After the rain of the previous day, it was a cold night, and an even colder morning inside the Airstream. It was hard to remember that it was still August with the thermometer bobbling around 8C. I made my way over to the comfort station for my shower and noted that there were fewer trailers in the campground, but there were a couple of new ones, so Thursday had clearly been changeover day.
We had been in the Campground for a day longer than we'd normally camp in any one place, because the sites at Selkirk not only have 30amp power, but they also have water. Sadly there's no sewer connection, but if you're careful about what you put in the onboard waste tanks then the water on tap, as it were, does allow you to stay a little longer before emptying out the waste tanks. It would of course be possible to hitch up and drag the trailer to the dump station, empty, then go back and park on the site for a few more days. Similarly you could use a "Blue Boy", a plastic tank on wheels that you can dump your waste water into, then dump that in a vault toilet or at the dump station. The idea of a Blue Boy is sound, but when they've been used then you need to store them outside your trailer or tow vehicle, and that's not practical for us. I know there are plenty of people that will dump their gray water right where the trailer stands on the site, which you're not supposed to do. Most grey water will have a lot of soap in it, and very often food scraps, so that's the last thing you want, fouling your site. That we do not do.
Back in the camper, I put the furnace on for the first time this year. It was to warm things up a little, but it was also to try to disperse the condensation that had built up inside overnight. We've never had an issue with condensation because we always clear it, and that was the situation this damp morning when I fired up the Fantastic Fan in the roof hatch and opened a window, just to get the moisture moving.
There were a couple of women with very small babies, sitting under an awning on an adjacent site; they'd arrived the previous night. Both were in long pants and sweatshirts, and both swaddled in blankets. As I said, not much like August.
As we'd done much of the preparation the previous day, our camp breakdown was swift. All that was different from the usual was to drive off the Lego blocks and put them away before leaving the site. We'd been close enough to the power and to the water to not need extensions to the power cord or the water hose, so even they were stowed in quick time. We rolled off the site at about eleven-thirty, and made our way over to the dump station.
It's not the greatest dump station in the world at Selkirk, it's on a tight loop of a dirt track, and on a hill. Once in the line up, you just have to wait your turn, and this cold morning were were number four, right behind an older Airstream. The folks ahead of us seemed to move quickly and we were emptying our tanks after waiting for only about ten minutes. The tanks were full, and I'd used the short, clear plastic extender on the dump valve so I could see when the tanks had emptied, and I was able to watch the brown soup infused with toilet paper croutons rush into the underground septic tank. That tank, I fear, was getting quite full because it backed up a wee bit as our tank drained, and the smell was awful. But these are camping necessities, and can't be avoided, so I just did what I had to do, packed up and left. Thank goodness for Nitrile gloves.
I set the Google Map Directions app going and we had an ETA at home of two-forty-four, with a journey time just short of three hours. I knew we'd not match that as there are parts of the route that are slow, but it's always good to have something to aim at.
Once our on Haldimand Country Road Three and pointed westward, I felt the strong headwind tugging at us and though that today I wasn't going to break any gas mileage records. Given that it was the Friday before a long weekend, there was more traffic on the roads than there had been on Monday, but that's relative. Compared to an English A or B road, it was deserted.
We made good time, had no traumas, and the Toadmobile dealt comfortably with the headwind. There are a couple of steep downhill sections, with the corresponding uphill sections, on this route. As I've said many times before, it's the down hill bits that are the issue, and I made sure to knock off my speed before I started the descent. I think the people following were a wee bit disconcerted as I slowed before the downhill sections, but that's what we have to do.
We arrived home, unscathed, having dropped about fifteen minutes on the original ETA. Traffic lights, Stop signs and slow sections all contributed, but over a 226km drive and towing a big trailer, that's not too bad. The gas mileage was 17.6 litres to 100Kms (13.4 miles/US Gallon, or 16.1 miles/Imperial Gallon), compared with 16.4 (14.3 and 17.2) on Monday, so not a drastic difference.
It was a good run, and good camping despite the one rainy day. Selkirk is great, and its a park that you can normally get a site at without the usual competition for sites that Rondeau has. We like the water to the sites, and I liked that it was a pull-through, so no horrible backing in to do. Certainly there's not a lot going on at Selkirk, but a relaxing couple of days, you can't beat it.
Our next trip is a short run to Rondeau in September, so we'll be back in the groove then, but first I'm on cleaning duties. Again.
