DAYS 16-17: What a TEASE!
When I woke up yesterday, and realized I had run out of clean jeans, Thursday turned into laundry day. I detest Laundromats. Oh, I don’t have a problem with using somebody else’s washing machine and dryer, nor with striking up conversations with other women who are folding their husbands’ underwear in front of complete strangers. To be completely honest with you, if we must resort to a Laundromat, Richard usually carts the clothes back and forth while I do the final folding. What I don’t like is digging through the RV and car looking for stray quarters, sorting the clothes and putting them into bags, and getting the clothes back all compact and wrinkled (because I would never ask Richard to fold MY underwear in front of strangers).
Our on-board washer/dryer combo is great for washing clothes, but it sucks at drying. It can take four to five hours to dry a small load. Don’t ever let any RV salesman try to tell you otherwise when they’re selling you one of these little washer/dryer combos!
I wash small loads, one after another, and I then hang them up all over the RV to dry. The clothes dry much faster in the RV in the winter (when there’s low humidity and the heater is running) than they do in the summer (when the humidity is high). Many campgrounds no longer allow campers to hang clothes outdoors. So, this is what our RV looks like on laundry day. I always pray our neighboring campers don’t pop over for a meet and greet on laundry day!
Typical Laundry Day in the RV
When the first load of laundry was finished, the washing machine stopped spinning and the light started blinking. Mason (age 3) always gets excited when this happens and yells, “The dishes are done!” Yes, I typed that correctly. I’ve correct him numerous times but he still insists on yelling “DISHES!” instead of “CLOTHES!” He loves helping me load the washing machine, putting the soap and fabric softener in, and then hanging up the clothes using hangers and clothes pins. When space is limited, you have to get pretty creative when drying clothes in an RV. I can make a small clothesline in the bedroom out of any long, thin, stringy item I can find, including dental floss. I hang large items on hangers, and slip those into the reinforced areas of the ceiling vents, as well as on any cabinet or doorknob. I have enough hangers and clothes pins to hang four small loads of laundry at one time. The clothes were all dry by bedtime last night and today we all have clean underwear (and everything else).
Mason is doing MUCH better. His cough is almost gone and he still hasn’t complained about that ear infection.
Our friend back home who was hit by a car this week is home now, after surgery to install a shiny new rod in her leg. I guess airport metal detectors will now take on an entirely new meaning for her. She has a long road to recovery but she’s in good spirits and she’s young and strong and I am amazed at her spirit and determination. We are so proud of her!
Okay, now on to the TEASE I eluded to in the title. Father Winter has come back to tease us. If you recall, we named this our “NO MORE SNOW!” trip. On the first three days of our trip, it SNOWED. When we got to my sister’s house in Virginia, we had to delay our departure because of a huge SNOWSTORM that dumped 10 inches on us one day. Last week, we finally got south of the snow line somewhere in North Carolina. We had two pretty big days of rain and wind here in South Carolina and the temperatures have been a bit chilly…but the 40s are NOTHING compared to the temps back home in Bangor (which usually stay below freezing – far below – this time of year).
A couple of days ago, Richard said we might get snow on Friday night. At first, I thought he was teasing me. He wasn’t. I checked the weather last night and we were under a Winter Storm Watch. Today, we are under a Winter Storm Warning! We’re supposed to get 2-4 inches by tomorrow morning. NOT FUNNY!! We can already feel it coming. The sky has been deeply overcast all day and the heater in the RV has been clicking on much more frequently. I put on my thick, fleece socks and the boys are cuddled up in bed, watching a new Max and Ruby DVD. We have plenty of food and water in case we get stuck for a couple of days. Luckily, I planned ahead and all my Valentine’s Day goodies have already been purchased and hidden in the RV. (I made the Valentine’s Day bags for our loved ones at home before we left Bangor almost three weeks ago.) Richard ran some errands this morning, and even went by the craft store to buy more batting for me. The boys have asked me to make sock dollies for them like the one I made for our nephew.
It’s important that we have everything we need now because our tow-vehicle is a rear-wheel drive and it is almost impossible to control in the snow. Richard just left to pick up a spare external tank of propane because it’s actually easier to do that than to pack up the RV and drive it to the propane station here at the campground. So, we’ll have extra propane for heat in case we lose power. In the RV, we can choose to heat the RV and the water with electricity or propane, or both. Using both comes in handy if you want to take a shower that lasts longer than five minutes.
We’re having homemade pizza for dinner tonight. The boys are pretty excited about that…and so am I! I’m pretty sure Richard is ready for Valentine’s Day, too. I just looked out the bathroom window and this is what I saw. Heh…
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