So we took out our new Tent Trailer on this weekend into the wilderness!
First though, my day leading up to leaving for the trip was a tad hellish....found lice in my best friend's son's hair-I've been babysitting him the past couple weeks. Then, shortly after his Mama picked him up, we had a long power outage-I had laundry going, and more to complete now with this lice fiasco. I had a a bit of a meltdown at this point, but get this....my phone rang and it was an AA buddy that despite having had my number for 5 months, just now decided to call me!!! WOW!!! God was certainly on my side!!!! The urge to drink left me when my friend reminded me that "No one is dying or dead...this all sucks but it's definately not worth drinking over!" Yikes...point taken, my friend!
So Kev gets home and we pack up...took ages it seemed but we finally got on the road to meet up with a buddy of Kev's and his wife and two girls, who were gonna be camping with us. This was going to be my first time meeting them...I was a bit nervous...frazzled from the days events....plus I had lots of anxiety since this was gonna be my first camping trip out, SOBER!!!
So we make our way up the mountain...uneventful except for when we got stopped by some old guy with a hook for a hand asking us if we had any truck oil. We didn't have any, but we thought maybe Kev's buddy, who were travelling behind us, might have had some cuz they stopped for a bit longer. Later we found out he was just chatting up the old guy and had told him, "I'm pretty sure the guy ahead of us had oil!" hahaha meaning US! hahaha funny guy!
So Kev's buddy and his wife and kids were awesome. His wife and I were super compatible. I'm so relieved! The kiddos all got along fabulously!
Our Trailer was awesome!!!! We love it...we got to break everything in, including the furnace as it got really cold Saturday night.
So now comes the funny...but not so funny at the time. On our way home, probably only 5-6km's (3-4 miles for ya Yanks and the sort)down the road, we stopped to wave our friends on. Kev hops back in and says..."We have to go back...............we lost our toilet!"
WHAT??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!
Soooooooooooo it turns out somewhere along the bumpy road (we are talking, dirt Forestry roads), the door that houses the holding tank for the toilet swung open and the tank slid out. I guess we are supposed to lock that door before you drive. Oops.
So we drive all the way back to where we had camped...looking along the side of the road the entire way. No potty tank. We make our way back to where we waved our friends on, and only a couple bends in the road I pray and then BAM, there it is! So we stop...I collect a wheel from it that wasn't broken, just slid off....a cap....and then we look down a rocky embankment and there it is, sitting wedged against a tree root!!! So down kev goes to get it...and it's totally intact!!! PRAISE GOD! So we slip the wheel on and put her back in, and LOCK THE DOOR! lol
It was meant to happen because right when we were locking the door, 2 kids on an ATV pulled up asking where Dee Lake was. They were totally lost!!! But thankfully for them, our route home takes us right past that lake so they were able to follow us! Too cool!
We get home...everything is cool...Kev starts hosing everything off to clear off the dust. Meanwhile, I go in for a big bucket of hot soapy water to tackle the compartment that houses the potty tank because when it fell out, it did leave behind a bit of green sludge behind. So, I unlock and open the compartment door....and close it FAST! OMG..it was NASTY!!! It was 100x worse than when we put the tank back in!!!
K, so apparently you are supposed to EMPTY the potty holding tank BEFORE you travel!
So I glove up to my armpits and clean her up....wads of paper towel sopping up green septic chemical filled poop sludge. I'm holding up okay...but not happy.
Now, if I had known right then that what lay ahead was going to be considerably worse than what I was dealing with at that moment, I would have savored. Heck, I would have thrown a party!
I finished the compartment...kev starts opening up the trailer so we can empty the fridge. I open the door and I'm immediately accosted by the stench of that compartment I just cleaned only magnified by, oh, let's say....ummm a BILLION!
Green watery poopy sludge covered pretty much every square inch of the floor in my BRAND NEW TRAILER!!!!!!!
Now I'm really not happy.
So frantically, I'm throwing up the rest of the trailer...then tossing things out...kev's hosing things down...saving grace was I had bagged the pillows so they were safe PHEW! And thank God, unlike in the potty tank compartment, there wasn't any chunks of anything. But still it was a mess. I was almost in tears about 25 x while in there cleaning. And the urge to drink was PHENOMINAL!!!! Kev asked me if he could do anything for me...anything at all...then asked if I was thirsty. I looked up at him and without skipping a beat he says "POP....I'll get ya a POP!" hahaha
So, I got it all cleaned up....It's sterile enough in there that you could eat off the floor(not that you'd want to) I used Lysol Disinfectant on every square inch of that place.
Anyhow....we got it all repacked and closed up...other camping gear put away...laundry started...and grabbed a long shower...falling into bed around 11...SOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So my point? This program WORKS!!!!!!!!! God WORKS!!!!!!!! Keep coming back, everyone!!!!!
Your post has me ROLLING... not laughing AT you, but WITH you, of course!!!
I soooo needed to read this right now!! See, I am sitting in my own SH*T at the moment... LOL WAAAHH... my husband went out to dinner with his buddy from work and didn't invite MEEEE.... WAAAHHH!!!!
You reminded me that instead of me sitting here 'stewing', I could very easily be sitting in, well... actual real-life SH*T!!!! You were, and you got through it... SOBER!!!! LMAO!!!!
Well, my dear, you certainly deserve a medal, a raise, and a very very long nap!!!! You enjoy your well-deserved rest... I am going down into the laundry room to GET BUSY!!!! Shame on ME!!!
Read this Post last night, and was howling in laughter.
Let's recap, (Got To!) o.k.?
Head Lice from a Visiting Child- Power Outage ... same time...Apprehension of meeting new people that you will be sleeping almost next to....Fun and laughter for a while....Packing up, everything covered in dirt...Meeting stranger on deserted road...with Hook Hand...Flying Toilet...Rescue of Flying Toilet...Returning home to find Toilet remains leeching into Refrigerator...HASMAT Uniform urgently needed, but not available...Almost passing out from exhaustion.....
Dana, I have this burning desire QUESTION.......
Are you going camping again, anytime soon?
Dana, I woke up this morning, with some worries on my mind, that would not stop, you know the kind that just stay in your mind, spinning, unable to return to sleep. For some reason, my mind shifted back to last night, and reading your scenario or recap of your trip, started chuckling, and decided to put my worries on hold, and just go into MIP, and reread this.
I am saving this Post, as an ALL TIME, HANDS DOWN WINNER, For those moments in life where I forget, one of my cherished passages out of the Little 24 Hour Book, REMEMBER, To wear life like a Loose Garment. The Best Comedic Story to date on MIP, my take.
Kudos dear, and THANK SO much for this outragiously funny story.
Toni...YES, we are going camping again...we leave tomorrow, back on Monday. Then camping again that weekend...then again the following weekend and entire week...then again the weekend following that...then the Labor Day weekend. So, basically it's gonna take a lot more than all that crap to keep this chicky down!
I just KNEW ya's would all appreciate hearing about all this. Glad my trauma's were able to encourage ya's-not to mention, make ya laugh and thankful you weren't me!!! hehe
So Happy you are going to go Camping, Wow, what a Spirit you have, and really you have gone through, hopefully all the worst of it, now you are truly a SEASONED Camper, who can handle anything. Sure did not mean to laugh at any trauma, sweetie, Hope you know that.
to be able to just pick up and go camping like that.... you guys are getting your money's worth with the camper, and that is great!!! I am sure you will have smooth-sailing, now that you have learned the hard way about the toilet!!!!!
I too am going to keep this story, and reflect on it when I feel I am having an 'overwhelming day'....
Thank you again, for sharing with us all!!!
Bless your Thursday, Danabanana and everyone else!!!
Yikes...point taken, my friend!
hehe