Trip to Sage Summit August 2013

Well, we have landed. I think I have to rename our trailer to the SS Minnow. For those of you from our age bracket, the reference should make sense.

So here is the summary of the last three days of my “vacation”. An hour and a half into the trip, the truck “B.A.R.T.” (Big Ass Red Truck) loses about 80% of its power and drops to 60 kmh on the freeway. We limp to a GMC dealer, and after 5 hours they clear the codes and say that they found nothing. Oh good. Jenn wants to head home, and I am for captaining the Minnow further into the storm. All goes well. We call the campground, we are going to and explain that we will be late. How late? Well, the gates close at 9:00, and we don’t make it until almost 11:00. They let us in and are very pleasant, but we are parked beside an outhouse and in 6″ of mud. Guess they weren’t as “ok” as they said.

Day two we are off to a campground just outside of Washington DC, but their gates close at 5:00 pm. WTF! Who closes the gates at a campground at 5:00?!?!. B.A.R.T. has a tizzy twice that day and there is no way we can make the 5:00 deadline. So…being resourceful we find another campground only to find that, to get to it, you travel 4,000 miles over a one-lane windy road that goes over the top of a mountain. Not figuratively…literally…over the top of a mountain. Finally arrive at our destination a bit shaken. Now they send us up a gravel goat trail to the top of a mountain and to our “pull through”. Did I mention that the SS Minnow is actually a blue whale and weighs in at just over 13.000 lbs.

So…park the SS Minnow. I have a Pulrite hitch, which slides as you turn sharply so the corner of the trailer doesn’t go through the rear window of the cab. Cool! The one itsi bitsi drawback is that to drop or hook up the trailer the truck and trailer must be in a perfectly straight line. I remember reading this now…I didn’t remember reading it as I tried to unhook last night. So… much screwing around as I try to wedge the truck between the tree three feet in front of me and the Minnow. The SS Minnow is no longer fully latched…but won’t let go…well…until it falls onto the bed if the truck. Yes, the 13,000 lbs. Minnow fell off the hitch and landed on the bed of the truck. I think I said a bad word then. More fiddle farting around between the damn tree and the Minnow, and we get reconnected. No serious damage other than to my pride. Screw it, it will sit attached to the truck on a front-to-back angle of 25 degrees and side-to-side of 15.

So, new day. Dismantle the engine so I can remove a part that I suspect has been causing the engine failures. It shall remain nameless pending further legal action. Head, once again, to Washington and make it to the campsite at 4:50. Once again, who the F closes a campground at 5:00. Oh did I mention that the reason for the trip was to go to a conference. Well, a 48″ water main broke and right now…the conference hotel is closed…keep you posted.

The travel diet.

You see, when you travel from Canada to the US, you have to rid yourself of all booze, vegetable, and meat products…even canned foods. So as good law-abiding citizens, we leave the country with the cupboards and bar, bare. No big deal. We will cross the border and shop. WRONG. If you read the post above, you know there were issues, so, while refuelling, I grab two bottles of wine, but there was no real food. So lunch and dinner on day one consisted of a couple of glasses of much needed wine and toast and peanut butter.

On day two, the SS Minnow diet continues. Breakfast was a frozen muffin and we stopped at a Burger King for lunch. Too late to get dinner, we head to the new camp and have rice cakes and peanut butter, but horror of horrors…we are out of wine. I go to bed. Jenn opens a can of tuna she has been hoarding and makes a tuna and gluten free bread sandwich. Glad I was asleep.

Wake in the morning…visions of Gilligan and the Captain dance through my head. We are now hoarding the coffee and wondering how well the other would BBQ. I think of the song Timothy…fight back the image and head out, trying once again to make it to Washington D.C. We find a Costco and a liquor store and stock up and have a great meal, which is just as well as neither Jenn or I would fit in the Minnow’s fridge. Oh, and the water main is repaired…the show must go on.