This week has been all about getting ready for next week’s trip. In other words, we’ve been doing that special kind of planning where you try to think of everything you might need, forget at least two things anyway, and hope comfort wins out in the end.
One of the big questions this week was the bed. I’ve already slept on the RV mattress, and while I can sleep on it, I wouldn’t exactly describe it as luxurious. We had talked about buying a new mattress, but decided to hold off until Mrs. Weeble had a chance to try it for herself. In the meantime, I figured a mattress topper might be the safer and cheaper experiment.
So naturally, I went to Amazon and found a firm topper that looked promising. I ordered it, and it was supposed to arrive in two days, which gave us plenty of time before our trip to Big Meadows. Then, right on schedule, I got the email nobody wants to see: delivery delayed. Now, instead of arriving with time to spare, it was supposed to show up on the Monday before we leave on Thursday.
I’ve done this dance with Amazon before. In fact, I’ve still got one order out there in the great beyond that never showed up at all. So let’s just say my confidence level was not sky-high.
The Great Mattress Topper Race
I really didn’t want to wait until Monday just to find out we were still topper-less with no time left to do anything about it. So I did what any rational traveler would do: I ordered a second topper that could get here faster and decided I’d see which one won the race.
The second one showed up exactly when it was supposed to. Victory. I figured I’d just cancel the first order and be done with it. Of course, before I could do that, I got another email saying the first one would arrive the next day after all. Naturally. So it looks like Kohl’s and I will be seeing each other soon.
Then came the fun part: getting the topper on the bed. And by “fun,” I mean wrestling a big floppy slab of foam in a space that was clearly not designed for graceful movement. You don’t really put a mattress topper on an RV bed so much as you engage it in hand-to-hand combat until one of you gives up. Eventually, I got it in place, made the bed, and called Mrs. Weeble out for the official test. We both think it’s going to help, but the real answer won’t come until Thursday night.
Walking the Pack
Our next challenge was figuring out the dog situation.
I bought some screw-in stakes for the dog leads. They’re about a foot long, and since I believe in working smarter rather than harder, I used my drill and socket driver to put them in. That worked a whole lot better than trying to twist them in by hand and pretending I’m still twenty-five. I also got a 12-foot wire lead, which should give them enough room to roam around camp.
Of course, in national parks dogs have to be on a leash no longer than six feet, so that brought up the next question: how exactly are we going to walk three dogs? One at a time? Two, then go back for the third? Or do we go bold and try all three at once?
Mrs. Weeble thought we ought to at least give all three a try.
Now, each dog has a very different walking style. Buster walks like he’s late for an appointment and expects the rest of us to keep up. Sophie believes every blade of grass deserves a full inspection. Pennie, meanwhile, is actually the best walker of the bunch. Last fall at Big Meadows, she had her own relaxed little routine. She’d walk a few steps, stop, look around, and sniff the air like she was taking in the mountain news.
We decided Mrs. Weeble would handle Buster, and I’d take the girls.
That worked about like you’d expect.
Buster charged ahead with Mrs. Weeble like he was leading an expedition. I had Sophie in one hand and Pennie in the other. Sophie wandered around doing Sophie things until she realized Buster was getting farther ahead. Then she decided this was completely unacceptable and started whining for me to catch up. So I picked up the pace and encouraged Pennie to do the same. Pennie, of course, seemed to feel that speed was a personal choice, not a requirement.
We were out on the hike-and-bike trail while testing this little parade, so we were also dealing with a few bikes along the way. Thankfully, that won’t be quite as much of an issue in the campground. All in all, though, we think walking all three at once might actually work. It may not be elegant, but then again, elegance has never really been our family brand.
A New Toy for the Trip
We also picked up a new toy this week.
One thing about Big Meadows is that cell service is somewhere between weak and nonexistent. Our iPhones can text by satellite, which is handy, but there’s a catch. You need a clear view of the sky, and then you have to keep aiming at the satellite as it moves overhead. It sounds simple enough until you realize you practically need a rotating lawn chair and a flight controller to keep up with it.
So we went ahead and bought a Starlink system.
I signed us up for the 100-gigabyte-per-month plan, which runs $50 a month and seems pretty reasonable for what we need. That ought to be enough for me to read the newspaper in the morning and for Mrs. Weeble to play her games without us feeling totally cut off from civilization.
That said, the plan is still to keep screen time to a minimum. After all, the only thing we really ought to be watching at night is a campfire, with an adult beverage in hand, and maybe the dogs trying to convince us they have never been fed in their lives.
Final Countdown
It’s all coming together now. The bed may be more comfortable, the dog plan may be workable, and we may even be able to stay connected if we want to. So at this point, all that’s left is the final loading, the final checking, and the final round of wondering what we forgot.
Which, in RV travel, usually means we’re right on schedule.
T-minus… well, not exactly sure. But we’re on schedule for lift-off.
To be continued.
Feel free to leave a comment and follow along as the adventure begins.