Day 693, Our first concert of the season

Today is our first summer concert of the season that we put on for the community, so the day was pretty much dedicated to seeing to all the details of hosting an event for 1,000 people.  The weather was perfect and the high was expected to reach 79, which was welcomed temperature after a frosty morning.

The concert begins at 6 pm and runs until 7:30 pm and usually the diehard's show up around 5 pm to stake out their little piece of the park.  The venders were all set up on time and the concert started without a hitch.  I was very pleased to see a large crowd before the concert started and they kept coming.  At 7 pm we estimated between 1,500 to 1,800 people in the park.  It was an awesome sight and everyone was having  a great time.

Following the concert we have to take everything down and the includes packing a very large tent.  I arrived home at a little before 9 pm and I was ready to call it a day.

Day 692, Another Day

I was still receiving emails from friends and acquaintances, regarding the article in the Oregonian and I was still excited about the great weekend.  The Traveleze more than met my expectations and I'm looking forward to many more adventures and good times with friends.  I do however need to set some rules, one my friends can come with me, but I get to sleep in the bed!

On the home front, the chickens are doing well, but I need to buy about 10 more so I can at least get a dozen eggs every two days.   As for the garden it is doing well and the corn is on track for being "knee high by the 4th of the July".  Even the pumpkins are doing well and everything could use a good dose of fertilizer.

It was a great day, but slightly cooler and tonight the temperature is expected to drop to 36, which means frost with the wind chill.  I covered the marigolds and the tomatoes and called it good.  Everything else is going to have to endure and either survive or die, I'm just not going to cover everything up again.

Day 691, Back to work

It felt to good to sleep in my own bed, and I had crawled into bed at 9:30am.  Sleeping on the ground just isn't that comfortable.  I will have to work on finding something more comfortable if I do that again.  I thought the point of having a trailer was to be able to sleep in a bed!

Flowers planted at the front door.

Back at work it was a day of playing catch up and answering emails.  A lot of people had seen the Saturday Oregonian, Home and Garden section and I enjoyed to responding to their emails and funny comments.  It was fun to see who had seen the article, including old high school class mates, colleagues and friends.

After work, I stopped off at Lowes and bought a few flowers to plant in the pots by my front door.  This should be the last of the summer planting.  It was nice to get them planted and now I'm ready for summer.  I'm a little miffed that Tuesday morning is supposed to be 36 degrees, which means I need to cover the garden again!

Day 690, Sunday and time to head home.

Good friends and good times.

Everyone had slept a little better and the sun was shining after a night of off and on showers. We had a light breakfast with fruit and Christian brewed himself another pot of coffee. It was nice that was sunny and it gave everything a chance to dry out before having to pack up. 

After breakfast we went for a walk around the campground.  A lot of the trailers had already left but we were in no rush.  Back at the trailer we played a few hands of Farkle on the outside table and then slowly started to pack everything up.  By 11:15am, we had everything ready to go and we headed for home.

It was a great weekend and everyone was sad to have the weekend come to an end.  The Traveleze was great and did really well.  I created a small list of just a few things that needed to be fine tuned and then it's ready for the next trip. I would love to head to the coast and spend a weekend at the beach.

With the trailer unpacked, cleaned up and safely back in the shop, I had time to work in the yard.  It's amazing how fast the weeds grow and I needed to weed the garden around all the vegetables.   Christian stayed to help me out and within hour we had the garden all cleaned up.

It had been a long weekend and I made an early dinner, cleaning up the last of the meatloaf from Friday night and various leftovers.

I can't wait to take the Traveleze out again.

Day 689, Open house for the Rally

Front page of the Oregonian H&G

Even with flip-fold mattresses, sleeping on the ground just isn't that comfortable.  Christian's tent kept us dry, and I was warm in my new retro sleeping bag, but my body just didn't care much for the lack of padding.  Even Christian was a little stiff from sleeping on the ground, still it was just fun to be out camping.

Tracy didn't sleep much better in the trailer and had been up since 4:30am and she had gone for a walk and taken a shower already by 8am.  With everyone awake and the day starting, I fired up the oven and made cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs. Christian is the only coffee drinker and started perking a pot of coffee on the stove. It was a great morning.

Christian's daughter had an opportunity to go spend time with here Aunt and Uncle in Albany.  With the weekend looking like it might rain a lot, we understood why an 11 year old might enjoy getting out of a small trailer, so Christian took her to Albany. 

From 11 to 4pm there was an Open House, where everyone opened their trailers and let people take a peek.  I quickly started to hear that my trailer was in the newspaper.  I had made front page of the June 23, 2012, Oregonian's Home and Garden section (Oregonlive.com/hg).  I was supposed to have been a side note to a story on Flyte Camp, but I got a lot more coverage than a side note.

Christian texted me if I needed anything while he was in town and said, yes, get me a copy of the Oregonian!  He texted me back saying I'm famous and he bought several copies. He also picked up some camp fuel for the lanterns and more food.


When Christian returned we all went for a walk and looked at the many trailers on display.  There were some pretty amazing trailers and we all had a favorite.


Tonight's dinner was hotdogs cooked over a fire and smores.

Day 688, The first road trip

The Traveleze ready to go.

With the Traveleze fully loaded, four of us, Christian, his daughter Stella, Tracy and I set out for River Bend Campground and the Traveleze's first outing.  Remarkably there is a lot of storage in the trailer and I didn't even come close to filling it up.  The truck provided ample storage as well and I even packed firewood, flip fold mattresses and an obscene amount of food.  The weekend forecast was for rain, but at the moment the skis are clear and we all hoped it would stay that way.

Setting up the Traveleze

With four of us camping, Christian brought along his huge family tent, and he said it was water proof, or at least fairly resistant.  The plan was for Tracy and Stella to stay in the trailer and Christian and I would endure the weather in the tent. 

Our road trip would take us over the middle Santiam Pass, a road that has several areas that are literally sliding down the hill and have caused enormous bumps.  This would be a great test for the suspension of the Traveleze.  In several areas I slowed to a near stop to go over the bumps.  It was a pretty easy drive and we made it easily to the campground.

The weather was holding and we found our campsite with ease.  In no time, I back the Traveleze into place and we quickly set up camp.  Christian's tent was awesome and looked like it could handle rain.  I hooked up the power and got the refrigerator working and for the first time I hooked up the water and gray-water holding tank.   The trailer was in full operation.

By late afternoon the weather turned and it started to pour rain.  This was the first time the Traveleze has ever been in the rain and I was a bit nervous to see if it was water tight.  I was please to see that it was.  With the rain pouring down and not much to do, we played several rounds of Farkle/dice.

One of the big moments for me during the restoration process was Tracy and I talked about making a meatloaf in the oven and tonight is the night.  At 5 o'clock we fired up the oven and put in the meatloaf.  We quickly discovered that the side of the oven gets hot too and we had to stuffed a towel between the oven and the dinette seat.  A little over an hour later we all sat down at the table and had an amazing dinner.

Christian and birthday cake

Tonight we also celebrated Christian's 46th birthday, which is actually on Monday.  Tracy had baked a white cake and we put whipped cream and fresh strawberries and blue berries on it.  Christian was surprised and blew out the candle on his cake.  I also packed along a gift I had purchased for him at the Portland Swap Meet in April, it was a vintage Volvo hubcap clock.

We all had a great time and the little trailer was a perfect cozy retreat in the woods.

Day 687, Loading up the trailer

Loading the Traveleze for a wet weekend.

Planning for the first outing with the Traveleze is a little bit of an unknown.  I'm not really sure what I will need and despite all the planning I can't help but think I am forgetting something.  Tracy and I made a grocery list and I think I have everything we will need.  I hooked the power up to the trailer in the driveway and turned on the refrigerator.  I figured this way I could just load all the refrigerated items could go in and for the two hour trip I'll back a bag of ice in with everything and it should keep every cool enough until I can hook the power back up.

The weather was calling for rain all three days and the storms were already starting to blow in.  We had a short afternoon shower but the evening was warm with some thunder and lighting all around.  It took me several hours to load everything that I thought I needed and then just before the sun set I jumped on the John Deere and mowed the lawn.  My timing was off just a little and I had to finish mowing with the help of the head lights.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day and I'm looking forward to see how the little trailer performs going over the mountain roads.