Ready To Roll

I’ve been at the Bolt Hole for five days getting the truck (a 2000 Chevy Silverado 2500) and trailer (a 27-foot Wilderness travel trailer by Fleetwood) ready for our trip to Colorado starting Monday, June 27. I hitched up truck to the trailer and pulled it out of the barn, parking it closer to the cabin where I could get an electric line from the porch and water hose from the well pump over to the intake ports. First I had to clean the kitchen drawers and both cabinets beneath the sinks. We haven’t taken the trailer out for two years and the mice found the paper products (towels, napkins and TP), sponges (though they were still in the wrappers and artificial to boot), and Ivory Soap bars (must be the 99 and 44/100 pure). They chewed up most of that stuff leaving tiny pieces scattered about along with their droppings. I found a likely looking nest (empty) under the kitchen drawers. We were smart enough to leave no food items but dumb enough to leave the soap and paper. I should have remembered our BSA camp clean-up regimen and realized those things had to go. After vacuuming up the mess and washing the kitchen utensils, I deemed the inside of the trailer fit.

Then I went to work on the water system. Once hooked to a water supply, I proceeded to flush the water system of antifreeze by letting all the faucets run until they were clear and for three-five minutes after that. Then I put about 20 gallons of water in the freshwater holding tank, drove the trailer into the street and backed it up in a k-turn so I had the drain plug on the down hill side of the lawn, and drained that water out of the tank.

Last time we went out—our first experience—I had filled this tank with water. We hauled that 200 gallons of water to Colorado and back and never used it since we were hooked up to a water line at every camp at which we stopped. I don’t want to think how that affected the performance of the truck. I do know that traveling across Kansas (uphill from east to west—don’t let anyone tell you it’s flat—and against a headwind of about 25 mph) we only managed 5 mpg. I’m not making that mistake again! If we aren’t boondocking (camping without out hookups for electricity, water and sewer), we aren’t carrying that amount of water.

Finally, I checked the running lights and the signal lights, the tire pressure, the propane system, etc. I found I only needed to replace a broken level at the rear of the trailer.

I spent the better part of another day going shopping for food supplies, trailer supplies and truck supplies. The rest of that day was spent replacing the foam gasket on the truck where the cap meets the bed. The old one had slipped, aged and hardened to the point where I was concerned about dirt and water getting into the bed and damaging what ever I had stored in there. This must be a popular project around this time of year. I had to go to three different auto supply stores before I could find the broad foam material. The first two stores were out of stock but the third had two rolls left and I took them both.

I finally got all the shopping done and finished the chores. I may have to cut the grass again on Sunday as well as head down the hill to gas up the truck, but everything is ready and I’m anxious to get started.