Shaking Down at Rondeau. Day 2

The night had been stormy but the camp site was surprisingly water free on Day 2 of the great shakedown trip. We hadn't sunk into the mud, nor been washed out into the lake. Indeed, all was surprisingly normal.

Having had very little sleep the night before, we were sluggardly in our morning's progress. We cancelled the proposed visit of the tadpoles' grandmother and settled to celebrating the big tadpole's 12th birthday in our beloved Towed Haul. Asked what they thought of aluminum camping, the tadpoles said "We like tent camping better". Ungrateful little toads-to-be!

The rain had at least stopped and the temperatures were beginning to creep up. A little. There were quite a few other lunatics camping in their trailers, although we were the only Airstreamers that we could see. There didn't appear to be any leaks overnight and apart from not having some handy dandy stuff like gardening gloves (for hitching in the cold, not planting Marigolds), we seemed to have a working trailer. The shower was pronounced a great success , as were the Fantastic Fans (magical even). We road tested the DVD and TV system with a run through of the latest Harry Potter film that had been winged to us from Amazon, just in time for the trip; that was magical, too.

Rondeau Park was leafless but not without charm. We managed to see much of the area's quota of wildlife; birds of many descriptions with names that I do not know (Note to self: take birding book next time), chipmunks, squirrels and even one of the elusive Rondeau deer. The tadpoles did their usual beach combing, coming up with not just animal bones but a complete two foot long corpse of some raccoon sized animal. We couldn't be sure it wasn't a raccoon as it had no fur; it could have been a cat for all we knew. They had the good sense to leave the remains where they lay; I didn't fancy them being offered up for the barbecue! They did find some stuff that we all took to be lake washed coal, which we duly took back to toss on the campfire. It burned with a yellow smoke and smelled much like coal but it went all gooey when hot so I'm guessing it was very old bitumen. Whatever it was, it didn't enhance the taste of the burgers.


As regulations require, we strung out the fairy lights on the edge of the awning and whilst it was a touch too cold to stay out for very long, Guinness and wine were quaffed under the LED festive illumination.

A fine photograph, I hope you'll agree, all made with the aid of the tripod and a very long exposure!


That evening we all retired to Towed Haul and fell asleep almost instantly (once Harry Potter had set himself up for the final installment). No rain but still cold; thank goodness for a fine furnace and plentiful Propane. 


What would Sunday bring, we wondered? More rain? Warmer temperatures? Read on, dear reader, in the next thrilling installment......