The Preparations

  An extended RV trip is not like a cruise where you unpack your bags & start to play. It is a bit more like moving into a new home, only for us we have been here before so we get better at recomissioning each time.

3/29: First stop after picking up our truck at Easton's small airport, was a run to the trailer to bring it out of its six month rest. No creatures had taken up residence in our absence due to the collection of drier sheets &ample mothballs scattered about inside. First jobs was pick up the mothballs scattered around inside, open some windows, connect the battery, turn the fridge on, get the trailer off supporting blocks then off to a hotel for the night.

Winter home & one of our empty 30# propane bottles

3/30  Next day, bright & early, it is off to the races. Off to Dover, DE to pick up a new laptop, camera & put new batterys in the truck. Next is back to the chicken farm, where the trailer is stored, connect up & head for the supermarket. Two trips around. One for the dry goods. The second for the chill. Load from cart right into trailer. Next stop, our second home, Severn Marine on Tilghman Island. The boatyard is one busy place this year. Our usual prime waterside location is occupied so we are in a hole surrounded by boats. We should complain to management but wait...oh yeah...accomodation is free, so we had better shut up.

 

  Carolyn hates grocery shopping in Bermuda but a highlight of supplying ourselves is a trip to the Amish Farmers Market in Easton. We load up with almost a couple months supply of meats one time. The Bermuda value is a scary thought.

  4/1: Friday is a maintenance day. I get started on a short list of repairs. Carolyn gets her hair done.

4/2  Saturday it is off to Cambridge to the Maryland Boatbuilders show. Small but interesting then a late lunch with Carl, Tony & friends. Crabcake sandwiches of course.

4/3  So far no outside work has been done. It has been freezing. Don't think the temp has made it over 50 yet! This is a very busy time of year for the boatyard so we are much appreciative of being squeezed in somewhere. Most of the boats passing through the yard are working boats used for crabbing on the Bay though around back a Sabre had taken up winter residence.



Jammed in

4/4: Finally get sort of a break with the weather & tackle the odds & ends of outside work plus do some refinishing work in the workshop. Last year nail polish remover was splattered all over the chest of drawers while on the road & ate right through the finish so the whole thing had to be redone.

4/5: More sanding & refinishing, reassembling then head out to nearby Martinac State Park for first official night on the road & a much needed dump of holding tanks along with a first time refill using our only big dollar upgrade this year, a water softening filter which works like a champ.