Moving Day – A Day In the Life

Moving day – the day we move from one campground to another. I thought you might like to see what a typical moving day looks like for the crew. When I recorded this day, we were leaving Spring Green, Wisconsin and headed to Wells, Minnesota. Today the crew consists of: myself, my brother, and two of my three daughters.

8ish – I awake to my youngest saying, “Good morning mom”. She has officially risen and it’s time to get this party started. She goes to the bathroom and then I hear her at her sister’s bunk. “Good morning, oh wait, you’re not awake yet are you?”. She is now Nadia :-0! I hear the chitter chatter from the bunk. I lay in bed trying desperately to get a little more shut eye. Mornings are a curse to myself and my other night owl friends out there.

Around 9:00 – I hear my brother turning the bed he used the night before back into a dinette. My youngest strolls into the room citing the normal phrase they greet each other with, “Arnold and I was wondering if you could come swimming”. The phrase is from one of Nadia’s favorite shows. Whoever says it first upon seeing the other in the morning is the winner. Nadia is victorious today.

Breakfast is in full swing as I get up, get ready for the day and start putting everything away in the bedroom/bathroom. Everything that can become a flying projectile must be secured. The soap dispenser goes in the bathroom sink, my electric toothbrush in the drawer, the computer is secured, etc.

9:30 – A quick breakfast for me. Then I make coffee in my travel mug and get a cold drink ready to go in my cup. I grab a protein bar in case I get hungry later. It all goes up near the drivers seat. I head outside to help my oldest who is preparing to unhook everything.

10:00 – Alaina and I work together to get things done. Mainly I supervise and lend a hand here and there. She earns money for hooking/unhooking the sewer hoses, water and electric.

Today I get this bright idea that we’ll flush the one black tank she just dumped. I haven’t done this in a while so I struggle to remember the procedure while trying to coach her. We end up getting one tank flushed. This delays us about a half an hour, ugh!

I make sure all the bay doors under the RV are tightly latched and locked. I get the tow vehicle pulled up behind the RV. I attempt to help my daughter get started and pinch my finger in the tow bar. Ouch, I have a nice blood blister forming. I think to myself, “Why didn’t I put my gloves on first?” <sigh>.

I need to get the braking system installed. It’s been giving me a headache lately. There’s a short in the plug and it hasn’t been charging properly. I fiddle with it, hoping it’s going to work this time. I need this to stop the tow vehicle when I apply the RV brakes. Today I’m successful. I make a mental note to get in touch with Blue Ox and find out what to do about it. These things aren’t cheap, mine is only two years old and I don’t want to buy another one. (It was simple, I just needed to replace the fuse in the part that plugs into the charger, no short).

11:00 – We’re finally ready to depart. This is a late start for us. I wonder to myself why I decided to flush the tank today. We stop at the dumpster and dump the rest of our recycling and a broken fishing pole. I take advantage of the mixed recycling. I recycle more items then I throw away. It’s so hard to find recycling for paper/plastic and cans across the country. Especially in small towns like this. I make sure we have no recycling left. And we’re off, free once more!

We have a nice scenic route today. We drive through farm country and take in our surroundings. A barn here and a silo there. Fields are being plowed in preparation for the upcoming crops. Lots and lots of beautiful yellow dandelions decorate the bright spring grass. It’s a gorgeous sunny day today.

1:00 – I hear a battle cry from the back of the RV, “Mom, I’m getting hungry”. I reply, “I’ll stop as soon as I find somewhere to park the beast”. I’m very careful about where I go with Perl. It has to be somewhere that I’m sure can handle her girth.

About ten minutes later I spot a Walmart. A beacon of love to an RVer in a world of unknown. I pull in to the back and take up about ten spots. My daughter exclaims, “Wow mom, that was fast”. She’s learned to be more patient than normal while traveling. I walk the dog, go back in and start the generator. For those who don’t know, the generator allows me to use electricity, aka, the microwave for heating lunch up. We eat lunch, it’s a nice break.

1:30 – With my lunch done, I’m ready to hit the road again. Then I remember, I haven’t heard back from the lady at the campground where we are supposed to be staying tonight. I don’t know if they have availability for us or not. I really need to know if the crew has somewhere to sleep. Normally, I have the reservation confirmed before we head out, usually weeks in advance. This is especially true for certain places or times of the year.

However, we were in a dead zone while staying at Wisconsin Riverside Resort. We had internet but no cell service. I called her while on an outing to Costco but I never heard back. I call again and get her voicemail once more. I leave another message. Oh well, I guess we’ll find somewhere to sleep tonight. Now I’m ready to go. I fire up the engine and I hear my daughter say, “I’m not done yet mom”. Well that’s okay darling, because you’re not driving. I motor along.

We drive through town. I spot an amish buggy and tell the girls to look out the window. We take a turn towards 90 west and head over a steel bridge. We see more farms, cows and barns.

2:05 – My phone rings. I recognize the area code as being the campground we’re headed to. I answer but we’re in cell phone dead zone again. She calls back two more times with little luck.

3:00 – I see a sign for propane up ahead. I decide to stop as we’re running low and we may need to run the heater tonight. We also need it for cooking on the stove. I pull in next to the propane tank and go inside to get someone. They come out and get to work. She’s showing a new worker how to do it.

Uh-oh, in my bad luck fashion, it’s not working. She asks, “Are you sure you’re low on propane?” I tell her, “Yes, I definitely am unless my indicator light is broken”. She fumbles some more and goes inside to get another lady to help troubleshoot. No luck, they recently had it serviced for the year. They may need to get the guy back out to see what’s wrong. They apologize and I move on over to the gas pump. Time to fill her up.

I notice I have a text message. I read it, “We have plenty of sites at Pihl’s County Park. There’s 30 AMP electrical with shared water”. Bingo, looks like the crew has a place to stay.

3:30 – We’re back on the road with a confirmed destination in site. The scenery is dotted with more farms, barns and silos.

4:00 – I see another sign for propane on the highway. I think to myself, “Wow, two times is going to be the charm for us today!”. I pull off and follow the signs. I find the propane tank behind the gas station. I pull up next to it and go inside. “Hi, I’d like to fill my propane tank”, I say. An older man responds, “I’m sorry, we don’t fill propane here”. I ask about the tank in the back and he replies with the same explanation. Okay then, this is kind of weird.

He points and tells me over near the grain elevator they have propane. Thoughts of getting lost in a corn field in Pennsylvania flash before my eyes. I get back in the RV and tell my brother. I decide I’m not going to chance getting in a jam where I can’t easily turn around. Back on the highway I go. I should have known it wasn’t going to be this easy!

4:15 – I see yet another sign promising propane at the next exit. My optimism is beginning to fade but I hold out hope. Three times a charm, right? I pull off the highway, find the propane tank and deposit Perl next to it. I head inside and ask to fill the tank. The young kid behind the counter looks a little perplexed. He tells me he needs to get the owner who happens to be on a small tractor out front. He comes right over, shows the young guy how to fill the tank. I think to myself, “This must be training day at the propane tanks”. Everything goes off without a hitch. I pay and back on the road I go.

4:45 – “Mom, are we there yet?” bellows from the back of the RV. “Yes Nadia, we’re almost there”, I reply.

5:15 – After bumping past a cornfield on a dusty road, we finally reach our destination. I check in at the office, aka, the managers home. She’s nice enough and I can tell that things are pretty loose here. No list of rules, map of the campground or brochure is handed over. I see several “seasonals” here, which translates to “permanent residents”. We’re here for two nights and the price is very affordable. Looks okay to me. We head to our spot.

I’m sure after reading this post, you can understand why I try to stick to four or five hour travel days. I always like to arrive in before it gets dark as the cover of darkness poses many more problems with parking the RV, finding our way, etc. I’ve been there, done that, and avoid it at all costs.

Many things can come up when traveling. As you can see in this post, a simple refill of my propane tank became a major pain in the a@#$#! It took three stops to finally get the task accomplished. While this is not the norm, you just never know what obstacles you might face. If you want to live this lifestyle, you have to roll with the punches.

Do you want to know what we were up to in Wells, Minnesota? Check out this post here. It involved corn and also was green and VERY giant :-). I hope you enjoyed a “day in the life of” with the crew.

{HUGS} from the Crew.