The Maiden Voyage

Within a week of bringing our camper home we were off on our maiden voyage. (It’s not a boat – is voyage the right word?) Anyway, we set off for Colorado. A friend that I used to work with is staying at a campground there for several months and we thought we could probably learn a few things from her and her husband.

We usually set a target departure time for a road trip and we’re happy if we’re no more than an hour past our target. I was amazed. We actually left an hour ahead of schedule.

The route had been carefully plotted and we were in Amarillo (the half-way point) around 5 PM. It was too early to stop so we forged ahead. We should have stopped in Tucumcari, or Santa Rosa, New Mexico. But we decided to press on to Albuquerque since everything was going so smoothly.

I wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of camping out in a WalMart parking lot, so I phoned a KOA in Albuquerque to make a reservation.

“We only have hookups with electricity and water left.”

I passed that information on to Mark and asked him if that was okay. (He said it was.) I couldn’t help asking a stupid question. “What else is there?” Before the KOA lady could answer, Mark informed me that sewer was a separate hookup, but that we’d be okay without it for one night.”

She asked me what kind of camper we had. I was pretty sure she didn’t want the make and model number so I told her it was a “pull behind trailer”. That’s probably not the correct technical term, but she knew what I meant and only needed to know how long it was. That was easy – 19 feet.

She took my credit card details and told me the office closed at 7 PM. If we arrived after 7, we were to pick up the envelope with our name on it in front of the office and check in with them in the morning.

No problem. At least not until we arrived around 8 PM and there was no envelope with our name on it. Hewitt, Williams, five other envelopes but none for Elliott. A man with no reservation came in and took one of two blank envelopes which represented the unreserved spaces available that night. Panic was starting to take hold.

I phoned KOA. Not the local campground, but the national reservations number. I explained that I had made a reservation but that I couldn’t find an envelope. I was starting to fear that the woman who’d answered the phone was in the Philippines or China. She asked me to look at the map of the campsites to determine which ones were available.

“You can’t tell that by looking at the map.”

“Yes you can. Are you looking at the map to see which slots are available?”

“I’m looking at the map. But you can’t tell which slots are available by looking at the map.”

She finally asked me if I could see slot three on the map.

“Yes, I see it, but I can’t tell if it’s available,”

“That one is yours! You are in number three!”

There would have been a lot less panic if she would have said that in the beginning instead of going through that whole “available slots” exercise.

I thanked her and we proceeded to slot number three. As we went around the office building we were in the hundreds. Once around the park and we did not see slot number three. I told Mark that it should be just behind the office. On our second drive around the park, I spotted slot number two. Three had to be right next to it.

Our first attempt to park was from the wrong direction. All the hookups were on the wrong side. You can’t just back up and try again. You have to approach it from the right direction.

I just had the feeling that everyone there was watching us get it wrong. But on the third try we had it. Panic over. Have a sandwich, go to bed. Relax.

In the morning, I stopped by the office to pick up my receipt and let them know that I didn’t have an envelope. Apparently people take the wrong envelopes all the time. Not sure why the person who took the wrong envelope didn’t end up in the wrong slot, but that’s okay. I’m just glad I didn’t have to do a Goldilocks and the Three Bears routine with someone.