Chapter 6 · America the Beautiful

The Flooded Camper

Little did we know, this would set the tone for our craziest adventure yet

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Our trip started as usual, with us first making our trek up to West Virginia to visit Grandma’s friends, Paul and Barbara. They were always a hoot. Paul repaired and refurbished pianos, mostly for the local university at this point, but he had a big workshop out in the backyard with a couple of Steinways in varying stages of being brought back to life. He looked like a guy who would repair pianos, with a slender build, a beard, glasses, and a sort of younger Geppetto look to him. Barbara was a little on the plump side and loved to laugh and cackle at her husband’s jokes. Neither of them had the organizational skills of my grandma, but they were lovable, and we always had fun riding around town together, seeing how the streets had changed since they were kids, the three of them telling stories of long-ago adventures.

Grandma had a new camper for this trip since it was extra special, with her turning 50 and us taking a two-week trip. She decided to treat herself and bought a new full-size pull-behind travel trailer that we could access at rest stops without having to wait to pop it up at the campsite. It was set up like a mini one-bedroom mobile home, complete with a kitchenette and a tiny bathroom. We always used the public showers at the campsites, so Grandma stored a lot of our road trip essentials in the shower cubby to make extra space in the rest of the camper.

This was a great idea…

Until we reached the first campsite and did our normal hookup.

Sometime during the drive up, the containers of food, VHS tapes for the TV, towels, and other items stuffed into that shower cubby for safe storage had jostled around and somehow managed to turn the shower faucet on.

The shower cubby had flooded.

We were not off to a good start, all of a sudden scrambling to salvage our supplies. Cleanup easily added another half hour or so to our setup routine. The towels were hung out to dry, and the chairs air-dried. We had to clear everything out, wipe down the shower cubby, and then find a new storage spot for our supplies.

We lost a box of cereal or two, along with other food items stored in non-waterproof containers and the VHS tapes, but overall, catastrophe had been averted.

Little did we know, this would set the tone for our craziest adventure yet.