Maiden Voyage

It’s always the little things that stay with you.

We’re going through a learning experience. We’ve recently bought a motorhome—not a new one, mind you, but one that’s about 15 years old: 23-feet of instant coziness. That is, if you know how to make her sing. And that’s what we’re learning: how to make her sing.

Of course, we’re learning from the previous captain, who assures us he’ll take us through her paces. And he does. Around the outside: here’s the propane, here’s the outside electrical outlet, here’s the outside storage that holds the lego-like levelers. Here’s under the hood, the shore water hook up, the shore electrical hook up, the back of the water heater, the rear bumper that stores the holding tank dump hose (oh, yuck!). Then the inside. Here’s how to light the stove burners and the oven. Here’s how to turn on the refrigerator, here’s the shower and the head. And the bed, it’s quite comfortable, actually. We listened, we took notes, we asked questions. And then the day of reckoning arrived. It was time to take out this boat for more than a dry run. It was time to get our feet wet and lay out our astro-turf mat. (It’s a requirement to have an astro-turf mat, didn’t you know?)

So we got ourselves an ocean-front campsite at San Elijo State Beach. It’s all of five miles from our house. Yep, that means if we forget something we can return home to get it. It’s also (well, besides being a stairway away from the beach), walking distance to a great food market, walking distance to the best donuts in San Diego County (VG’s), and a short drive to any number of great restaurants (wait, we’re camping, remember?).
Camping. We have experience with camping. So, imagine my delight when later in the afternoon on the day we arrived, I turned on the sink's hot water faucet and there was hot water! (In my previous life, if you want hot water, you go set up the stove, pump and prime the tank, light the stove, fill a pan with water, and wait 15 minutes for that water to heat up.) Yeah, it’s the little things.

What are the other little things? Walking down to the beach and watching the sun set. Walking around at night and seeing a gazillion stars. Making a roaring fire and having your fleece smell like smoke for days. Making French press coffee and having it with one of those wonderful chocolate old fashions in the morning. (I said VG's had the best donuts in San Diego County—I wasn’t kidding!)