Moving campsites is always a bit of an ordeal: packing up, stowing, organizing, etc. You would think that having a trailer would make it easier, but it really is not. On top of the normal camping stuff to put away (getting the truck packed up, putting away hammocks, chairs, and clotheslines, etc.), we now have things like cleaning and stowing the inside of the trailer, and covering and securing bikes and gear on the back of the trailer. We are getting much better and quicker at hooking up and unhooking the trailer and all that entails. (We will never again forget to put the chocks on the tires first!)
On top of that, we are travelling with a loose itinerary and no reservations, hoping to be able to take advantage of free camping as often as possible. We don’t need hook-ups, know that campgrounds spots are hard to come by right now and like the beauty and seclusion that comes with camping on national forest and BLM land. We are trying to be in a spot for several days just because moving is a fair amount of work, so we look ahead and try to figure out where we are going next, using the internet when we have it and so far that has worked out very well for us.
When we left the Oxbow, Google told us that our destination was about an hour away. We finally got settled at a new campsite about seven and half hours after taking off. Minnesota Mark suggested we head toward the Silver Island Lake Campground. It had an old campground that was more remote and he said the road was passable. We weren’t sure we wanted to be on a lake that big, but thought it was a great place to start. We headed down a long forest road that would have been fine in just the truck to find that site occupied. We started scouting the surrounding area using a semi-helpful map, our eyes, and soon a list of closed campgrounds (which I did not consult often enough).
Lessons learned from this day of travel (some of which we knew before, but now WE KNOW):
- Park the trailer before we scout sites.
- Don’t take the trailer on high clearance roads before scouting in the truck.
- Remove the paddle board from the top of the truck before scouting.
- Remove the add-on side-view mirror before going down one-car roads -well once we replace the mirror :0
- If we are on a high clearance road, put the truck in low gear and high position.
- Empty the toilet water before traveling.
- Road dust will get into everything, even if it is covered and closed.
- Talk over a parking plan before implementing.
- Stop immediately to check out any scraping sounds (see stabilizer below).
List of things broken or damaged in one day:
- Add-on side-view mirror (Some roads are verrrrrrry narrow)
- Cap for gray and black tanks
- Spare tire cover
- 2 stabilizer jacks
- Crack in the back bumper on the truck and we have no idea where it came from
It was an incredibly long day of trying to find a good site – most places were very busy and a few we visited were closed due to COVID. There was a lot of semi-stressful driving and passengering and a fairly nerve-wracking parking situation, but we ended up in a pretty perfect site, right on a lake all by ourselves. We made drinks and then dinner and took the paddle boards out for a sunset paddle, looking forward to more paddling and portaging over the next few days.
