After a week of novice camping, I have learned a few important life lessons.
- Giant Queen Bees can sting you when flying in your car window at 60mph. It is comical only in retrospect. It’s a miracle we did not crash as I screamed bloody murder when I felt like I’d been shot in the shoulder. Mark swerved over as I jumped out of the car yelling, something stung me!! There it was, dying its heroic death on the floor of the car. A mammoth Queen Bumblebee. My shoulder swelled up in seconds and it hurt like a mother. Mark can’t help himself, he keeps asking me what I’m going to do in Grizzly Country.
- Even though back roads are the way to go, 12 hour driving days lead to two cranky humans and benefit no one. We have to remind ourselves that we are in no rush. This trip doesn’t end in two weeks, we have 12 of them, so yeah, we can slow it way down.
- Along those same lines, we don’t have to fit in biking, hiking, scenic driving, sightseeing and making our own meals all in one day. This is the pace we usually keep when we travel on a two week vacation, but we need to realize that downtime is sort of what we crave and need. Time to process and think and the space to do so will only happen when we pause to consider where we’ve been.
- We are living in an incredibly tiny home. We brought a lot of gear, so we could make our own meals and go off-grid and be self-sufficient. That means there is stuff crammed in every nook and cranny. I am a laid back sort who is not bothered too much by chaos and occasional disorganization. Mark is the opposite. He needs to know where everything is at all times and there should be a place for everything. Well you get the picture. A few days in and we had to hit the pause button and unpack both vehicles and repack in a way that we both knew where the spatula, the hand wipes, the hiking boots, the tablecloths, etc. were. Moods have improved immensely since that little exercise.
- Don’t make toast inside the camper at 6am right underneath the smoke alarm. Scared the shit out of me and every other human in the campground. Also, know how to open said smoke alarm so battery can quickly be removed before you’ve made enemies of all your friendly neighbors.
To be continued…
