~Friday, March 4, 2022~
Day 628
First, a very happy birthday wish to my best friend, Michele. 🥳🎈🎁 I’m so lucky to have you in my life. Wish I could be there to help you celebrate!
With RV’ing, no matter if you're moving 300 feet or 300 miles, the breakdown and setup are the same. If you try to cut corners to save time, you’re only asking for trouble. And the longer you stay in one spot (we’ve been in the same campsite for 9 days), the more spread out and comfortable you become with your site, which lends itself to a longer packing job. Dead Horse Ranch State Park has been a wonderful place to call home, so we’re happy that we are extending our stay by only having to switch sites. When we booked this place about 11 months ago, we tried to nab 2 weeks in one spot. But with this park’s popularity, that wasn’t possible. So we just booked 2 different sites in the 14 days. Whatever works. Moving sites is not that big of a deal.
This was as good a time as any for me to get in a “practice” session with driving/parking the trailer. But first, the dump station where my hubby was a little worried about me getting into the narrow spot and making the U-turn. The people coming from the other direction would have a much easier time. But I did it!
Getting into our new campsite however, wouldn’t be quite as easy. I’m sure it was amusing for anyone watching. Our new site was in the next loop above and should have been an easy one to back into. What should have taken me 2 minutes took more like 15. And to give added pressure, there was another rig behind me trying to get by. After about 3 tries with Jeff’s direction, I finally went back around the loop to let those poor people by (evidently they were very nice about it when Jeff apologized about how long it was taking). 8 tries of moving up and back later, trying to get it right, I was “in”. A few minutes later, camp hosts Ray and Sarah stopped by while making their rounds via golf-cart. I guess they had been observing the whole thing. Ray is in his mid 70’s I’d say and full of advice, but in a nice way. I especially heed guidance when I’m asked if I want it in the first place. Sarah backed him up explaining his years of driving big rigs and towing, so I knew his counseling would be golden. “When you’re first backing in, don’t be so far to the right. Get your wheels set up at the left edge of the driveway and follow the line in”, he said. I’ve done these backins on the driver side before with greater ease, but for some reason today was just not my day. But I’ll tell you one thing….it’s always a “Sylvester Stallone” moment when I finally get it right. At least it was a great conversation starter.
Once we got past the driver’s course, we learned about Ray and Sarah’s story. Originally from Maine, this is their 15th season being camphosts at this state park. They generally stay for 5 months at a time during the winter months. As of last year, they purchased a home in nearby Cottonwood and are in the midst of selling their home. This move won’t be an easy one, especially for her, since their remote cabin in Maine has been in the family since the 1930’s. They’ve decided to have everything professionally handled between packing and hauling their belongings to Arizona to the insane tune of $17,000. After he compared costs of fuel, lodging & dining if they were to handle the move themselves, he said they wouldn’t be saving that much money. I guess with inflation at an all-time high, this is probably not the best time to move across the country. At least this gives us a glimpse of what we’re in for. We hope everything is smooth sailing for the two of them!
Later in the day, Jeff and I had individual phone calls to my sister and bro-in-law back in Oregon. Normally we FaceTime with us all together, but it was nice for a change, to have some one-on-one time with each one of them, Jeff with Tim and me with Tracy. I can’t remember the last time my sister and I had such a long discussion about family, kids, jobs, retirement, traveling, current events, and our latest successful Pinterest recipes. Fun times!