Camper Delivery

Thursday was supposed to be a really exciting day for us. We purchased a new camper, a real dream for Barb and I since we love camping so much. We had a smaller starter model that we have enjoyed for 3 years but we figured something bigger would fit better with our expanding family. The big day was Thursday, I took 1/2 day off work, I had packed everything we still had in our old camper into plastic bins (as it turned out, a really stellar idea BTW). I was kind of shocked at how many it took to get everything packed. Even small campers have lots of hidden storage space I guess. Young's was coming at 1:30 and my job that day was to pull our old camper off our site so they could back our new one in. Simple.



Well my first hint that this was not going to go well should have been that about 10:00am it started raining like monsoon season in the far east. Still, not really getting it though, I left work at Noon, drove to Eagle Lake and hooked up to the old camper. In the rain, cold driving, miserable rain, but I was fired with the thrill of our new camper being delivered. I moved our old camper without mishap, soaked to the bone, but still fired with enthusiasm and parked it in a spot that would make it very easy for Young's RV to hook up to it and take it away.



Just as I completed my task, I saw through the mist and down pour a wondrous sight, our new 31 foot Pilgrim with a slide out moving amongst the trees that were slightly bent over from the gale force winds. Standing there in the rain, having lost some feeling in my hands and face from the affects of the cold rain, I was heartened at the sight and ready to watch them position our new home on wheels in just the perfect spot on our campsite.



As they backed into our pad, I was glad that I had paid the extra 200 dollars to have them deliver since there is a tree at the end of our pad that made maneuvering the longer vehicle a bit of a challenge and their "expertise" was worth me not putting a dent in our shine new RV. As the Pilgrim back onto our pad, I noticed that the wheels were sinking in maybe an inch or two, not a problem though since I'm not planning on ever having to move it off the pad and our old one had sunk about the same anyway. I should also mention that the pads at the campsite are crushed stone and is supposed to, over time, become as hard as concrete. Yeah, not today.



Mission accomplished, the camper is on our site, small problem, it tilts to one side and will be a real problem trying to level it and leveling a camper properly is very important. Answer, pull the camper forward and back it onto some boards under one set of tires. Sounded simple and it would have been if it weren't raining so hard and the pad now has become saturated and softer and the camper rolling forward has now sunk 4 - 6 inches, Young's pick-up truck has also sunk into the muck and won't budge. The Young's driver has no choice but to call a tow truck to pull him out. The campground owner now has become involved and he is less than happy with how this has gone. He is the kind of guy who likes things to go his way and for people to always ask his permission, yeah, a control freak. He is truly unhappy with Young's and his attitude is spilling over to include me. I feel bad that my site now has several very deep ruts in the pad, and this fact is the only thing that keeps me from blowing my top because here I am, mud covered, soaked, cold and no camper. Seriously in no mood for someone to show me any kind of attitude.

Phil is the guy from Young's who is trying to deliver our new camper and he is a guy who has obviously been around the block a few times, he knows Joe, the campground owner and he quickly determines that the sooner we leave, the better. He suggests that we take both campers back to Young's, I can move all of our carefully packed belongings from the old camper to our new one and we will try another day. Once we arrive back at the dealers lot, I begin the process of transferring the bins and of course, the rain picks-up with renewed vigor. So does the wind. I'm already soaked and now determined that I am going to accomplish something today, so I press on and about 45 minutes later, I have moved all of our stuff. I kid you not, as I carried the last items into the new camper, the rain stops. Oh well, I have still accomplished something, I have emptied out the old camper.

Today is Saturday, and Barb and I decide to take a drive back out to Young's. She wants to check out some color schemes and I want to ask what the plan is for getting the pad fixed and my camper delivered, soon. The forecast for next week is to stay dry until Wednesday and then rain the rest of the week. I explained to the people at Young's that if this isn't fixed before it starts raining and we have to miss another weekend, I'm not going to be happy. They assured me that they understood and would do what they could to get this done.

In hind sight, this was just one of those days that wasn't going to go well not matter what. On the other hand, I got home, wet, cold and tired and Barb ordered a pizza for us, calmed me down and we ended up having a very nice evening. I guess all things balance out in the end.

The Week in Review

I got to see the ultra-sound pictures of my 4th Grandchild this week. What a thrill that is. I'm just as excited about number 4 as I was for Sam, Ray or Zetta. Christopher referred to the baby as the "Nugget". I like that and will be referring to the baby as Nugget. It's amazing how as the family grows, so does the room in your heart.

This was one Butt breaking week at work. I worked until 7 or 8 every night and as I was driving home last night it dawned on me that doing that had not made any serious affect on anything that I was working on. What a waste of time that I could have spent with Barb, and again, for what?

Barb is off to Kentucky with her Sisters to visit family and last night I just vegged out and watched a movie, Body of Lies, nothing like I thought is was going to be, I give it 1 star on a 5 star scale. Pretty disappointed really in it. I might just start my own critics corner, hmmm.

This afternoon, I'm heading to Maegan & Will's to spend some time with them. Will's parents are supposed to come also and I think we are going to go have dinner someplace, not sure where. This is just going to be one of those slow easy weekends that I think everyone needs more often than we are allowed. Camping season will be starting the middle of next month and I can't wait to get out to the campground and have that first campfire of the season. The thought of it makes me miss Mike even more.

Barb is enjoying her new Ford Fusion and I am so happy for her. With her being in Kentucky this weekend, I get to put a few miles on it. :-)

Back to reality

Getting back from vacation has always been a difficult activity. You spend a whole week where the most important decision you have to make is where you are going to have lunch and what time diner is going to be. Do you want to sit on the beach today or go see some sights, (usually the beach wins). But work we must to make these all to short interludes possible.

Spending time with family who aren't just a short ride away is golden and makes the separation even harder, but it makes you treasure those moments even more. The lesson here is to make the times with family that are just a short ride away just as sweet and special. Had some time this morning to reflect on this and it became real clear to me that time being our most precious commodity is best spent with those you love no matter if they are 10 miles, or 900 hundred miles or 3,000 miles away.

Mock yeah, ing yeah, bird yeah

Don't get all excited this is Sarah starting a Mock post just so we can get the ball rolling for Papa!