Ah, Wilderness

    I marked another birthday this past week, my 71^st. I was at a soccer practice with my four-year-old grandson recently when one of his little teammates came up to me. She said, “Are you very old?” I had to confess that I was. Little snip.

    It feels like I'm at the age where it's better now than never. With that in mind, we bought a camper trailer last month. I've been wanting one ever since I retired ten years ago, over ten years ago actually, but I always chickened out when it was time to make the commitment. This year we went ahead and bought one.

    We've never owned a trailer previously. First-timers. In fact, I've never towed anything with our cars. Trailer camping would be a whole new learning experience for me . . . and a learning experience at an age where I frequently forget, as in where did I leave my keys, my glasses, my hat, etc.

        And there's much to remember when you're camping with a trailer. Just hitching it up to my car involves a complicated series of tasks: attach the hitch to the car, back the car up to align the hitch with the trailer coupler, attach the coupler to the hitch, put the pin into the coupler and raise the trailer with the jack (“height is your friend”), so you can attach the weight distribution bars, make sure you count seven chain links before securing the bars to the trailer . .. .

    Then there's operating all the electronics and appliances on the trailer itself. That's another learning process. Sometimes it's trial and error. For example, I learned, don't turn on the hose to put water into the trailer's water storage tank until the hose is securely connected to the water receptacle outlet. I got myself very wet trying to attach the loose hose to the water storage receptacle on the trailer with the water running.

    We figured out the lights, the radio, the refrigerator, the dumping of waste water and, this last trip out, the propane stove. We still need to learn how to turn on hot water, the furnace and the air conditioner. But we have the whole summer to learn.

    So far we've camped five nights at state parks. It's been years since we've pitched a tent but camping now is reminding me how buggy and dirty camping can become. When I was in the sun, the black flies would bite, when I was in the shade, mosquitoes ambushed me. For my birthday, my son got me a high tech insect repellent device with a heater activated repellent, rechargeable Li-ion battery power and a USB cable. Sooooo add that to the stuff we still need to learn how to use.

    But the outdoor adventure begins. And we get to meet new people, fellow campers. Wendy was in the restroom washing her hands when she encountered this other woman, also washing up. There was a big spider in Wendy's sink so the lady offered to let Wendy use her own sink. Wendy declined and began to flush the spider down the drain.

    “Oh, please don't,” the lady said, reaching over and putting the spider into a receptacle to rescue it. She carried it off saying, “It's a life.”

    Paraphrasing that Dr. Seuss book—Oh the Places You Will Go (And the People You Will Meet).