Departure Eve

It is the evening of the night before. There is an eerie stillness in the air. I’m a little on edge, concerned about something we’ll leave behind that we cannot replace while on the road – such as passport!

Or, knowing Thomas, who does not have a license for a concealed carry, whether or not he stowed a flat-shooting rifle in one of the wheel wells so assure a venison feast once north of the 49th parallel.

Otherwise, everything is fine, although I’m staying away from coffee for the evening.

Thomas spent the day fine tuning what took me a month to cobble together. Anna and our youngest daughter Mary went grocery shopping, after which the three of them found the appropriate places throughout the camper for food, cooking supplies, toiletries, laptops, charging cell phone devices and sundry activities.

Thomas took particular care to mount his racing bicycle on the ladder on the rear end of the camper. He is optimistic enough to believe that we will all be on the road early enough each morning to insure that we arrive at our campsites an hour or two before dark so he can cycle in the last thirty miles while Anna and I set up camp.

We thought better of mounting the spare propane tank on a compartment mounted to the rear bumper and transferred it to the roof, where it will be strapped down with a ratchet tie-down, and then locked. There are certain friends we are visiting that we don’t entirely trust. Now we won’t have to worry about blowing up the camper by an 18-wheeler rear-ending us, or a moose mistaking us for a cow, but we will have to watch for low-slung bridges.

I’ve been told that on occasion I snore, so will be bringing along multiple sets of earplugs for those that complain.

I noticed Anna bought some exotic air-freshener and placed it by the sink. That’s like carrying a peashooter to drop an elephant.

The interior has been vacuumed, memory-foam mattresses added, interior windows cleaned, grey-water tank filled, exotic tablets dropped down the toilet (it reminds me of those reverse flushing airplane toilets that have ruined at least one flight), “camper only” toilet paper well stocked, additional towel hooks installed – I’d say we are good to go.

Will top off the tank in the morning, and then we are off!