Epilog

Wanderung 4 took us through some absolutely beautiful territory in the upper Midwest at one of the prettiest times of the year. We took some nice walks where we could really admire the gorgeous fall colors and see the countryside in more detail. Altho we visited quite a few museums, there were also quite a few along our route that we didn’t have a chance to visit. Sometimes it seemed like every small town or county would have a museum focusing on that area, and we just didn’t have the time to include all of them.

We were dogged by the fact that this was considered the “end of the season” by the campground proprietors. Many campgrounds were closed and those we stayed at would almost all have been closed by the end of October. In a similar vein, many of the normal campground services such as stores or water at the dump stations were curtailed or absent. I am curious if the campgrounds in the northeast also close just as the fall foliage is at its height—I would think that they are losing business if they do. In fairness to the owners it becomes more difficult to provide water when the temperatures drop below freezing and the small number of customers may just not justify the overhead—that is, they may not “make the nut”.

Among the quaint and curious things we learned on this trip was the origin of that phrase when we were visiting Circus World in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Since circuses were highly mobile and could skip out on their debts to local farmers and businessmen, it seems the county sheriff would often come by and take the nuts off the wheels of the circus wagons. That effectively immobilized them, and the sheriff would only give them back their wheel nuts when he was satisfied they had met all their local debts and obligations. From that origin, “making the nut” has come to mean making all the basic expenses of the business, after which a business can hope to make a profit (or, in the case of a circus, to leave town!).

That kind of serendipitous learning always seems to happen on our trips, and there is more of that type of miscellaneous knowledge than I can possibly relate here. But this trip was unique in that it was the maiden voyage of the Tin Blimp, and you might wish to know what we specifically learned about living in a camping trailer. Well, for one thing, in terms of hotel room accommodations and facilities, it turns out you can indeed take it with you, albeit with noticeable costs in increasing your travel time and decreasing your gas mileage! Still, we both enjoyed having “our” trailer to stay in at all our stops and really never felt the need to check into a hotel at all, which has definitely characterized our previous tenting trips (see Wanderungs 1 and 3, for example). Certainly this is due in part to the effect of having our own, primary “territory” with us—quite a spectrum of social psychological research has demonstrated the beneficial effects of being on one’s own territory rather than a shared or public territory.

For our part, we had to find a “best” place for everything from food to utensils to clothes and then be very good indeed about stowing things immediately once we were done with them to comfortably live in the confined space of the trailer. Cluttering up all level surfaces, which is our usual modus operandi, simply won’t do for a tiny camping trailer. It was probably good to learn this discipline as other conveyances such as sailboats, airplanes, or cruise ships also have very limited space and who knows when we might be off on one of those?

We also had to learn the detailed routine for connecting and disconnecting the trailer at each camping site. It was good to take this trip while the instructions from the dealer where still rather fresh in our minds because usually one or the other of us would remember a critical step or what the controls on a certain device were supposed to do. Altho I’m not sure we would qualify as “veteran” RV campers yet, we certainly have achieved some competency in the general routine.

For those of you who might be tempted to purchase a trailer and start wandering, I offer a provisional checklist list for this process that you can take and modify for your particular rig:

Do list for setting up trailer:

1. Install trailer on pad using wood or plastic shims to achieve left-right leveling. Insert wheel chocks in front and in back of wheels to prevent accidental movement of trailer.
2. Disconnect and store the anti-sway bar, safety chains, pull-away emergency brake line, load-leveler chains, and the multi-pin electrical connection to the car.
3. Put wood blocks under hitch jack, release the ball lock, and crank the hitch jack up until the ball on the car FULLY disengages from the socket on the trailer. Drive car forward clear of the jack.
4. Crank down hitch jack until trailer is level fore and aft. Extend all four corner stabilizers.
5. Outside trailer:
• Plug into electricity, preferably a 30-amp power supply.
• If a water connection is available at the campsite, connect hose to external water supply and trailer input. Turn water on and check for leaks. If no water connection, fill the fresh water tank from a potable water supply. (Often fresh drinking water is available at the dump station.)
• If sewer line is available, uncap waste water line and connect it to the sewer line. (Sewer service is much less frequently available than water and electric service).
6. If you want hot water, light the propane water heater.
7. Unlatch stove vent cover.
8. Extend the footsteps for the entrance doors.
9. Inside trailer:
• Turn on refrigerator and check levelness of the refrigerator shelves.
• If you don’t have an external water supply, turn on water pump for the internal supply.
• If you want TV, extend the TV antenna and adjust its orientation

Do list for preparing trailer for departure:

1. Inside trailer:
• Clear inside—stow all loose items and close all open windows.
• Orient the TV antenna to the correct fore-and-aft position and retract it.
• If you have been using the internal water supply, turn off the water pump.
• Turn off refrigerator (unless you want it to run on propane while you are driving).
2. Outside trailer:
• Retract the footsteps for the entrance doors.
• Latch stove vent cover.
• If you were using the propane water heater, turn it to OFF.
• If you have a sewer connection: open black water drain valve and dump until the tank is empty, then shut valve. Then open the gray water drain valve and dump until the tank is empty, then shut valve. Then disconnect and flush the sewer line with clean water and put cap back on waste water outlet.
• If connected to external water supply, turn off water, disconnect and store the hose.
• If you had electric service, unplug electricity and store the extension cord.
3. Crank down hitch jack to release pressure on front stabilizers. Retract them. Crank hitch jack up to release pressure on rear stabilizers. Retract them.
4. Crank down hitch jack so that the hitch socket is high enough to slide the ball on the car completely underneath it. Release the ball lock. Back the car until the ball is precisely underneath the hitch and lower the hitch onto the ball, making sure that it is fully down and seated correctly. Set and secure the ball lock.
5. Connect the anti-sway bar, safety chains, pull-away emergency brake line, load-leveler chains, and the multi-pin electrical connection to the car. Retract hitch jack to full up position and store the wood blocks.
6. Remove all wheel chocks. Ease trailer off of any wood or plastic shims and store the shims and chocks.
7. Check all hitch connections and then check brake, tail, and turn lights before pulling away.

1. Remove cap from waste water outlet.
2. Connect sewage drain hose to waste water outlet and dump inlet.
3. Open the black water drain valve to dump black water until the tank is empty, then shut the valve.
4. Open the gray water drain valve to dump gray water until the tank is empty, then shut the valve.
5. Rinse hose with fresh water and store.
6. Put cap on waste water outlet.

And with that, dear friends, we also put the cap on Wanderung 4. Good luck and happy traveling to all of you.