Monday, March 08, 2010

My Lonely Casita

We had originally planned to spend my long weekend at Roan Mountain State Park just across the NC/TN border. However, life being what it is, we ended up staying in town. So it goes.

Today, we had the chance to see Carole's only niece, Taylor, and her family. Taylor is the daughter of Carole's late brother Eddie and we hadn't seen her in some time. So we drove over the Huntersville where she was meeting up with Carole's mom. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then drove to Grandma's place for dessert and to spend some more time visiting. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. Taylor has grown into a pretty young woman who is very sweet.

Too late I realized that my camera was stashed in my truck. So I wasn't able to get any photos of Taylor, her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. They're all terribly nice folk and I missed a rare chance to see them all together here in town.

After they'd left and I'd discovered that I had my camera I wandered around Carole's old homeplace taking photos. Supposedly there was a road-killed squirrel lying beside the mailbox that I needed to carry away and bury, but when I went to search for it I found that some critter had already located it and carried it off for a meal. That was a relief, actually. So instead of burying a rotting squirrel corpse I pruned some dead limbs from one of my precious hemlock trees.

After that, looking at my lonely Casita trailer all covered over from its long Winter nap, I went inside to see how she was faring. The old RV was in good shape, mainly, not smelling at all musty and waiting for us to dust her off and take her out on the road. The left tire that had been leaky late in the season has now gone completely flat. We'd already decided to replace both tires this year, so that was not a shock to find it flat. I also plan to buy a new battery for the trailer, too, to get it in tip-top shape for the Spring and Summer road trips.

Of course we won't be taking our normal road trips this year. Our big vacation for 2010 will be to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. We're in the process now of booking our rooms and our flights. We were going to fly in to Salt Lake City, but after looking at driving times we're going to pay out some more money and go to Jackson Hole instead. We'll save ourselves two entire days of driving that way. That's a lot more time to enjoy the parks.

Still and all, I felt a twinge of homesickness for the Casita trailer. We've spent an awful lot of time in it the past few years and it really is a second home to us. I opened the door, looked around, took some photos and reluctantly locked her back up. It'll be at least a few more weeks before we can take the trailer out for a trip.

But I'm looking forward to doing that.



Strangely, I think this is the only video I have of the inside of our Casita. And I took it today by accident. I didn't realize I had the camera set to "video".

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