Lizards and license tags

I’ve been on so many camping trips I can’t count them all. For as long as I can remember, my folks have taken my sister and I camping in trucks, tents and trailers. We’ve had so many adventures and memories and I am so glad that my parents help me to create these memories for my daughter, too.

But mixed in with those memories are life lessons that every person should learn before they move out on their own.

1. Make a checklist and check everything twice. It doesn’t hurt to be thorough and make sure you have absolutely everything you need. Like the renewed license tag for the plate on your trailer. Getting stopped by a CHP officer 200 miles away from home can put a damper on your trip. And having to explain to every CHP office thereafter that the tag is in the mail to your destination gets tiring, and you get so good at your explanation that they’re likely to think you’re not telling the truth.

2. Your hands will wash. You can really only get so much dirt on you. Hooking up the grey and black water tanks to the dump station will not kill you. But the smell from not draining those tanks probably will.

3. Learn how to read a map – quickly. Whether you’re driving or a passenger, reading a map is key to a successful camping trip/vacation. But if you’re driving, you can’t take your eyes off the road for long. And if you’re a passenger in charge of the map, you need to be able to tell the driver to take the next left before you pass it. Think ahead – sometimes the next exit/road makes it difficult to get to where you were supposed to go (one-way roads, tiny streets and turns not meant for a travel trailer behind a pick-up, etc.).

4. Learn how to change a tire/your oil/other items on your travel vehicle. It seems like a big “DUH!” but it’s amazing how different changing a car tire is from changing a trailer tire, especially if it’s the inside tire. And you know that problems with your vehicle don’t happen right in front of an auto repair station. Sometimes you have to put a fan belt of a Suburban back on by yourself at a rest area where there’s no cell signal and the payphones are broken/missing.

5. Keep your home tools/supplies separate from your travel tools/supplies. There’s a fun story of how my family came to keep a separate garden hose in our trailer. We used to just use our regular garden hose out in the front yard to fill the water tank of the trailer. We would put a brass nozzle on the end of the hose, stick it in the tank opening, turn on the water and go back to packing for a while; trailer water tanks hold a lot of water. One afternoon, we checked on the water level in the tank about 15-20 minutes after turning on the hose. Empty. Hmm. Checked the nozzle – there was this weird clear-ish slime kinda hanging from the opening of the nozzle. Ew. Turned off the water and unscrewed the nozzle. More of the slimy stuff was stuck in the nozzle and in the hose. Mom instructed me to turn on the water full-blast as she pointed the hose toward the lawn. Even from behind the trailer, I could hear the “POP!” The high water pressure had sent the gooey stuff flying across the lawn. Close inspection revealed it to be half of a lizard. My cat had cornered a lizard the day before and after dropping it’s tail, the lizard must have sought refuge inside the water hose. We spent the rest of the day bleaching lizard guts out of our water tank. Gross.