bucks again. With the van, a regular tent, and a screen tent, I was set up for a little bit of entertaining over the weekend, in case anyone brought the boys out to visit. Though I was looking forward to a little bit of solitude, that might have been too much to expect during a celebration week.

I parked the van Wednesday afternoon and explored for several hours, expecting to come back to a quiet evening in the van with my cuddly cat, hot chocolate, and a good book. Instead, I found a new Rolla friend at my campsite setting up a barbeque with a group of her local biker friends. By biker friends, I mean professionals by day, bikers by nights and weekends. It WAS at least a low-stress way of meeting members of the local police force and fire departments. There was definitely a dead carcass cookout going on and I found several willing helpers who put the tents up for me. They even brought some beer and wine, and picnic fixin's. I never did get the solitude I was looking for, but it was a lot of fun. A bit more of a party atmosphere than I expected, but I'm usually up for a good party, as a real Gemini's Gemini (Sun and moon in Gemini). Yes, I believe in it. The Zodiac does not lie!

On Sunday I hitched a ride to a Universalist Unitarian meeting (on a Harley), and I'm glad I did. The presentation was by the group, "Engineers Without Borders". I'm now thinking about joining because it would be a mitzvah to help bring the internet to a remote village in South America. I'm still trying to decide how to implement my mission in life, and I actually dread trying to help the homeless in America. At least I'd be working on relatively the same continent if I went the route of Engineers Without Borders, and it would be only 2 trips a year with the rest of the time spent here. I'd still be able to work with the homeless. What really interested me was the primitive engineeering solutions for water and waste handling, which I think I can put into practice on my own land in the US someday.

Well, the guy who brought me also attended the fellowship meeting and now I think I have a "beau". There is that tendency when the girl rider is wrapped tightly around the guy driving 80 mph down I-44. It's just a normal response to the situation. He hung around me the rest of the day and I had to boot him out of the van before the park closed last night. I didn't give him my cell phone number, but Bonnie did. He's left three messages since last night. I think if he were closer to my age he'd understand how to be a little smoother with the approach. I'm tempted to go out with him but am leary of his "campaign" approach. He's a fireman and has a small business, so hopefully he won't have a lot of time to stalk me. I think I will be nice and return one call, thank him for the ride, and plead a busy week to get out of any dates this week. I do have to get started on a new IT contract and don't need the distractions. Hey, I'm old and I'm not going anywhere. If it is meant to be it will happen.

Henry did well for this camping adventure. The nice part was that I didn't need to pack at all. Everything I needed was already in place inside, only a stop for gas and groceries was required. The blankets on the sides of the interior gave plenty of insulation against the rapidly cooling Missouri days and nights. I let a couple of the ladies stay overnight in the van with me and we managed fine. The men and dogs stayed in the tent, of course. I like dogs and men ok, but they bring funny odors with them. Skyler the cat was the only boy sleeping with me over the weekend. His big adventure was sneaking out to explore the campsite. He got a load of the dogs in the area and decided to perch on the driver's seat instead, which got some sun and warmth. I think living fulltime in a van with a cat shouldn't be a problem until it gets too hot, then I would need to stay somewhere with more conveniences.

I'm home now and will do the cleanup and equipment maintenance before I go take the boys to soccer practice. Hopefully I can snatch a nap in the back of the van while the little brother does his homework. I have a big pile of laundry to do in the Rubbermaid bucket this afternoon, to be dried when I take them back to the big trailer. I'm still living in the RV sized trailer while my friend takes care of her grandchildren in the big trailer. I'm able to be the "soccer mom" and supervise them in the evenings so they aren't alone.

The laundry solution I came up with for van dwelling has been working out well for me. Normally I'd invest an hour of my time at a laundromat, but if it's too cold to contemplate leaving the RV, washing clothes at home is a viable option. The hardest part is agitating the water and wringing out the clothes. I've done it strictly by hand and it's taken days for sopping wet jeans and sweatshirts to dry and my hands ached. My tiny paws were meant for easy work like hand sewing and typing, really. So I bought a commercial size Rubbermaid mop bucket that holds up to thirty gallons of water, though I can do a complete wash with ten gallons--three to wash, and eight to rinse. To "agitate" I bought a new toilet pluner, the black kind made of soft, snag-free rubber. On the mop bucket, the built-in wringer is a flat press style that easily presses most of the water out of the clothes. Inside the van or a tub enclosure, I use a spring pressure mounted bar for a preliminary hanging of the clothes until I either get them to a dryer or hang them on a line outside. With regular clothes line rope I used snap hooks attached to each end to fashion a portable clothes line that can be set up in flexible configurations wherever I can find trees or parts to hook them from. I'll probably set up an awning system on the van one day, so I don't have to harm a tree to dry my clothes.

It takes me about fifteen minutes to wash and hang four days worth of laundry. I'm fast and follow the old fashioned rules--start with extremely hot water and wash the whites (sheets & towels), the stinkies (socks & undies), the pants, and the shirts last. Then dump the water and rinse in the same order, wringing and hanging as I go. A pre-soak, then a detergent scrub with a stiff bristled brush works well on tire tracks, if you know what I mean. My friend Marie has a washboard she's going to dig up for me, and I think it will help with working on any stains. I think my laundry is coming out better now that I use the new system. You tend to put laundry in and not inspect it for hard to treat stains until they are dried into the fabric and it is too late.

Well, enough lunch and lollygagging, it's time to get busy...