Day 4, Easter Monday, dawned with dull and ominous skies. My daily trek to the bath house was dry but rain was in the air. We'd pulled the awning in the night before to minimise the time it would take to break camp if it was raining and what a prophetic move that was.
I can't remember when the rain started but when it did it set in seriously.
The tadpoles were bundled into the Toadmobile and told to stay put, on pain of death or something even more painful. Mrs Toad and I donned our oil skins and set about breaking camp.
As it turned out, apart from getting very wet, the process went quite smoothly. Hitching was achieved on about the second attempt and backing up the entire rig went reasonably well. My worry was getting it moving forward on the wet grass and boggy ground, given that the Toadmobile is front wheel drive. Fortunately we moved up the slight incline off the site with ne'er a hint of wheel spin. All visions of having to ask someone with a four wheel drive truck to help us out were (thankfully) banished.
We decided upon a grey water dump and were somewhat relieved to see the dump station was newly refurbished and free of other trailers so, even with the rain, Mrs T and I had our first dump, as it were. I did forget to close the grey water tank valve when we left but, given that it was empty and the drain pipe cap was on, it didn't really matter.
The trip home was uneventful, if wet, and we avoided clouting any Stop signs. Of course, backing onto the drive was its usual fun and I live in hope that one day I'll master that particular task. Still, Towed Haul was straight and on the correct side of the drive so that was OK.
As to shaking down, all went very well. Everything worked in the trailer and we didn't forget much. We did draw up a list of things we might need to make things easier for the next trip. You know, wine, Guinness, that sort of thing. We did drain a whole 30lb tank of propane but that was down to the weather and as it turned out, simplicity itself to get it refilled.
The Toadmobile (you can't tow that with that!) actually performed very well, even if I still wince at the thought of lifting her back end off the ground in order to put the weight distributing torsion bars on. See, you really don't need a gert big truck to tow these things.
We have Shakedown 2, The Sequel next week. Can't wait!
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