Our summer-long sojourn has gone pretty well so far. We have seen a lot of country. Even toured places where we used to live, places where we played, and places where we worked. The mountains were beautiful and everything was green because of the afternoon showers. And I can freely admit it, the revisiting didn’t made me homesick one bit. I’m happy about where I’ve been and I’m happy where I am now.
The Taj-Matrailer is working well, except for one glitch that will need attention while it’s still under warranty. It even kept us dry during a downpour one night—it’s thunderstorm season in Colorado. The Taj-Matrailer almost feels like home, except for the very long walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Or several walks. Strangely enough, the number of times I have to get up in the night is proportional to the number of glasses of iced tea I drink during the day. I’ve cut back my iced tea drinking quite a bit in an effort to cut down on the starry, moonlit walks.
I’m not sure why campgrounds think the big self-contained motorhomes should get the spots closest to the bathrooms. Tent trailers like us are usually situated out past them and then tenters are past us. That seems backwards to me. Maybe they think only young people have tents and pop-up trailers and they can make the long hike (or run, depending on urgency) without any trouble. Hubby and I have the buddy system: whoever wakes up to go, gets the other to go too. No use in making solo trips to the john when you can have a conversation or compare dreams on the way.
Our system of even-days-his-way and odd-days-my-way is working fairly well. Hubby likes to pack in excitement and activities every waking minute: bike rides, hiking, touring, eating, talking, shopping. Me, I like to plan in lots of leisure time: reading, writing, sleeping, shopping, touring. Some overlaps. It mostly takes a willingness to compromise and participate without complaining. But when arguments do arise, it’s “uh uh, it’s my day to say.” That usually does the trick.
Do I have any big complaints? Yes. The lack of respect other tourists for historical sites. Maybe I’m oversensitive because I used to be an archaeological technician, but it REALLY irks me to see it. We traveled to the Lowry Pueblo ruins and a man was letting his preteen girls walk all over the walls of the ruin. Even on the highest walls. Those walls have been there for 800+ years and I hate to think they will tumble down because of stupidity and lack of caring for such irreplaceable American treasures. Signs saying “Do Not Climb on Walls” are there. Most elementary kids and a few younger than that can understand that simple request. Apparently the man and girls were illiterate and could not understand the sign and felt compelled to use the Anasazi heritage site as a jungle gym. They might as well have been dancing on the graves at Gettysburg. It’s a lack of respect for the past.
Pushing on, we restocked in Boise for 2 days and then started off on Phase II of our summer-long sojourn. I hope it will go as smoothly as Phase I. Stay tuned!