Busy Weekends and First Camp of 2023

Gosh, at least the weather is finally beginning to warm up and act like spring. It's been a long time in the making—and frankly I will tell you I was getting damn tired of cold weather.

The nice thing is being able to have the windows open for at least a little while. Nothing irks me more than having to have the house shuttered and either the heat or air running 24/7.

Just let the fresh air in!

But warmer weather, or shall I just say nicer weather, just means for busier days and more things going on. Not that I am complaining. That's part of what makes life worthwhile to some extent is having things to do.

Grass has to be cut. Trees and shrubs have to be trimmed. And of course there's the constant battle of cleaning out the clutter that accumulates during the long winters.

It all has to be done.

But there's time made for some fun stuff too, of course. Like camping. And as I mentioned in a previous post, we had our first camp scheduled in Cape Girardeau, MO last weekend and it was a blast.

On Friday night we hooked up the camper and made the trek to the campsite, only about 2 hours away. On Friday night we just had my dad and his wife with us and they were staying overnight on both Friday and Saturday. On Saturday we had practically the whole gang along for the fun.

My sister and brother-in-law, who live about five miles from us, drove to the campsite on Saturday and left that night. So did my niece and her boyfriend, and of course she brought her son along.

My sister and brother-in-law also brought their two younger kids along for the fun and food.

On Friday night we just had brats on the grill and some potato salad and cole slaw we got from Walmart. By the way, if you ever have the chance to try Walmart's deviled egg potato salad, it's a must! That stuff is good, and one of my favorite styles of potato salad.

Dad brought marinated T-Bone steaks, and we had those on Saturday with plenty of things to eat on the side, including a delicious dill pickle pasta salad my sister brought. That's a keeper too.

During that trip I was luckily able to empty out my secondary gray tank as well which was a bit full from when I dewinterized the weekend before, so I was happy to get that emptied out.

Most campsites have full sewer and so emptying the icky tanks is quite simple and far less time consuming since you can do it while you are camping instead of having to wait until the camp is over with to do it.

I should note my wife was there as well, of course. She was the one taking all the pictures and so you don't see her. Perhaps I should have snapped a couple, but I guess I was too busy camping, entertaining guests, and drinking beer.

Well, that and cooking.

The entire camp trip went virtually without a hitch. We did experience some heavy wind on the way home on Sunday which made for a bit of a treacherous ride. When you are pulling 7000 plus pounds behind you it tends to want to let you know who's boss.

We have a 2019 Keystone Passport Elite MB34 camper which is 38 feet long. We do use a stabilizer system to counter sway, but it still lets you know its behind you nonetheless.

No worries. When I am pulling the camper, I go into full grandpa mode and keep the speed slow, around 65 or so. I am in no hurry and of course I want to get to my destination alive and well.

Yesterday we had a full Saturday running some needed errands and towards the end of the day we went over to Menard's and picked up 25 bags of red mulch. Time was getting past us a bit and so we decided to do the mulching today. It will take a few hours, but it always looks nice once it is all done, and maybe I will post the results soon.

If time allows maybe we can try to tackle some of the clutter in the garage. It really needs to get done, and next weekend will be "up in the air" a bit as we are going to be hosting a small party to celebrate my 50th birthday.

I don't actually turn 50 until June 1st, but coordinating people together always presents a challenge, and so you plan when you can and when you can get everyone together at the same time.

At some point we also need to get the pool opened back up. But it looks like we may have to wait until June to get that done. We have another camping trip planned for the end of the month. That one will be in Springfield, Illinois, also about 2 hours away.

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